Global firm Clyde & Co’s decision to include partners in its latest gender pay gap report has resulted in the overall gap growing by more than 170%.

In its report published today the firm revealed its average mean pay gap (including bonuses) for the entire workforce, ranging from equity partners to support staff, is 60%. Within the partnership alone, male partners are paid 36% more (mean).

Last year, with partners not included, the mean hourly pay gap was 22%.

In a statement accompanying its report the firm said including partners ‘helps paint a fuller picture’ of the pay gap at the firm.

‘As partners are remunerated differently from employees we have calculated our combined figures by looking at total annual full time equivalent earnings (FTE) for all UK partners, including profit share and bonuses and total FTE pay and bonuses for all UK employees,’ the firm noted.

The proportion of women who received a bonus has increased from 35% in 2017 to 41% in 2018. In 2018, 29% of male staff received a bonus.

Under the Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2017, firms with 250 or more employees are required to reveal every year what their pay gap is, with this being the second set of figures published. The regulations stipulate that firms provide a snapshot of the pay gap for the previous year by 4 April. Job-specific pay gaps are not included and the regulations have been criticised for failing to paint a true picture of the situation given that the blanket figures do not take account of the fact that women are disproportionately represented in lower paid roles.

Firms are required to list the percentage of women to men in four pay quartiles. At Clyde & Co the lowest quartile is 74% female and the highest is a 50/50 split.

The Clyde report does not provide a breakdown by ethnicity, as recommended by the Law Society in its latest gender pay gap reporting guidance.

Last year City firms came in for criticism for being coy about what the overall pay gap would be when equity partners are included. They eventually began revising their data after the Big Four professional services firms revised their figures to include partners.