The analysis puts PwC’s mean gender pay gap at 13.7%, while its mean bonus gap is 37.5%.

In comparison, figures from the Department for Education, the first government department to make its data public, show a mean pay gap of 5.3% and a mean bonus pay gap of 0.8%.

Under the new rules private, public and voluntary sector employers with 250 or more employees are required to publish their gender pay gap and bonus pay gap by April 2018. The regulations will cover approximately 9,000 employers with over 15m employees, representing nearly half of the UK’s workforce.

According to government figures, the UK’s national gender pay gap is currently 18.1%, the lowest since records began in 1997.

PwC’s analysis of its pay and bonus data shows that the gap is largely driven by the fact that there are more men in senior higher paid roles and more women in junior and administrative roles.

When these factors are removed, the mean pay gap drops to 2.9%. This compares people’s pay working in the same grade level, where any differences can largely be explained by time in role or skill set factors.  

In addition, the new methodology for bonus pay gap calculations instituted by the government is based on actual amounts, rather than full-time equivalents. PwC says the calculations therefore do not take account of either temporary absence from the business or part-time working.

PwC has been voluntarily publishing analysis of its gender pay gap in its annual report since 2014, when it calculated its single figure gender pay gap was 15.1%.

Laura Hinton, head of people at PwC, said: ‘Publicly reporting our gender pay gap since 2014 has allowed us to understand the imbalances in our business and to do something about it, and it is encouraging to see that our gender pay gap is narrowing.

‘We are confident that we pay our men and women equally for doing equivalent jobs across our business, but our gender pay gap does show us that we have more men in senior positions.

‘We’re addressing this in a number of ways, including our returnship programme, reviewing our recruitment processes, making more senior jobs available as flexible or part-time, and tackling unconscious bias in the workplace.’

PwC’s Women in Work Index 2017 suggests it could take the UK 24 years, until 2041, to close the gender pay gap based on historical trends. Job differences between men and women, both across industries and job roles, is one of the biggest factors contributing to the gap in earnings.

Financial services is the sector with the largest gender pay gap at 34%, whereas public administration and support services have the lowest at 15% and 13%, respectively, according to PwC’s research.

Alastair Woods, partner in PwC’s UK reward practice, said: ‘For many organisations with high gender pay gaps there is clearly a reputational risk. Unless firms are able to explain both why the gap exists and what they are doing to address the underlying issues, many will see them as not providing equal opportunities - which could negatively impact potential and current employees, as well as customers.’

PwC’s Women in Work Index 2017 is here.