London has the worst gender pay gap of any region in the UK, new research can reveal.
In London, men earn on average 20 per cent more than women. The UK average gender pay gap is 11.9 per cent.
For International Women’s Day, financial experts Forbes Advisor used new ONS data to explore the gender pay gap for full time employees in every local authority in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, to discover which area has the worst gender pay gap of all.
| Area | Rank | Gender pay gap (%) |
| London | 1 | 20.0 |
| West Midlands | 2 | 13.8 |
| South East | 3 | 13.2 |
| East Midlands | 4 | 11.6 |
| Yorkshire and The Humber | 5 | 11.4 |
| South West | 6 | 11.1 |
| North West | 7 | 9.7 |
| Scotland | 8 | 6.5 |
| Wales | 9 | 5.4 |
| North East | 10 | 3.7 |
| Northern Ireland | 11 | 2.7 |
| UK average | 11.9 |
Within London, Richmond upon Thames has the worst gender pay gap, with men earning 31 per cent more than women. This is followed by the City of London and Westminster, where men earned 28.1 per cent and 22.5 per cent more than women respectively.
Enfield also has one of London’s worst gender pay gaps, with men earning 21.6 per cent more than women. Similarly, in Camden, men earn significantly more than women (19.6 per cent).
| London Borough | Rank | How much more men earn than women (%) |
| Richmond upon Thames | 1 | 31.0 |
| City of London | 2 | 28.1 |
| Westminster | 3 | 22.5 |
| Inner London | 4 | 21.7 |
| Enfield | 5 | 21.6 |
| Camden | 6 | 19.6 |
| Redbridge | 7 | 18.3 |
| Tower Hamlets | 8 | 17.1 |
| Merton | 10 | 16.1 |
| Croydon | 11 | 16.0 |
A spokesperson for Forbes Advisor commented on the findings: “London is often seen as the UK’s financial hub: a city for innovation, advancement and opportunity, but these figures bring to light concerning gender inequalities both within the city and compared to the rest of the UK.
“Not only does London have a significantly higher gender pay gap than the rest of the UK (20 per cent compared to the UK average of 11.9 per cent), the fact that in individual areas of London, men are earning up to 31 per cent more than women shows that we have a long way to go to achieving equality.”
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