Highly paid employees in the East Riding of Yorkshire earn about £25,000 a year more than those on the bottom rungs of the salary ladder

The Equality Trust says figures from the Office for National Statistics, which reveal a gap of nearly £25,000 between the UK’s highest and lowest earners, “paint a depressing picture of dangerous income inequality”.

In the East Riding of Yorkshire, the average weekly pay packet for the top 20% of earners in full-time roles is now 2.2 times those in the bottom fifth – a gap of £24,565.

The figures, for workers who live in the area, use median, rather than mean, averages, to stop them being skewed by particularly small or large salaries.

They show the top 20% of earners were paid £855 weekly on average, or £44,455 annually.

For low earners, weekly pay was just £383 – £19,890 a year.

The average full-time employee in the East Riding of Yorkshire works 37.5 hours per week, with a median annual salary of £28,657. The figures refer to basic pay and do not include bonuses or overtime.

The pay gap between the East Riding of Yorkshire’s highest and lowest earners is in line with the UK average.

Dr Wanda Wyporska, executive director of charity the Equality Trust, said: “Just like the gender pay gap, the gap between high and low paid workers is not shrinking fast enough.

“But this is an even greater scandal because the evidence shows that in countries with high levels of inequality, like the UK, there are higher levels of violent crime, physical and mental ill-health, infant mortality and lower levels of trust and educational attainment.

“By continuing to ignore inequality, decision makers are failing to truly realise the social and economic potential of this country.”