Mothers earn £302 a week less than fathers, analysis of ONS data reveals

Women with children earn £302 less every week than men with children, according to an analysis.

- Amelia Hill

This means mothers are being paid one-third less a week and almost 20% less an hour. It also means that Mums' Equal Pay Day falls on 1 September this year, almost three months earlier than Equal Pay Day for all women. From this date, mothers are in effect working for nothing for the rest of the year compared with fathers.

The analysis has been acknowledged as accurate by the Office for National Statistics, on whose data it is based. Joeli Brearley, the founder of Growth Spurt, an online back-to-work scheme for parents, said the real picture was much worse because the analysis did not account for the many parents who became economically inactive owing to their caring responsibilities.

"We know that women are much more likely to have been forced to leave their jobs due to childcare costs, maternity discrimination and a lack of suitable flexible working," she said.