Seven of the UK’s 11 biggest supermarkets have narrowed the mean average gender pay gap – while Tesco, Asda, JLP and Ocado Retail have slipped back.
Aldi, Co-op, Iceland, Lidl, M&S, Morrisons and Sainsbury’s have all moved closer towards pay parity.
However, Ocado Retail’s mean hourly gender pay gap has risen sharply in a year, from 7% to 12%. That is the second-largest gap behind M&S, on 12.2%.
The newly published gender pay gap reports for 2024/25 show M&S has improved from 12.6% the previous year, but now has the largest mean gap thanks to faster improvement by the Co-op, which has gone from 13.2% to 10.8%.
Asda has the smallest mean hourly gap of the 11, at 7%. That’s despite the gap at Asda growing from 6.6% in a year.
On the median average pay gap – a measure less swayed by the very highest and lowest earners – Asda has improved from 5% to 4%, as reported by The Grocer in February, when the supermarket published its figures earlier than rivals.
Asda has the second smallest pay gap using this measure, behind Lidl, which has reported a median pay gap of zero for the past four years.
All 11 retailers have a median gender pay gap well below the UK average, which was 13.1% in 2024 [ONS].
Ocado Retail’s numbers include head office and call centre roles but not drivers or logistics roles, which are counted elsewhere in the group.
“As a small organisation, a handful of changes can make a big difference in percentage terms and the widening of the gap is due to changes in the senior leadership group during the reporting period,” said an Ocado Retail spokeswoman.
She said Ocado had recently announced a new partnership with D&I in Grocery and was actioning recommendations. “We know that there is more to do to make sure we attract and retain a diverse range of talent, and use our gender pay gap reporting as another opportunity to review our D&I activity,” she added.
An M&S spokesperson said: “We are committed to driving equal opportunities and while we are ahead of the national average, we know there is more to do. We’re making strong progress, we have achieved our 2025 target early, women now make up 50% of our senior leadership team and 55% of our board.
“In our stores, women are also 52% of our store management population. Our focus is on continuing to make M&S a great place to work for women and we’ll continue to put the voice of our colleagues at the heart of our plans.”
Tesco’s mean hourly pay gap has increased from 9% to 9.3%. The numbers are for Tesco Stores Ltd and exclude parts of the wider group such as Booker and Tesco Insurance Money Services, which report separately.
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