Article date: Wed, 04 Apr 2018 10:17 GMT

Manchester-based hosting firm UKFast today announces its gender pay gap, which bucks the national average with a mean gap of just 0.9%.

The fast-growing tech firm has a baseline mean gender pay gap of 0%, which rises to 0.9% when shift allowance is taken into consideration. The UK national average pay gap is 18.4%.

UKFast CEO Lawrence Jones MBE said: “Whilst 0.9% is a small amount, we’re working toward ensuring our overall figure for the coming year is 0% and I’m confident we are on track for that.

“The gap is seen when taking shift allowance into consideration simply because, despite our best efforts, the data centre and out-of-hours support teams receiving shift allowances are predominantly male.

“To combat this, we’re focussed on encouraging more women into tech roles. Our work with girls’ schools and education providers in the area is tackling this issue at a grass-roots level. It’s a program we started more than 10 years ago.”

UKFast reaches around 60,000 children through 60 schools in Greater Manchester with Code Clubs, work experience and workshops.

The gender pay gap data requested by the government covers the average pay of men v the average pay of women, regardless of role, something that Jones says could go further.

“It is fantastic to see the government enforcing the release of this data, but is it asking the right question? The gender pay gap exposes the fact that there are fewer women in high-paying jobs or technical roles, rather than a pay gap for like-for-like roles. Both are issues that need tackling, particularly considering that equal pay is the law and it’s flouted by so many big businesses.”

UKFast has a 50/50 gender split within its board of directors and has more women than men in senior management roles.

Businesses must publish their gender pay gap data on the government website before 4 April 2018 or face potential fines. Big businesses are have already published their data including the BBC (9.3%), EasyJet (45.5%), Royal Bank of Scotland (36.5%) and Marks and Spencer (3.3%).

Read the full pay gap narrative.