Women get paid less than men in every government department, Whitehall’s own figures have signalled.
Each Whitehall office was asked to reveal the “gender pay gap”, and either admitted men get paid more than female counterparts by up to thousands of pounds a year, or did not answer the question, it emerged on International Women’s Day.
Earlier this week, it was reported in The Times that the department headed by the Conservative Equalities Minister, Nicky Morgan, paid male civil servants £22.30 an hour compared to an average of £20.54 for women.
The Labour Party said based on working a 37 hour week they were £3,386 a year worse off than their male colleagues.
But further investigation by The Huffington Post UK shows the pay gap is not restricted to her Department for Education - there are at least ten, possibly more, where salaries are unequal.
Nicky Morgan has said the "talents of women and men recognised equally and fairly in every workplace"
A series of written parliamentary questions tabled by Labour shows the Home Office, the Department for Work and Pensions, Department for Health, Department for Transport, Department for Energy and Climate Change, Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Equalities Office, Department for International Development, and the Attorney General's Office all boast a divide in favour of men.
The Department for Work and Pensions admitted the "gender pay gap" in 2015 was 3.7%, with women paid £22,212 compared to men on £23,059. It pointed out this was "considerably narrower" than the UK-wide 19.2% gap.
The difference in pay was as high as £9.87 an hour in the Attorney General’s Office. The smallest gap was in the Home Office, but men were still better off by around £900 a year.
Differences in pay in the Attorney General’s Office
Labour condemned the figures as “deeply embarrassing” for ministers, but the government said the civil service was “increasingly equal and more diverse than the majority of British employers”.
Other departments were less forthcoming.
The Cabinet Office and Leader of the House of Commons' Office said the data was "not available" - despite others furnishing a response.
The Cabinet Office's response
The Treasury, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Department for Communities and Local Government provided links to data that did not reveal the information requested.
The Department for Justice, Ministry of Defence and Northern Ireland Office said supplying the data would be at a "disproportionate cost", so did not compile the data.
The Scotland Office and Wales Office said they were subject to other departmental policies, so did not provide the information.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is yet to respond.
Kate Green MP, Labour’s Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities, said: “This is deeply embarrassing for David Cameron and indicative of the Tories’ failure to help working women.
“He must now explain the reason for the pay gap in his own government, as well as outline his long term plan to get to the root causes of financial inequality for women.”
In a speech last month Ms Morgan, the Education Secretary and Equalities minister, said bosses who failed to close the gender pay gap had “nowhere to hide.”
“In recent years we’ve seen the best employers make ground breaking strides in tackling gender inequality. But the job won’t be complete until we see the talents of women and men recognised equally and fairly in every workplace.”
A spokeswoman for the Department of Education said this week: "This Government has gone further than ever before in tackling the gender pay gap.
"Only last month we unveiled a raft of measures requiring companies with more than 250 employees to publish their gender pay gap and we are extending that duty across the public sector.
"We have a world class civil service that is increasingly equal and more diverse than the majority of British employers.
"There will always be more to do but we expect that trend to continue as we continue towards a truly equal workforce in all sectors."