Official ONS figures · ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, 2026 provisional

UK Gender Pay Gap 2026

Full-time men earn a median £21.51 an hour and women £20.05: a gap of 6.8%, measured the way ONS does. Below: the gap for part-time and all employees, and for every occupation ONS measures.

UK gender pay gap — the official measure

6.8%

Median hourly pay excluding overtime, full-time employees: £21.51 for men against £20.05 for women.

Men — median hourly

£21.51

Women — median hourly

£20.05

The same question, measured four ways

All four come from the same ONS survey. They differ because they measure different things.

Full-time, hourly

£21.51 vs £20.05

6.8%

All employees, hourly

£20.17 vs £17.69

12.3%

Part-time, hourly

£14.74 vs £15.05

-2.1%

All employees, annual

£39,997 vs £29,133

27.2%

The largest figure is annual pay, which counts hours as well as rates — women are far more likely to work part-time. Among part-time employees the gap reverses, and women's median hourly pay is higher. We explain what each measure is for here.

Look up a specific occupation

Widest gaps by occupation

Full-time annual pay. Of 139 occupations where ONS publishes a precise men's and women's median (sampling error of 10% or less for both).

Financial managers and directors £92,586 £67,246 27.4%

Production, factory and assembly supervisors £41,397 £32,200 22.2%

Marketing and commercial managers £62,000 £48,549 21.7%

Business associate professionals n.e.c. £45,332 £35,859 20.9%

Programmers and software development professionals £61,410 £48,775 20.6%

CAD, drawing and architectural technicians £36,750 £29,539 19.6%

Managers and directors in retail and wholesale £42,990 £34,787 19.1%

Specialist medical practitioners £114,774 £92,848 19.1%

Office managers £46,367 £37,555 19%

Assemblers (vehicles and metal goods) £34,340 £27,801 19%

Where the gap reverses

Occupations where women's median pay is closest to, or above, men's.

Personal assistants and other secretaries £36,341 £36,993 -1.8%

Call and contact centre occupations £28,727 £29,187 -1.6%

Security guards and related occupations £35,238 £35,612 -1.1%

Laboratory technicians £29,191 £29,354 -0.6%

National government administrative occupations £32,585 £32,440 0.4%

Physiotherapists £46,385 £46,017 0.8%

Photographers, audio-visual and broadcasting equipment operators £34,315 £33,935 1.1%

Postal workers, mail sorters and messengers £32,983 £32,525 1.4%

Communication operators £38,829 £38,297 1.4%

Ambulance staff (excluding paramedics) £33,794 £33,326 1.4%

Source: Office for National Statistics, Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, 2026 provisional). Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. A pay gap is a difference in average pay between groups; it is not by itself evidence of unequal pay for the same job, which is unlawful.

Gender pay gap FAQs

What is the gender pay gap in the UK in 2026?

Measured the way ONS does, on median hourly pay excluding overtime for full-time employees, the gap is 6.8%: men earn £21.51 an hour and women £20.05. Source: ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, 2026 provisional.

How is the gender pay gap calculated?

It is the difference between men's and women's median pay, expressed as a percentage of men's pay. ONS uses median hourly pay excluding overtime so that differences in hours worked do not distort the comparison. A positive figure means men earn more; a negative figure means women earn more.

Is the gender pay gap the same as unequal pay?

No. Unequal pay is paying a man and a woman differently for the same work, which has been unlawful since 1970. The gender pay gap compares all men with all women across every job, so it also reflects which jobs each group does, who works part-time and who reaches senior roles.

Why is the part-time gap different?

Among part-time employees women typically earn slightly more per hour than men, so the part-time gap is negative. The all-employee gap is larger than the full-time gap because far more women than men work part-time, and part-time jobs pay less per hour.

Where does this data come from?

Every figure on this page comes from the Office for National Statistics Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, 2026 provisional), which is based on a 1% sample of HMRC PAYE records. Occupation gaps only use estimates ONS marks as precise (a coefficient of variation of 10% or less for both men and women).

About this data: every figure is from the ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, 2026 provisional), published under the Open Government Licence. A gap is men's median minus women's median, as a percentage of men's median. The headline uses hourly pay excluding overtime for full-time employees, the measure ONS reports as the gender pay gap. Occupation gaps only use estimates ONS marks as precise. Nothing on this page comes from salaries submitted to this site. See the methodology.