Women working for Kent Police are earning on average 13.6% less than men, according to figures released today.

The force says that men and women in the same roles are paid the same and that there is a difference between those who work on the frontline - police officers - and those that do not.

According to the force’s formal gender pay gap report, that means the figures could be misleading.

For police officers, the mean pay gap is 2.6%, while the gap for police staff is 9.3%.

The median gender pay gap for the force is 27.5%. In its report, the force says of its 5,615 strong workforce, 57% are officers while 43% are staff and that there are more male officers - 72% - while there are more female staff - 61%.

When it comes to the average hourly pay rates, male employees earn £17.47 while women earn £15.10.

There are some significant differences in the number of men and women in senior roles. There are eight male chief superintendents and seven women but when it comes to the ranking below - superintendents - there are 19 men and two women. At chief inspector rank, there are 37 men and 10 women.

When it comes to the ethnicity pay gap, non-British employees earn on average 5.3% less than white British employees with the hourly rate for the former £15.66 compared to £16.54 for the latter.

The report says that the force has recruited 167 more staff from ethnic groups since its last equal pay audit.

Assistant Chief Constable Jo Shiner, who is also the Chairman of the Diversity Board at Kent Police, said: ‘We have been addressing the gap between the number of male and female officers and continue to do so.”

A recent inspection acknowledged the efforts the force was making to narrow the gap, she added.

The force’s report underlines that the pay for police officers is set within a national framework.

It also says that it is committed to giving women more opportunities to take up more senior roles.

Alan Pughsley, Chief Constable of Kent Police, said: “We have made progress historically by introducing measures that improve representation among diverse groups from recruitment through to promotions and individual development as a result of conducting equal pay audits for police staff since 2005. This has enabled us to make recommendations and take any required action, improving the balance for gender, ethnicity and disability.”

But he said tackling the disparity at senior levels would take time.

All employers with more than 250 staff are now required to publish gender gap reports each year as part of an initiative to tackle pay inequalities.

Kent Police compares favourably with Essex Police which has a 14.4% difference in pay for men and women.