The UK’s 11 biggest grocers have closed the mean hourly gender pay gap in their workforce from 9.1% to 8.2%, latest annual progress reports show.
Figures filed with the government’s Gender Pay Gap Service show Asda has the smallest mean gender pay gap for the second year in a row. It stands at 6.5% in 2025/26, down from 7% in 2024/25.
At the opposite end of the table, Ocado Retail’s has grown from 12% to 14% to make it the worst-performing grocer on mean gender pay gap. It takes the unwelcome title from M&S, which has improved from 12.2% to 10.8%.
Ocado is also the only one to have moved backwards since it first reported, in 2020/21, when its mean hourly gap was 12%.
The other 10 filed their earliest reports in 2017/2018, before Ocado Retail was created in Ocado Group’s joint venture with M&S. The average across those 10 has fallen from 13.4% to 7.4% over eight years.
Tea Colaianni, founder of WiHTL and Diversity in Retail, said the progress was “genuinely encouraging” but warned of continuing inequality at senior level.
“Since reporting began in 2018, this shift reflects the sustained focus, accountability and leadership commitment required to drive real change at scale,” she said.
“However, this is not a moment for complacency. Momentum must be maintained, as our own research at Diversity in Retail shows 47% of senior women have considered leaving their roles due to concerns about burnout, while two-thirds do not perceive promotion processes as fair. These findings highlight the gap that still exists between progress on pay and the broader experience of women in the workplace.
“To build on the gains achieved so far, companies must remain firmly committed to creating environments where women can not only reach the most senior positions but thrive once they are there.”
M&S CEO Stuart Machin sparked debate online last week with remarks he made at a conference about not liking leaders to “switch off” while on holiday. Critics said women were less able to meet the expectation because they took on more parental responsibility, while Machin’s defenders, including M&S marketing director Sharry Cramond, argued it was possible to juggle parenting with staying in touch.
Across the 11 retailers, men make up 59% of employees in the highest-paid quartile, a figure that has improved from 60% since last year. In this area M&S is the best-performing, with women making up 56% of employees in these higher-paid roles, up from 55.4% last year. However, it is also an area in which M&S has moved backwards since 2017/18, when women made up 66%.
Ocado Retail said it was “disappointing” to see its mean pay gap move in the wrong direction, while noting its numbers excluded logistics and driver roles, which were counted as part of Ocado Group.
“We’re committed to driving equal opportunities, including ensuring equal pay for equivalent roles and equal opportunities for talent and promotions,” said an Ocado Retail spokesperson.
“While as a small organisation, consisting of head office and call centre roles only, we will always be impacted disproportionately by small year-on-year fluctuations, we invest heavily in attracting and retaining a diverse range of talent and we will continue to do so.”
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