Professional services employers do not have to include equity partners, who tend to be highly paid and disproportionately male, in their calculations because they are not classified as employees.  Clifford Chance voluntarily disclosed information on partner pay, in addition to reporting required pay information on legal secretaries, associates and other non-partner employees. Clifford Chance has a mean hourly pay gap of 20.3 per cent and a median 37.2 per cent. This is consistent with magic circle rivals, which have mean gaps ranging from 13.9 per cent to 23.2 per cent and a median range of 13.3 per cent to 39.1 per cent.

Eversheds female partners ahead of males

Meanwhile female equity partners at Eversheds Sutherland received 10 per cent more than their male counterparts on average last financial year. Other professional firms in the city such as Big Four companies EY and Deloitte have also included partners in their overall pay gap statistics.

Deadline looming

Across all business and public sectors, of the 4,428 employers out of an estimated 9,000 total who had reported by Tuesday 78 per cent have reported a pay gap, while just over 10 per cent pay women more, based on the median hourly pay gap. Only one per cent report no pay gap at all. The average, measured by the median, is 9.9 per cent. All public sector employers have complied with their stipulated deadline of last Saturday, but around half of private companies, including some legal firms, have yet to deliver figures to the Government with a week until their deadline.