A leading academic has warned that flawed data on the UK’s gender pay gap risks slowing “progress” on equality in the workplace.

Writing in the Financial Times, Geeta Nargund, pro-chancellor at the University of Portsmouth and chair of a consultancy called The Pipeline, was drawing attention to news last month that figures from the Office for National Statistics had underplayed the size of the pay gap for the last two decades.

Professor Nargund writes: “We already know women continue to face disparities in their careers. Indeed, The Pipeline’s Women Count report found that female representation in executive roles fell for the first time in eight years.

“The fact the true scale of the pay gap has been obscured only compounds the problem. Women still face an uphill battle in the workplace, and any data that downplays the reality becomes yet another barrier to progress.”

She adds: “Transparency and accountability are essential. Without them, we obscure the scale of the problem and delay the solutions and interventions needed to address it.”

‘Consistently under-estimated’

Last month, the Journal of Industrial Relations published an article from academics who applied a modified method for measuring the pay gap. It revealed the “gap has been consistently under-estimated over the last 20 years by around one percentage point”. The story made national headlines.

The Pipeline’s Women Count 2024 report, published in October last year, found that the number of women on executive committees in the FTSE 350 had dropped for the first time in eight years. At the time, only 9% of CEOs in the 350 companies were women and just 18% of CFOs. Only 19% of “commercial roles” were held by women.

In July, a report from executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles found that 50% of all the directors appointed in 2024 to board roles were women, down from 58% in 2022.

The UK was ahead of Fortune 500 companies and those in Germany and Switzerland, but behind France and Spain with 57% and 54% respectively.

In an article for Board Agenda, Jenni Hibbert of Heidrick & Struggles wrote that female appointments to CEO roles were experiencing a period of “inertia”.

She argued the balance would change. “Even so, boards will choose the most suitable candidate for the role, irrespective of gender—and it is the responsibility of organisations, individuals and succession committees to ensure there is a pipeline of qualified, experienced candidates, including women, to choose from.”