Women are on average paid 12.7% less than men working across five of the UK’s biggest housebuilders, according to the latest gender pay gap figures.
According to EG analysis, the gender pay gap across Barratt Developments, Bovis, Persimmon, Redrow and Taylor Wimpey (giving equal weighting to each housebuilder) averaged 12.7%.
The biggest pay gap among these companies was reported by Bovis, whose mean gender pay gap stands at 19.6%, closely followed by Persimmon, which had a 15.1% mean pay gap.
Taylor Wimpey and Barratt both reported a 6% pay gap, while Redrow had the lowest disparity of pay at 4.2 per cent.
At the time the data was taken (5 April 2018), Barratt employed 5,894 people; Bovis had an employee headcount of 1,201; Persimmon had 4,430; and Taylor Wimpey employed 5,021 people. According to Redrow’s company financial statement for 2018, the monthly average number of people employed at the company stood at 2,308.
Barratt Developments said its mean pay gap had increased by 1.1 percentage points from 4.9% in 2017 to 6% in 2018.
Its median gender pay gap increased from 0.9% to 3.5% over the same period.
The proportion of women receiving a bonus for 2018 at Barratt also dropped from the previous year, from 87.2% to 84.9%.
The housebuilder claimed its mean and median pay gaps had increased because many male employees in low-paid positions were not included in the pay gap analysis time frame.
The report said: “We pay certain workers in the lower quartile holiday pay a week in advance.
“This means that if they are on annual leave during the snapshot week period, regulations require that their pay is not included in the analysis.
“In 2018, a significant number of men from the lower quartile fell into this category due to the timing of Easter.”
Barratt Developments chief executive David Thomas said the company was “committed to identifying and addressing the reasons that may create a gender imbalance in our workplace”.
He added: “While our gender pay gap is smaller than the current average for UK business, we are committed to further action and delivering our diversity and inclusion strategy and action plan.”
Yesterday, Homes England reported its gender pay gap had narrowed slightly this year to 18.2% from 18.4% in 2017.
Homes England chief executive Nick Walkley said the company’s pay gap was “still not good enough” and its slow pace of progress has been “disappointing”.
Last week, CBRE revealed its gender pay gap had increased from 17.4% in 2017 to 18.6% for 2018, while Cushman & Wakefield’s mean gender pay gap (which now includes salaried and equity partners) remained broadly flat year-on-year at 35.8%.
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