A Bradford academy trust responsible for running 14 schools in the district pays its female staff 44 per cent less than its male staff on average.

Government figures show how Bradford Diocesan Academies Trust, which runs schools including Bradford Forster Academy and Buttershaw Business and Enterprise College, has an hourly rate for men which is 44 per cent higher than for women.

The mean hourly rate was 23.2 per cent higher for men than for women.

It has one of the highest median gender pay gaps in Bradford.

The Trust’s workforce is 76.6 per cent female.

A statement put on the Trust’s website by Carol Dewhurst, chief executive officer and accounting officer, said: “While the apparent pay gap between men and women appears large, this is contextualised by the demographic of the employees in that 76.7% of the workforce is female, and that there is a substantial skew in lower salaried jobs which are historically and predominantly occupied by females.

“The fundamental reason therefore for the identified gender pay gap is the disparity in proportion between female and male in term-time only, part-time, lower paid roles in schools such as lunchtime supervisors and teaching assistants.”

Bradford Academy Trust reported a median gender pay gap of 39 per cent and a 22 per cent mean gap.

The gender pay gap is different to “equal pay”, which deals with the pay differences between men and women who carry out the same jobs.

The national average is 18.4 per cent.

Figures also show the proportion of staff in pay quartiles, and at Bradford Academy, 51 per cent of women are in the top quartile compared to 49 per cent of men.

Tahmina Hashmi, executive principal, said the median hourly rate was high because more women worked in lower paid jobs throughout the school.

She said: “The top quartile suggests that if you are a female at Bradford Academy you can access the higher salaries.

“Our top 10 women earn more than the top 10 males.”

Elsewhere, the University of Bradford has a median hourly rate that is 21.1 per cent lower for women that it is for men and Bradford Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust’s gender pay gap is 3.2 per cent lower.

At Bradford Council the mean gap is 8.2 per cent and the median is 11.1per cent.

Bradford District Care Foundation Trust was the only organisation to report a median gender pay gap favouring women, with 4.6 per cent, however, its mean hourly rate still favoured men by three per cent.