International firm Taylor Wessing says it is ‘moving in the right direction’ as its latest gender pay gap report shows that the gap within employees is narrowing.

According to the firm’s 2018 data, the mean earnings gap between male and female employees is 6.3% compared with 13.5% in 2017. However with partners included the pay gap jumps to 67.5%. 

Managing partner Shane Gleghorn said the firm is implementing measures that directly impact gaps in pay and overall earnings and that it is ’moving in the right direction’. He added that initiatives introduced have resulted in an ‘increasingly strong female talent pipeline’.

According to the latest report, 15% of Taylor Wessing partners are female. In 2017 the firm conceded it did not expect to meet its aim of having 25% female partnership in the UK by 2018 and said it would instead pursue a longer-term plan to address the problem which included creating a set of KPIs for practice area leaders, so that each area has a specific action plan on gender diversity.

Organisations that employ 250 or more people are required Under the Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations to 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.

Taylor Wessing has also joined some other firms in reporting separate data for its ethnicity pay gap. Among employees (excluding partners) the ethnicity pay gap is 26.1%. Within this group, 16% of workers identified as BAME. Within partners, of which 10% are BAME, the pay gap is 29%.

Sian Skelton, board member and lead partner for diversity and inclusion, said: ‘Every company should aim to achieve a zero gap, but this is more than just statistic. It will take time for organisations to make the structural and cultural changes needed to achieve this.’