You asked

Please could you provide the data used to calculate the gender pay gap in the UK for 2017. I would like the following information regarding those surveyed:

  • individual income

  • Weekly hours worked

  • hourly rate

I would also like the inclusion/exclusion criteria for this information.

We said

Thank you for your request.

We calculate the gender pay gap from data collected in the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE). That survey data - which is based on approximately 180,000 employee jobs, as explained in the ASHE Quality and Methodology Information - is personal information and cannot be published openly. Under s.39 of the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007, personal information held by us (including that which identifies a body corporate), must not be disclosed. Furthermore, under s.9 of the Statistics of Trade Act 1947, the disclosure of information relating to an individual undertaking obtained for statistical purposes is prohibited. Because the release of this information is prohibited by law, s.44 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 applies.

However, under the Approved Researcher Scheme, ONS grants controlled access to a form of such data for statistical research purposes, as permitted by the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007. Details of the Approved Researcher Scheme, including how to apply, is provided here.

Aggregated statistics relating to hours worked and pay per hour are included in our publication of October each year. The data tables from October 2018 can be found here.