UK female workers still get lower bonuses than males, data firm says

LONDON, Sept 18 (Reuters) - Women in Britain continue to receive substantially lower bonus payments than men, according to human resources data firm Brightmine.

Payroll records for almost 1.5 million employees as of July this year showed male workers received average annual bonuses of £5,442 ($7,300) compared with £3,062 for women.

The gap narrowed only slightly from a year earlier.

The data, published on Friday, also showed:

• 14% of male employees received a bonus compared with 9% of females

• The disparity widened with age: at 56, men received average bonuses of £8,817 compared with £3,769 for women

• Some of the biggest gaps were in finance and in professional and business services

• Sheila Attwood, HR insights and data lead at Brightmine, said the findings suggested differences in progression, seniority and access to higher-value incentive schemes

• 13% of employees received a bonus, unchanged from a year earlier

• The study was based on payroll data for almost 1.46 million employees at 1,190 organisations

• Britain's statistics office has estimated that the gap in overall pay between men and women stood at 6.9% in April last year

(Writing by William Schomberg, editing by Andy Bruce)