Gender pay gap revealed

MORE than 70% of large firms in Tayside and Fife pay men more than women, it has been revealed.

New rules i ntroduced last year mean UK firms who employ more than 250 people are now required t o report t he difference in pay between males and females t o the Government Equality Office.

Of the 56 firms from Tayside and Fife which reported, 40 pay men more than women, five pay women more than men, and 11 said there was no pay gap.

The average median pay gap for firms — the best way for comparing typical pay — i n Dundee was 13.5%.

In Fife the gap was 9.3%, it was 7.8% in Perth and Kinross, and 7.3% i n Angus.

Dundee-based solicitors Thorntons Law LLP had the highest median pay gap of any firm in Tayside or Fife, at 37.2%.

Chief operating officer Helen Archibald said the firm had “worked hard to harmonise, as much as possible, terms and conditions across the firm, while still being mindful of market forces”.

The publisher of the Evening Telegraph, DC Thomson, has a gender pay gap of 15.7%

At group level, which includes other businesses owned by the parent firm, the gender pay gap was 15%.

DC Thomson director David Thomson said: “Our recruitment strategy is to appoint the best person for the role, regardless of gender.

“We believe that all of our employees should be treated equally with the fairness and integrity that they deserve and, as a family business, we take the commitment to our people extremely seriously.”