The UK gender pay gap for 2018 was 9.6 % , down slightly on the previous year 's 9.7 % , while almost eight in 10 firms paid substantially more than women , according to the latest figures . They also revealed that , for median hourly pay , more than a quarter of the 9,961 companies who filed details paid women over 20 % less than men , while almost one - third of firms had pay gaps wider than the 17.9 % full and part - time national average , as measured by the institute for National Statistics . UK law mandates firms with more than 250 employees must submit their gender pay gap details .
The UK gender pay gap for 2018 was 9.6%, down slightly on the previous year's 9.7%, while almost eight in 10 firms paid men more than women, according to the latest figures. They also revealed that, for median hourly pay, more than a quarter of the 9,961 companies who filed details paid women over 20% less than men, while almost one-third of firms had pay gaps wider than the 17.9% full and part-time national average, as calculated by the Office for National Statistics. UK law mandates companies with more than 250 employees must publish their gender pay gap details.