Mayor of London Sadiq Khan says he is “deeply troubled” after it emerged on Friday that the capital’s black, Asian and ethnic minority public sector workers are paid on average up to 37.5 per cent less than their white colleagues in 2017.
A report released by the Greater London Authority (GLA) said that the ethnic pay gap at the Metropolitan Police was “particularly stark”, with BAME policemen and women earning up to 16 per cent less per hour than their white colleagues.
London Fire Brigade reported having no ethnicity pay gap at all, while Transport for London, in charge of the capital’s network of tubes, trains and buses, has an ethnic pay gap of 9.8 per cent. The GLA’s own ethnic pay gap is 16 per cent.
It attributed the stark difference in pay between white and BAME public workers to a lack of ethnic minorities in senior roles.
The report also highlighted pay gaps between specific ethnic groups. Black Brits are paid up to 26 per cent less than their white counterparts in London’s public organisations, while British Asians are paid 16 per cent less.
Sadiq Khan said on Friday that he wants to “confront this inequality” and felt “determined” to close the ethnicity pay gap.
“This sort of injustice takes many years to develop and it becomes deeply entrenched,” said the Mayor. “My administration is finally beginning the process of turning this around”.
Mr Khan also urged the UK Government to consider whether businesses should be legally required to publish their own ethnicity pay gaps.
The government made it mandatory for businesses that employ at least 250 people to report their gender pay gaps last year.
Over 1,000 firms have made their gender pay gap figures public so far, with an estimated 8,000 yet to meet an April deadline.
