Fawcett's Response to the 2025 Budget

26 November 2025 

Autumn Budget Response  

Growth must mean closing the gap 

Growth is at the centre of this UK Government’s mission, but the Chancellor announced her Autumn Budget today in the backdrop of a gender pay gap firmly at 10.9%*.  

Closing the gender pay gap is not just an issue of fairness, but a critical driver of economic growth. Ensuring that women are paid equally and fairly will only strengthen our economy. In Fawcett’s 2025 Equal Pay Day Briefing we outline PWC analysis from 2024 that estimates if women in the UK no longer faced a gender pay penalty, the potential increase in women’s earnings could be £55bn per year**.  

The gender pay gap isn’t just a statistic. It’s a monthly shortfall in women’s earnings, a structural drag on our economy. If we close the gender pay gap we put more spending money into homes, increase productivity, and improve retention.

Penny East, Chief Executive  

In 2025, women on average earned £637 less per month than their male counterparts and are in effect working for free for the rest of the year***. With progress stalling, whilst measures in the Employment Rights Bill will add layers of protection for women in the labour market, we really needed to hear a commitment from the Chancellor today that prioritised investing in sectors women work in, as well as  increasing pay in undervalued and female-dominated sectors, such as adult social care and early childhood education and care. 

AI in public services  

One of the Budget’s quieter moments was the announcement of increased NHS automation, powered by artificial intelligence; it includes plans to reduce “back room” staffing. 

But behind those jobs are thousands of women. Admin and support roles in the NHS are disproportionately held by women, including many women of colour, working class women, and older women****. We know that women over the age of 55 are most likely group to be excluded in AI skills and development training. Phasing out these roles without clear gender impact assessments risks deepening inequality under the guise of progress. Innovation must be inclusive. 

Welfare and women 

We warmly welcome the significant step to scrap of the two-child limit. This is a measure that has remained in place for far too long, causing untold hardship to families. With child poverty so intrinsically linked to women’s poverty, this decision was a huge but necessary step in the right direction to creating a most just and fair welfare system, and we congratulate all those who tirelessly campaigned for its removal. 

WASPI 

As ever, WASPI (Women Against State Pension Inequality) women continue to face significant hardship. Women disproportionately rely on the state pension and continue to face systemic disadvantages in pension provision, As the Government moves to review its initial decision to reject compensation for WASPI women, Fawcett will watch closely, and we will press the UK Government to reconsider its position once again.  

Overall, until economic planning fully reflects women’s lives, work, and unpaid labour, we are only budgeting for part of the population. 

That’s where Fawcett comes in. We combine research, policy analysis, and lived experience to push for structural change at all levels of Government. Because equality isn’t a sidebar to economic growth, it’s the foundation.  

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