The gender pay gap among staff at the Charity Commission has increased more than six-fold over the last year, its figures show.

While in 2023 men working at the charity regulator were paid 0.4% more than women, figures for 2024 show this gap had risen to 2.7%.

The mean hourly rate for men last year at the regulator was £21.82, while for women it was £21.20. In contrast in 2023 this gap was just 18p.

The figures also show that while in 2023 more women received bonuses than men at the regulator, this had been reversed by 2024.

In 2024 93.5% of men and 92% of women received a bonus. The previous year 88.1% of women received a bonus, compared to 82% of men.

The change comes amid a reduction in staff at the regulator, with its staff size reducing from 498 in 2023 to 470 a year later. This decrease is evenly split between men and women.

After the progress made in reducing the gap in 2023, the latest figures bring the Commission’s gender pay gap more in line with historic levels.

Between 2020 and 22 level the gap was 3.2% and 2.8%. But 2024’s gap is still larger than 2019’s figure of 2.5%.

The highest the gender pay gap at the regulator has been over the last seven years was in 2018 when the figure stood at 4.9%.

Gender pay gaps are an issue across the charity sector, according to recent evidence, especially among leaders.

Charity leadership body Acevo’s Pay and Equalities Survey last year found that the gender pay gap between male and female charity leaders was 14.4%. This is the highest level since 2014 and almost double 2023’s gap of 8.3%.

Women continue to be overrepresented in leadership roles at smaller charities but men still dominate higher paying chief executive posts at larger charities, Acevo found.

A Charity Commission spokesperson said: “Our pay gap remains relatively small compared to the wider Civil Service and we are committed to working proactively to close it and will continue to focus on this.”

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