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The gap in earnings between men and women at Lloyds Banking Group and Nationwide widened last year even as income disparities across the UK’s big employers fell to a record low.
Lloyds Banking Group’s median pay gap rose by 2.7 percentage points to 35.5 per cent last year, according to data submitted ahead of a government deadline on Friday. The figure, which covers all of its brands, including Halifax and Bank of Scotland as well as its flagship brand, means women earned 64.5p for every £1 men made.
The group’s subsidiary Lloyds Bank had the fourth-largest pay gap of any employer with more than 5,000 staff, according to a Financial Times analysis of the 9,700 companies that had submitted data by 10am on Friday. The disparity in that unit was 39.2 per cent, a 1.8 percentage point increase on the previous year.
Nationwide Building Society also reported a large jump in its pay gap, which increased by almost 7 percentage points to 29.2 per cent last year. It said that a one-off £500 cost-of-living payment had disproportionately boosted the earnings of its female staff the previous year.
The increased earnings disparity at two of the country’s biggest lenders comes as the UK’s pay gap — which reflects the difference between the median hourly pay for men and women, expressed as a percentage of men’s median pay — fell below 9 per cent for the first time last year.
The figure now stands at 8.4 per cent, but men still out-earn women at 78 per cent of the employers that submitted data. Employers of more than 250 people have been required to report the figures since 2018.
Deeba Syed, head of policy at the Fawcett Society, a charity campaigning for gender equality, said employers were not closing the pay gap fast enough. “For too long women . . . have been undervalued or held back because of a labour market that prioritises men,” she said.
“Our chancellor [Rachel Reeves] has promised to close the pay gap once and for all. This is welcome, but we need to see more done to deliver on this commitment.”
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The financial and insurance sector had the third-highest gap of any sector in 2024, behind education and construction, with women in the sector earning on average 80p for every £1 earned by their male counterparts.
HSBC reported a pay gap of 46.7 per cent across its UK employees, although that was down from 48.3 per cent a year earlier.
Barclays, Santander and NatWest also narrowed their pay gaps last year, but these remained above 27 per cent, leaving them with some of the biggest disparities among large employers.
Because pay gaps reflect income irrespective of seniority, the large differentials at banks, and in sectors such as law, largely reflect a workforce with many women in junior or back-office roles and fewer in top jobs.
Following the departure of Dame Alison Rose from NatWest in 2023, and Anne Boden of Starling Bank, Debbie Crosbie at Nationwide is the only remaining female chief executive at a big UK lender.
“This is a sector where groups of individuals earn incredibly large sums compared with the majority of employees,” said Yasmine Chinwala, the author of a recent review of the Treasury’s Women in Finance Charter which aims to increase the number of senior women in the finance sector.
She added that banking still demanded a culture of working long hours and being constantly available, which hampered female participation in the most senior roles. “The banks are trying . . . [but] the inertia is very high.”
The median hourly pay gap is lower at challenger banks without significant investment banking workforces. Monzo has reported a median pay gap of 6.3 per cent, while Revolut’s stands at 12.7 per cent.
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Lloyds said that, on a mean basis, its pay gap had decreased year on year. It said it believed “companies with gender-diverse senior management teams perform better” and that it was focused on closing the pay gap.
HSBC said it was focused on ensuring all hiring and progression processes were fair for all employees.
Santander said its gender pay gap reflected the structure of its organisation but that more women were moving into customer-facing roles.
Barclays said that achieving a more equal gender distribution across the company would take time, adding that it had narrowed pay gaps in its UK businesses. NatWest declined to comment.
The FT uses the median gap — the midpoint of pay — rather than the mean to avoid a small number of high-paid employees skewing the figures.
Additional reporting by Patrick Mathurin
