Over the last 12 months, male managers earned average bonuses that were twice as big as those earned by their female counterparts.

The average bonus came to £6,442 for men compared to £3,029 for women. Average salaries were also reported to be close to 25% larger for men (£38,169 compared to £3,029).

Extending these figures over the course of a lifetime, men will take home £141,500 more in bonuses than women doing the same role.

This is according to the National Management Salary Survey, published annually by the Chartered Management Institute and XpertHR.

According to the survey, men are also more likely to get a bonus across all management levels (42.3% compared to 40.6%). This is particularly acute at director level – 52% compared to 42%. Male directors’ earnings rose 5.3% over the last year, compared to 1.1% for women.

The pay gap is in fact more pronounced at senior levels – at entry level women earn £989 more on average than men, but by middle management they receive £1,760 less and at director level the gap widens to £15,561.

There’s also a steep drop-off in female talent once they reach middle management. While more women than men embark on executive careers (64.3% of entry-level staff are female), just 44.3% are female at middle management level and fewer than a quarter at board director level (24.1% are female).

Ann Francke, CMI Chief Executive, said: “Despite genuine efforts to get more women onto boards, it’s disappointing to find that not only has progress stalled, but women are also losing ground at senior levels. Women are the majority of the workforce at entry level but still lose out on top positions and top pay. The time has come to tackle this situation more systemically.”