Lawsons, Keyline, and Grant & Stone are the merchants with the biggest pay gaps in favour of women, while EH Smith, JT Atkinson & Sons and City Plumbing Supplies favour men the most.
According to a BBC report, an average 78% of companies in the UK have a pay gap in favour of men, while 14% favour women. Of the 22 builders’ merchants in our list, 15 favour women – putting builders’ merchanting ahead of most sectors in the UK.
This data comes from Gov.uk, where companies supplied their financial data for 2018/19. The list is not definitive as not every merchant submitted their data. The ranking is based on the median difference in hourly rate between women and men, which is calculated by comparing the difference in pay between the middle-ranking woman and middle-ranking man in the same company.
Other merchants that favoured women included Williams Trade Supplies, Arnold Laver & Company, and Parker Building Supplies. Saint-Gobain and Builder Depot were the merchants with the most equal median pay. Merchants favouring men also included Ridgeons, now owned by Huws Gray, Bradfords Building Supplies, and LBS Builders Merchants.
Here is the full list of employers and their median difference in hourly rate, ranked from those favouring women the most, to those favouring men.
Lawsons -15%
Keyline Builders Merchants -13.4%
Grant & Stone -12.8%
Williams Trade Supplies -9%
Arnold Laver & Company -6.5%
Parker Building Supplies -5.7%
Elliott Brothers -3.8%
Huws Gray -3%
Travis Perkins Trading Company -2.7%
Howarth Timber & Building Supplies -2.6%
Sig Trading -2.3%
Saint-Gobain Building Distribution -1%
Builder Depot -0.9%
Grafton Merchanting GB -0.4%
Crossling 0.3%
RGB 1.3%
LBS Builders Merchants 2.5%
Bradfords Building Supplies 3%
Ridgeon Group 4.6%
City Plumbing Supplies 5%
JT Atkinson & Sons 9%
EH Smith 10.7%.
You can find out how your company ranks here.
