Linklaters' U.K. gender pay gap has widened slightly, the firm has announced. 

The firm's mean pay gap for all full-time employees – including equity partners – increased from 61.1% to 62.2% during the 12 months to April 2019.

Its ethnicity pay gap has also increased from 30.3% last year to 32.9% in the most recent figures. It is the second time the firm has voluntarily produced data based on ethnicity.

As was the case the previous year, the firm's gender pay gap is most pronounced at the uppermost pay 'quartile', albeit inching down from 48.4% to 48.1%. The lowest pay quartile at the firm remains overwhelmingly in favour of women, with women accounting for 74% of the firm's bottom tier of employees, and the pay gap swinging over the threshold to -4.8%. 

Excluding equity partners, the data becomes more balanced, with women representing half (50%) of the top pay quartile. The data accounts for all U.K. 'Linklaters business services' employees.

The report follows a new parental leave programme, which the Magic Circle firm introduced just last week. The refreshed policy allows any U.K. employee whose partner is having a baby, adopting a child or becoming a parent through surrogacy to take 12 weeks of fully paid leave.

Last year, Linklaters' became the first of the Magic Circle firms to report its gender pay gap data. Earlier this year, the firm surpassed its 30% annual election target of new female partner promotions, with a third of the firm's 33 newly promoted lawyers being women. 

In September, Allen & Overy became the first firm to report its most recent pay gap figures, with its partner pay gap holding steady at 15.9%, alongside its partnership makeup. Currently, 80% of the firm's U.K. partners are male.