08 April 2018

Dealer groups are under pressure to equalise the male/female pay gap as UK industry is revealed to have among the worst gender differential of any EU country.

At the moment, the UK average sees a woman paid around 80p for every £1 earned by a male colleague. It is against the law for a company to pay a man or woman a lower rate for an equal job done by a colleague of the opposite sex.

Data shows that the average pay gap at the national level is 18.4%, 78% of companies pay women less than men and women make up just 7% of higher paid jobs.

A spot-check of the largest auto retail groups has revealed Vertu and Sytner pay on average their female employees 27% less. At Arnold Clark the difference is 11%, Inchcape and Marshall Motor Group are at 5%, Lookers 3% and at Pendragon the gap is just 2.6%.

Companies, charities and public sector organisations with more than 250 employees had to submit their pay structure by Wednesday last week. Those not meeting the deadline will be contacted next week by the Equalities and Human Rights Commission and could face fines for non-compliance.

Tags: Arnold Clark, gender pay gap, Inchcape, Lookers, Marshall Motor Group, pay gap, Pendragon, Sytner, Vertu