SCOTLAND’S gender pay gap has widened by a “scandalous” 30 per cent in the last year, despite women’s pay catching up with men’s across Britain, according to the Scottish TUC.

Its analysis of the latest Office of National Statistics data shows that women in Scotland earn on average £3,000 less than their male counterparts. 

The gap has increased from 6.4 per cent in 2023 to 8.4 per cent this year, meaning that the average woman in Scotland is paid £16.74 per hour, compared with the £18.44 that a man can expect to earn.

The figures represent not only a reversal of a long-term trend towards parity but a move in the opposite direction from Britain as a whole, which saw the gap fall from 7.5 per cent in 2023 to 7 per cent this year.

STUC general secretary Roz Foyer said: “It’s simply staggering and scandalous that, despite progress having been made, the gender pay gap in Scotland has risen by 30 per cent.  

“Women can now expect to take home an inexcusable £3,000 less than their male counterparts.

“With the gap growing more in the public sector than the private sector, it confirms entirely what trade unions have long been calling for: public-sector workers deserve better pay.”

She said the Scottish government “must pay up for women,” adding: “With three-quarters of the local government workforce being female and with over £1.5 billion having landed into the lap of the Scottish government as a result of the UK government’s Budget, there is simply no excuse for them to ignore the voices of women workers any longer.

“Ministers must return to the negotiating table.

“Our public-sector workers deserve a wage that represents their worth and it’s entirely within the power of the Scottish government to make that happen.”

A Scottish government spokesperson responded: “Compared to the UK as a whole, Scotland still has a lower median gender pay gap and more women earning the real living wage or more.