The millionaire gender pay gap is growing in Britain with 14 times more men earning seven-figures salaries than women.

Figures published this week revealed that 14,000 male taxpayers earned more than £1million last year, compared to just 1,000 of their female counterparts.

The government figures show the gap has widened from the previous year, when there were ten times more men in the millionaires' club than women.

While the number of female high-earners has remained roughly the same since then, the number of men earning top salaries has continued to soar.

The millionaire gender pay gap is growing with 14 times more men earning seven-figures salaries than women, new figures show (posed by model)

Experts said the pay gap is due to firms hiring more senior women - but only making them non-executive directors, as opposed to paid employees of the senior management team.

Others warned that women are still being punished for having children by finding themselves locked out of promotions and pay rises, despite returning full-time and to the same role.

Edwin Morgan, from the Institute of Directors, told the Independent: 'We've had a lot of action focused on getting women onto boards - the FTSE has hit the target, but that's mainly come from non-executive positions. We just don't have women in the senior executive roles.

'In order to tackle this you're going to have to get more companies offering the high paying executive roles on a part-time or a job share basis.'

Official figures suggest the gender pay gap is at its lowest level - less than 10 per cent - since records began, and only two per cent for full-time workers under the age of 40.

But separate figures released by the Chatered Management Institute suggest that this changes when women hit 40, as they start being paid on average 35 per cent less than men for doing the same role.

In 2013, a report compiled by the wealth consultancy company WealthInsight also found that just 11.4per cent of millionaires in the UK are women, with 14 other countries performing better than Britain.

While the number of female high-earners has remained roughly the same since the previous, the number of men earning top salaries has continued to soar. This graph shows the gender pay gap at every tax bracket

Ann Francke, from the CMI, said employers were still guilty of 'unconscious bias' and that companies were still dismissing mothers who returned to work as somehow less ambitious or capable.

She said: 'In the managerial sector, the gender pay gap appears between the age of 35 and 40 as women just slide off the pay scale.'

She added that male executives had a responsibility to try to close the gender pay gap including tracking any differentials in pay among their own workers.

From April next year, all companies with more than 250 staff are to be forced to reveal what they pay men and women, including any differences.

One of the main reasons we have a gender pay gap is because women are less likely to work in some of the highest paid sectors Minister for Women and Equalities Caroline Dinenage

The 8,000 firms affected will be divided into different industries and as well as highlighting the average gap between staff wages of men and women, employers will also have to detail any bonuses they pay.

The information will be divided into quarters to show salary gaps between the top 25 per cent of staff and their less well-paid colleagues, exposing firms dominated by male bosses but with more women in junior roles.

The HMRC figures from 2013/14, published yesterday, show that men earn more money than women at every income bracket.

In the bracket between £15,000 and £50,000, the number of men was 45 percent higher than women. Six times as many men as women earned more than £200,000.

But there are more men paying taxes in the country. The figures show 17.4m income taxpayers were male while 13m were female.

Today, it was announced that leading firms are launching a new scheme aimed at encouraging schoolgirls to consider careers in areas such as engineering and technology - typically more high-paid sectors.

BT, Ericsson, 02 and Vodafone are joining forces to introduce a pilot programme to match school pupils with a business mentor. The companies said they hoped the programme can be rolled out across the UK.

Commenting on the announcement, Minister for Women and Equalities Caroline Dinenage said: 'One of the main reasons we have a gender pay gap is because women are less likely to work in some of the highest paid sectors.