BROMSGROVE'S gender pay gap means women will effectively work months for free this year, figures suggest.

Campaigners have called on the government to act after data revealed a "worrying" gender pay gap between the earnings of men and women across the UK.

Estimates from the Office for National statistics show that as of April, female workers in Bromsgrove were paid an average of £13.50 an hour while their male peers received £17.40 – an overall pay gap of 22 per cent.

Over the course of the working year, that means, in effect, women in the area will have worked without pay since October 12.

Nationally, the female workforce is paid a median hourly rate of £12.92 – 15 per cent less than the £15.27 hourly wage earned by men - a gap of almost eight per cent.

Hourly figures are used to remove the effect of overtime, while the median is used to stop them being skewed by particularly small or large wages.

The ONS said estimates for this year are subject to some uncertainty due to issues collecting data during the coronavirus pandemic but the figures suggest the gap for full-time workers has widened nationally since April 2020.

And with women said to have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic, campaigners believe the problem of unequal pay could worsen.

Sophi Berridge, from The Equality Trust, which campaigns to reduce income inequality, said: "During the pandemic, women were more likely to be furloughed or made redundant, suffered from the lack of childcare and took on greater responsibilities of home-schooling and care work.

"The slight increase to the gender pay gap indicates there remains a continuing and pressing problem."

A spokeswoman for the government's Equality Hub said the pandemic had had a serious impact on the work-place and wider economy and will continue to do so.