Pressure on Sadiq Khan as gender pay gap at TfL widens to 21.5%

Mr Khan admitted that the findings did not make “comfortable reading”
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Sadiq Khan came under fire today as a widening gender pay gap was revealed at Transport for London, with male employees typically earning a fifth more than women.

The Greater London Authority annual pay audit revealed full-time female staff at TfL are paid on average £22.08 an hour, compared with male colleagues on £28.14, a difference of 21.5 per cent.

The gulf has grown by almost two percentage points over the last 12 months despite the introduction of measures including anonymous job applications and fast-track career development schemes.

It is higher than the national average of 18.1 per cent and the London average of 16.2 per cent.

Mr Khan, a “proud feminist” who launched the annual gender pay gap reports in 2016 a bid to get more women in senior roles, admitted the findings did not make “comfortable reading”.

Gender pay gaps

£22.08

Average hourly pay for full-time female staff at Transport for London, compared with £28.14 for men

17.6%

Gender pay gap at the legacy body looking after the Olympic park and stadium

4.8%

Gender pay gap at City Hall

City Hall said the pay gap at TfL was caused by the lack of women in senior roles, not because women were paid less for doing the same job.

TfL’s latest annual report revealed that only 40 of its 160 staff earning £100,000 or more were women.

Shaun Bailey, the Tory candidate for mayor, said: “The Mayor is clearly failing to tackle something he has called ‘unacceptable’ - gender pay gaps.

“He needs to keep executive salaries down while promoting bright new female talent into leadership positions.”

Today TfL commissioner Mike Brown said the number of women in senior roles had grown by 11.5 per cent but accepted “there are simply not enough women in senior positions”.

TfL’s gender pay report today revealed that 79.4 per cent of women received a bonus, compared with 85.8 per cent of men.

For operational staff, such as Tube drivers and station staff, men earned £26.36 an hour and women £20.31.

Across the rest of the Mayor’s empire, the gender pay gap fell at City Hall and in the Met police, to 4.8 per cent and 9.7 per cent respectively.

It was virtually unchanged at 17.6 per cent at the London Legacy Development Corporation, which oversees the Olympic park and stadium.

Women continue to be in better paid jobs than men in the London Fire Brigade; the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime; and the Old Oak and Park Royal development corporation.

Seven of Mr Khan’s 10 deputy mayors are women. His most recent recruit, Debbie Weekes-Bernard as Deputy Mayor for Social Integration, earns £130,063.

Mr Khan today launched a guide to encourage London businesses to help close the gap between male and female workers.

He said: “The data we have published today paints a varied picture. It does not make for comfortable reading but if we are to correct this injustice we must continue to highlight the gaps and the need for action.

“As Mayor, I am determined to do everything in my power to address the gender pay gap that has existed unchallenged and hidden away for far too long.”

Staynton Brown, director of diversity and inclusion at TfL, said: “We are working hard to make our organisation more representative of the city that we serve, but we realise there is much more work to do..”

Conservative assembly member Gareth Bacon said: “There are fewer senior positions than other roles in the organisation. Focusing on the top of the pyramid will not solve the problem.”

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