Gender pay gap: How Sunderland companies rank

The company with the highest median pay gap between male and female members of staff was Arriva Rail London Limited with a 44% disparity. This means that women earn 56p for every £1 that men earn.

At the other end of the scale, Nissan Motor Manufacturing (UK) Limited pay women 15.1% more than men.

The average median pay gap for companies based in Sunderland was 8.7%, which compares to a national average of 12%.

The full list of Sunderland-based companies which submitted data, ranked by median pay difference:

ARRIVA RAIL LONDON LIMITED: 44

THE CHILTERN RAILWAY COMPANY LIMITED: 31

A. SHARE & SONS LIMITED: 29

XC TRAINS LIMITED: 29

UNIVERSITY OF SUNDERLAND: 20.9

TOMBOLA LIMITED: 19.4

ARRIVA RAIL NORTH LIMITED: 18

CITY HOSPITALS SUNDERLAND NHS FOUNDATION TRUST CHARITABLE FUNDS: 17.2

SUNDERLAND ASSOCIATION FOOTBALL CLUB LIMITED (THE): 15.8

GENTOO GROUP LIMITED: 14.6

SUNDERLAND CITY COUNCIL: 13.5

ARRIVA PLC: 13

THE ASCENT ACADEMIES' TRUST: 13

PARAGON GROUP UK LIMITED: 11.6

SUNDERLAND COLLEGE: 11.2

TYNE AND WEAR FIRE AND RESCUE SERVICE: 10.1

ARRIVA THE SHIRES LIMITED: 9

1879 EVENTS MANAGEMENT LIMITED 8.1

ARRIVA MIDLANDS LIMITED 8

NIKE (UK) LIMITED 8

ARRIVA LONDON NORTH LIMITED: 7

ARRIVA LONDON SOUTH LIMITED: 7

MENTAL HEALTH MATTERS: 6

ARRIVA KENT THAMESIDE LIMITED: 4

ARRIVA MIDLANDS NORTH LIMITED: 4

UNIPRES (UK) LIMITED: 3.3

ARRIVA MERSEYSIDE LIMITED: 3

ARRIVA YORKSHIRE LIMITED: 3

NIKE RETAIL UK: 3

ARRIVA CYMRU LIMITED: 2

ARRIVA DURHAM COUNTY LIMITED: 2

ARRIVA NORTH WEST LIMITED: 1

ARRIVA NORTHUMBRIA LIMITED: 1

YORKSHIRE TIGER LIMITED: 1

NUCLEUS (GB) LIMITED: 0.6

EDUCATION AND SERVICES FOR PEOPLE WITH AUTISM LIMITED: 0.3

ARRIVA KENT & SURREY LIMITED: 0

MAXIM FACILITIES MANAGEMENT LTD: 0

SUNDERLAND CARE AND SUPPORT LIMITED: 0

ARRIVA TRANSPORT SOLUTIONS LIMITED: -3

TOGETHER FOR CHILDREN SUNDERLAND LIMITED: -9.5

NISSAN MOTOR MANUFACTURING (UK) LIMITED: -15.1

What is the gender pay gap?

The gender pay gap is the difference between the average hourly earnings of men and women.

In 2017 it became government policy that all UK companies employing 250 people or more must submit the details of their gender pay gap by 4 April 2018.

Public bodies were given an earlier reporting deadline of 30 March 2018. Regardless of industry, all gender pay gap information was sent to the Government Equalities Office (GEO) for processing.

What gender pay gap data has been released and where can I see it?

Organisations were required to release both the mean and median difference in hourly rate, as well as the proportion of women in each pay quartile.

They also had to divulge the percentage of women and men who received bonus pay, and state which gender’s bonus pay was higher.

This information is available to view online for anyone who wishes to access it, via a government website here.

In line with the guidelines, more than 9,000 employers were obliged to disclose their gender pay gap.

What are the penalties?

Companies which failed to publish their findings by the deadline will be approached informally by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC). Employers who do not comply could ultimately face fines and convictions.

There are currently no plans to penalise businesses with a wide gender pay gap. Instead, the government intend to publish industry-specific league tables, highlighting the employers failing to even out differences in salary between men and women.

How reliable is the information?

The accuracy of these statistics relies on the honesty and vigilance of the reporting organisations. Businesses and public bodies have submitted their own findings, and the data does not appear to have been corroborated.

While the information gathered exposes a company’s overall gender pay gap, it does not necessarily mean that women are being paid less than men in the same roles.

How do the numbers compare?

According to Office of National Statistics (ONS) figures, the gender pay gap fell to 9.1% in the UK last year. The year before, the number sat at 9.4%

Comparatively, in 1997, men earned 17.4% more than women on average.