SSE has become the first Ftse 100 firm to publish its gender pay gap before new rules come into force.

The Perth-based energy giant’s move is in line with the UK Government’s new reporting requirements on the issue and is well in adance of the April deadline for doing so.

This is the second year in a row that SSE has published these figures, having voluntarily reported its gender pay gap statistics last year before it became mandatory.

SSE’s median gender pay gap of 19.3 per cent in 2016/17 is slightly higher than its gap in 2015/16 of 18.7 per cent.

The firm admitted its gender pay gap were worse this year, but not unexpected and a consequence of the firm’s strategy to become more inclusive and diverse – and close the gap in the long-run.

John Stewart, SSE’s Director of Human Resources, said: “Genuine transformation for SSE, and across the UK’s labour market, will require meaningful societal changes as well as improvements at organisational-level. SSE is committed to being a leader for driving change in both of these areas.”