New salary figures have shown women in East Anglia are earning only three quarters of what men in full-time comparable jobs earn.

The gender pay gap of 26% means East Anglia is worse than the national average of 23%.

The data, published by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) and salary specialists XpertHR, shows the current gender pay gap for East Anglia’s managers stands at £9,157, with the average salary recorded as £35,115 for men and £25,958 for women.

Analysis of the National Management Salary Survey, which covers 1,951 professional workers in East Anglia and 68,000 across the UK, shows the gap is widest between men and women aged between 45 and 60 and stands at £16,680 per year.

Also, not only is there a salary gap in East Anglia, but there is also a persistent ‘bonus pay gap’, as the average bonus for a female manager in East Anglia stands at £1,704, while for male managers the average pay-out is £2,570.

While annual salary increases for men and women, averaged across all levels, have been level-pegging at 2.3%, there are inequalities within levels. Male department managers’ basic salaries increased by 1.6% compared to 0.4% for women in East Anglia, and, when bonus payments are added, male function heads took home £79,915 compared to £56,517 for women.

However, figures for the next generation of female managers show some cause for optimism. Women’s annual pay awards have edged ahead of men’s in three of the five most junior job levels (an average of 2.4% compared to 2.3%).

The gap still exists for younger women but it is narrower than for their older, more senior colleagues, standing at 6% for those between the ages of 20 to 25, and 8% for those aged between 26 and 35, before leaping upwards for older women.

Ann Francke, CMI chief executive said: “Lower levels of pay for women managers cannot be justified, yet data shows the pay gap remains a reality for too many women in East Anglia. Women and men should be paid on the basis of their performance in their particular roles, but this is clearly not yet the case for far too many.

“We have to stamp out cultures that excuse this as the result of time out for motherhood and tackle gender bias in pay policies that put too much emphasis on time served.”

XpertHR’s head of salary surveys, Mark Crail, said: “The data shows women begin to fall behind at the age when they are most likely to be starting a family, and it just gets worse from then on. It appears that employers often give up on women in mid-career and are missing out on a huge pool of untapped knowledge, experience and talent.”