WOMEN working at Halton and Warrington Hospitals earn more than a quarter less than their male colleagues, according to new figures.

On average, female employees at Warrington and Halton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust are paid 26 per cent less than men according to the Government Equalities Office.

In the top group of earners at the hospital, 73.9 per cent were women but 77 per cent of the trust’s lowest paid staff were also female.

More than three quarters of workers in the NHS are women on average.

Michelle Cloney, director of human resources and organisational development at Warrington and Halton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: “Our gender pay gap is in line with other NHS trusts of a similar size but we know there is more we can and want to do to reduce the gap.

“We are not complacent about the gender pay gap and are actively working to bring parity to male and female pay.

“This will include a review of flexible working and flexitime requests, promoting awareness of the option to split maternity leave and pay amongst both genders, establishing platforms to explore women’s experiences of career progression and specifically targeting access to leadership courses.

“The first Gender Pay Gap report was published yesterday and has clearly set organisations the challenge to work towards reducing the existing gender pay gap.

“This is different from equal pay, which deals with the pay difference between men and women who carry out the same or similar jobs and where it is unlawful to pay people unequally because of their gender.

“We see the new annual reporting system as an important milestone in raising awareness of this key equality issue.”