More than 25 UK food manufacturers have released their pay information to the government in an effort to address the gender pay gap.

All companies with more than 250 employees are legally obliged to report on gender pay discrepancies by submitting an annual review at the end of the financial year in April.

The information for 2017 showed that a majority of companies continue to pay their female staff less than male counterparts. Companies with the highest gender pay gap included QV Foods, wher women were paid 13.5% lower than men; Premier Foods at 12.2% lower; and the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), at 12.1% lower.

Beverage company Diageo Scotland revealed a considerable 16.7% lower pay for women (median) on average, yet Diageo GB noted a 9.8% higher pay for women (median) overall.

“This reflects the fact that there is a higher proportion of men in more junior field sales roles and manufacturing roles, and a higher proportion of women in our office-based functional roles,” said Diageo GB in its Gender Pay Gap Report 2017. ​

Diageo Scotland commented that the sizeable median pay gap was catalysed by the type of roles available being unattractive to women; mainly manufacturing roles with unsociable hours.

Diageo reaffirmed its commitment to addressing the gender pay gap last year.

“We are proud of the progress we are making at Diageo with gender, ethnicity and sexual orientation and we want to go further,” a Diageo spokesperson told Drinks Insight. “Creating a truly diverse and inclusive culture is not only the right thing to do, it supports the success of our company.”

As well as median and mean gender pay figures, food producers are also required to publish information on bonuses and quartile breakdowns of the company’s pay structure.

Median figures are said to be more representative as the average pay can be easily skewed by one highly paid staff member.

Other food companies published inverse gender pay gaps wher women were paid more than men. Multinational food producer Unilever UK, which owns Lipton’s and Hellman’s, found that women earned 1.3% more than men (median) and 8.8% more than men (mean) respectively, based on hourly rate figures.

This was a reflection of the fact that 70% of manufacturing roles were filled by men.

“Within the smaller female population, we see proportionally more women in managerial roles, which means that women on average earn more than men,” Unilever said in its Gender Pay Report 2017.