PwC report | UK gender pay gaps continue to narrow as focus shifts from reporting to action

The UK’s gender pay gap continues to narrow, according to PwC’s latest analysis, with another year of steady progress. 

As the country approaches a decade of mandatory gender pay gap reporting, progress remains sluggish, highlighting the long-term nature of gender pay inequality.

The 2026 Gender Pay Gap Report, published by PwC, shows a decrease of 0.5% in both the mean and median hourly pay gaps, with the mean gap falling from 11.2% in 2024/25 to 10.7% in 2025/26, and the median from 8.6% to 8.1%. This continues a consistent downward trend since the introduction of mandatory reporting in 2017, when the mean gender pay gap stood at 13.4%.

At the current rate of progress, it is estimated that it could take over 30 years to close the gender pay gap. This highlights the need for organisations to accelerate beyond reporting towards more targeted and sustained interventions.