The gender pay gap has widened for the first time in six years despite the disparity narrowing to almost nothing among younger workers, new figures have shown.

Among full-time workers, women were paid 8.9 per cent less than men this year, a rise of 0.3 percentage points from 2018, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

Although the increase was small, it reversed the long-term pattern in which the gap has narrowed. The figure has been falling since 2013, when it stood at 10 per cent for full-time employees. In 1997 the gap was much larger, at 17.4 per cent.