Is the UK finance industry good for women? Pay gap data 2026
Finance is one of the best paid industries in the UK, and it also carries one of the widest gender pay gaps of any sector. Both things are true at once, which makes the honest answer to “is the finance industry good for women” a careful one: it can be, and the published data tells you which firms have earned that description and which are trading on a reputation.
This guide looks at what the numbers actually show in 2026. We cover the finance gender pay gap, why it is so wide, what the figure does and does not measure, and the concrete checks that separate a genuinely good finance employer from one with a confident diversity page. It is written for the UK and built on published figures from the Office for National Statistics and the government’s own gender pay gap service.
The finance gender pay gap in 2026
The ONS measures pay by industry through its Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, and the sector it labels “financial and insurance activities” consistently reports one of the largest gender pay gaps in the economy. The full-time gap in the sector runs well into the twenties by median hourly pay, far above the all-industries gap, which the ONS put at 6.9% for April 2025. Finance sits near the top of the sector table, alongside a handful of other high-pay, male-led industries.
That is a headline worth pausing on. The gap here is not a rounding error, it is one of the widest in the country. But the size of it is also the clue to what is really going on, because a gap this large is almost never about firms paying women less for the same job. It is about who holds the highest paid jobs.
Bonuses matter enormously in finance too. A large share of total reward in banking, asset management and insurance comes through bonuses, and the bonus gap is typically wider than the pay gap. When you look up a finance employer, read the bonus figures as carefully as the hourly ones, because that is where the real distance often shows.
Why the finance gap is so wide
The finance gender pay gap is a story of representation and progression, not identical work paid unequally. Women are well represented in finance overall, but they thin out sharply towards the top. Front-office, revenue-generating and senior leadership roles, the ones that pay the most and carry the biggest bonuses, remain heavily male, while women are more concentrated in operations, support and mid-level functions. Average the two together and the gap opens up even where pay for the same role is fair.
This is the difference between the gender pay gap and equal pay, and it matters when you read any single figure. Equal pay is about paying men and women the same for the same work, which is the law. The gender pay gap is about the mix of roles across a whole firm. Our guide on how to read a company’s gender pay gap figures explains how to tell the two apart, and it is especially worth reading before you judge any finance employer.
Culture compounds it. Long hours, a bonus culture that rewards visibility, limited flexibility in client-facing roles, and a shortage of senior women to progress towards all push women out at the exact points where pay accelerates. None of this is inevitable, and the better firms actively work against it, which is precisely why the sector average tells you so little about any individual employer.
What makes a finance employer genuinely good for women
The sector average is the weather, not the firm. Within finance you will find companies reporting single-digit gaps with women across every pay quartile, and others above 30% with almost no women in senior or front-office roles. To judge an individual employer, look for a few concrete signals rather than the headline number alone.
Look at where women sit, not just the top-line gap. Under UK law, employers with 250 or more staff publish the share of women in each pay quartile. A finance firm with women spread across all four is in a genuinely different place from one where they cluster in the bottom two.
Look at the trend over several years. A gap that is narrowing shows intent and follow-through. A gap that has sat still for five years, however respectable it looks, tells you the firm has stopped trying.
Look for the practical markers: transparent pay bands, genuine flexible and hybrid working rather than a grudging exception, family leave that goes beyond the statutory minimum, real support for returners coming back from a career break, and visible women in senior and revenue roles who rose through the firm. For more on spotting these, our guides to finding jobs that fit you and inclusive recruitment go deeper.
How to check before you join
You do not have to guess. Every UK employer with 250 or more staff publishes its gender pay gap figures on the government service at gender-pay-gap.service.gov.uk, free to search. Look the firm up, read the median as well as the mean, check the four pay quartiles, and pay close attention to the bonus gap, which in finance is often the most revealing figure of all. Then compare the firm with other finance employers rather than with the whole economy, because a 20% gap that beats its peers is a very different signal from a 20% gap that trails them.
The RecruitHer company gender scorecard does this comparison for you, pulling the published data together with the multi-year trend and a sector benchmark so you can see how a finance employer stacks up against its real peers. If you want the full method, read how the scorecard works. The takeaway is straightforward: finance can be an excellent career for women, with strong pay, clear progression and genuine demand for skills, as long as you choose the firms that have done the work, and the published data lets you choose with your eyes open.
Frequently asked questions
What is the gender pay gap in the UK finance industry?
Financial and insurance activities is one of the highest-gap sectors in the UK, with a full-time median gap running well into the twenties by percentage, far above the all-industries gap of 6.9% for April 2025. Individual firms vary widely around that average, so always check the specific employer on the official service.
Why is the finance gender pay gap so large?
Mainly because the highest paid front-office and senior leadership roles remain heavily male, while women are more concentrated in mid-level and support functions. The gap reflects who holds which jobs across the firm, not women being paid less for identical work, which would be unlawful.
Is the finance gender pay gap the same as unequal pay?
No. Equal pay means paying men and women the same for the same work and is required by law. The gender pay gap measures the difference in average pay across a whole firm, driven mostly by role mix. A finance company can report a wide gap while still paying fairly for identical roles.
Which finance companies are best for women?
The ones with women across all four pay quartiles, a gap that narrows over several years, a smaller-than-average bonus gap, genuine flexibility, and visible women in senior and revenue roles. Check an employer’s published figures and compare them within finance rather than against the whole economy.
See how employers score for women on RecruitHer’s company gender scorecard.
This is educational information, not legal advice. Pay, rights and an employer’s obligations can vary by contract, role and circumstances. For impartial guidance, contact ACAS, and look up any employer’s figures on the official gender pay gap service.
Last reviewed: July 2026