Gender pay gap widest at more than £7k for over 50s

THE gender pay gap is widest for women aged over 50 with a gulf of more than £7,000, new research suggested.

Rest Less, which offers advice to the over 50s, said there was a 24 per cent difference between the median gross annual pay of full-time working men and women aged in their 50s and that rose to 26 per cent for the over sixties.

Rest Less analysed pay data from the Office for National Statistics and found that, in 2022, the biggest difference in full-time pay was between men and women in their 50s.

Women aged 50-59 earned an average salary of £30,603, which was £7,274 less than men in the same age group who earned an average salary of £37,877.

Women aged over 60 earned an average salary of £26,128, which was £6,755 less than men in the same age group who earned an average of £32,883.

Rest Less compared 2022 data with the previous 10 years and found that while the national gender pay gap across all age groups has narrowed from 24 per cent in 2012 to 19 per cent in 2022 – it remains at its highest for those in their 50s and 60s.

The smallest gap between men and women was in 22- to 29-year-olds at 9 per cent. Men in this group earned an average £28,657, while women made £26,329. The difference then gradually rises to a 14 per cent for those in their 30s, 22 per cent for those in their 40s, 24 per cent for those in their 50s and 26per cent for those in their 60s.

Rest Less chief executive Stuart Lewis said: “Caring responsibilities, the burden of which still falls disproportionately on women, means they can miss out on salary progression in their careers, which compounds with time.

“This can have devastating long-term

‘While state pension age is now the same ... retirement fortune of women and men is anything but equal’

consequences on women’s retirement provision and financial independence into later life ... we know there is a significant private pension savings gap between men and women and it’s no surprise when you see decades of the gender pay gap only getting worse in the run up to retirement – a time in life when people are typically trying to save as much as they can into their pensions.

“While the state pension age for women is now equal with men at 66, the retirement fortunes of men and women remain anything but equal.”