A college has hit back at claims it has one of England's highest pay gaps between male and female lecturers.

The University and College Union (UCU) published its report, Holding Down Women's Pay, today to coincide with International Women's Day.

It said men at Great Yarmouth College were paid an average of £3,910 more than women – a 14pc pay gap it said was the third highest in England.

The union produced its ranking following a series of Freedom of Information requests, but the college said it was 'very surprised to be ranked so highly'.

A spokesman said: 'We do not recognise this report as a fair reflection of our college, nor endorse the methodology, which appears flawed. There has been confusion in both the submission of the data last summer and its subsequent analysis, specifically the potential misuse of actual headcount and salaries verses their full time equivalents.'

The college said the UCU used different pay sales, and excluded its highest paid academic staff, eight out of 10 of whom are women.

It added: 'We would be keen to resubmit our data and work with our UCU colleagues to ensure any reports regarding gender pay gaps are more reflective of our robust and fair single equality scheme.'

The UCU initially said City College Norwich had the second highest pay gap, at 15.1pc, but the college said it had submitted the wrong data because of an administrative error.

A City College spokesman said: 'In fact, our female lecturing staff earn marginally more, on average, than male lecturing staff: the average salary for female lecturing staff is £29,556 and for male lecturing staff the corresponding figure is £29,383.'

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