Pay gap means women 'work for free' for the rest of 2015

Women in full-time employment will effectively work for nothing from now until the new year as a result of the gender pay gap, it has been claimed.

Equal Pay Day marks the point each year at which women effectively stop earning compared with their male counterparts, with official figures putting the current hourly pay gap at 14.2%.

The date has arrived five days later this year, indicating that the pay gap has narrowed -although in 2014 it was actually three days earlier than in 2013.%VIRTUAL-ArticleSidebar-jobs-guide%

Sam Smethers, chief executive of gender equality charity the Fawcett Society, called on the Government to speed up the pace of change.

"It is welcome that the date moved in the right direction this year but at current rates of progress it will take 50 years to close the gender pay gap," she said.

"Women should not have to wait that long."

A separate report by the TUC claimed the pay gap was far wider for the nation's highest earners.

For the best-paid 5% of full-time staff, men tended to earn 45.9% more than women, while for the top 2% the gap hits 54.9%.

"The top 2% of male earners bring in more than £117,352 a year, while women get £75,745 - a difference of more than £40,000 a year."

TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady claimed the figures show that the glass ceiling is "barely cracked, let alone broken".

She added: "It is shocking the UK still has such a large gender pay differences at the top of the labour market after more than four decades of equal pay and sex discrimination legislation.

"We need pay transparency, equal pay audits and a requirement on companies to tackle gender inequality - or face fines."