The gender pay gap at Transport for Wales (TfW) has been reduced according to a new report.

TfW says the recruitment of 22 more female train drivers in the year 2022/23 has contributed to this reduction.

Consequently, the median gender pay gaps for Transport for Wales (TfW) Rail and TfW Group now stand at 16.2 per cent and 14.1 per cent respectively, a reduction of 1.2 and 18.7 percentage points.

Higher-salaried roles within the organisation have seen an increase in female recruits, helping to balance the proportion of colleagues across all salary levels.

As of April 2023, there were 76 female drivers, a significant increase from the previous April where only 54 positions were occupied by women.

This accounts for 9.3 per cent of all drivers compared to 7.4 per cent in 2022.

Women's representation in TfW’s new apprenticeships sees a similar upward trend, increasing from 14.3 per cent the preceding year to 42.9 per cent in 2023.

Marie Daly, chief customer and culture officer at Transport for Wales, said: "I am delighted to report that our gender pay gaps have narrowed once again.

"Women are now better represented in higher-paid positions and both organisations have increased the proportion of women working for them."

According to Ms Daly, this has not been a superficial change.

She highlights that this shift has been the result of consistent efforts, including investment in the leadership training of women at TfW, increased collaboration with trade unions to encourage more women into driver and engineering roles, and focus on improving well-being through initiatives like menopause workshops.

In the next year, TfW plans to continue its drive to improve opportunities for women which include publishing key performance indicators to measure female recruitment, offering greater secondment opportunities, reducing unconscious bias, and improved engagement with the communities they serve to understand how barriers to employment and retention can be further reduced for women from underrepresented backgrounds.

To learn more about TfW’s initiatives towards reducing the gender pay gap, the full report can be accessed via their website.