Our pay gap data for 2024 covers the reporting period 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024.
This year we have seen improvements in all our pay gaps, and we continue to identify and address the underlying issues we know still exist.
1. Calculating our pay gaps
Our pay and bonus gaps are measured on a median and mean basis. The mean and median provide a measure of the centre of the dataset. By comparing the median to the mean, we get an idea of the distribution of the dataset.
- When the mean and the median are the same, the dataset is evenly distributed from the lowest to the highest values.
- When the mean and the median are different then it is likely that the data is not symmetrical and is skewed.
The mean involves adding up all the numbers and dividing the result by how many numbers were in the list.
The median involves listing all the numbers in numerical order. If there is an odd number of results, the median is the middle number. If there is an even number of results, the median will be the mean of the 2 central numbers.
The gap is the difference in these values for one group compared to another. For example, the median for men compared to the median for women.
The calculated pay gaps are based on data recorded on 31 March 2024. The method of calculation used to calculate the gender pay gap is also used to calculate the ethnicity and disability pay gaps.
The bonus scheme has now been completely withdrawn, with final bonuses paid in April 2022. This means that the bonus gap published in 2023, covering the reporting period from 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023, is the last bonus gap to be reported.
For reference throughout the report, where we use:
- 2024 this is the data for the period April 2023 to March 2024
- 2023 this is the data for the period April 2022 to March 2023
- 2022 this is the data for the period April 2021 to March 2022
1.1. Relevant population
We have set out below those employees that are included or excluded in our reporting data, ie, the ‘relevant population’. This methodology is based on how a colleague identifies their gender in accordance with the Government Equalities Office pay gap reporting statutory guidance[1].
Included:
- employees on our payroll on 31 March 2024
- employees who identify as female or male through disclosure; if employees have not disclosed their gender, then we use sex identified through payroll
Excluded:
- employees who have identified as non-binary, use another term, or prefer not to say
- employees who have not been paid a full month’s pay; this could be due to an unpaid absence, or those leaving / joining part way through the month as we are unable to calculate their regular pay
Our relevant population for 2024 is 4,855 employees.
The disclosure rates for gender, ethnicity and disability of these employees are outlined in Figures 1 and 2. For comparison, we have included the disclosure rates for 2023.
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Data table
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Data table
The population identified in the gender pay gap reporting is the same population used for the ethnicity and disability reporting ie, only those colleagues who meet the gender pay gap reporting criteria are included. This means the disclosure rates in this report may differ from other published data.
Employees who have selected ‘prefer not to say’ for ethnicity and disability status are included in our disclosure rates.
It is important to consider disclosure rates when reviewing movements in pay gap reporting, with those declaring any given characteristic being a proportion within this. Smaller populations are more likely to have bigger percentage changes where the underlying data may see minimal shifts. We continue to encourage our colleagues to disclose their characteristics.
Depending on the workforce analysis presented, not all the tables in this report will total to the relevant population figure in Figure 2. This includes where:
- employees have been broken down by contractual grade
- the table does not include the ‘prefer not to say’ disclosure category
1.2. Ordinary pay
The pay gap calculations are based on colleagues' ‘ordinary pay’.
This includes elements such as:
- basic pay, after any reduction for salary sacrifice schemes, such as pension contributions
- allowances
It does not include elements such as:
- overtime pay
- exit payments
- business expenses
2. Key findings
Our latest figures compared to the last 2 years are shown in the table below.
Key changes for 2024 compared to 2023:
- reductions in all our median and mean pay gaps
- significant reductions to our median and mean ethnicity gaps (down by 4.5 and 4.3 percentage points respectively) and the median disability pay gap (down by 4.0 percentage points)
- there are no bonus gaps in 2024 as the final bonuses were paid in April 2022 and reported in 2023
3. Movements in our pay gaps
Overall, our pay gaps have been moving in the right direction over the last 3 years.
The changes introduced in the new employment offer[2] have helped underpin these improvements by focusing the greatest pay increases on those in less senior roles. This has resulted in a positive impact on the pay of younger, female and minority ethnic colleagues.
The 2024 pay gaps include the salary changes applied in April 2023, which was the second year of implementing our new employment offer.
This year, both the median and mean pay gaps have improved for gender, ethnicity and disability.
The median gender pay gap has improved by 2.8 percentage points since 2023. We have seen more significant positive movements in our median pay gap for ethnicity and disability, with 4.5 and 4.0 respective percentage point changes since 2023.
There has been a 0.9 percentage point improvement in the mean gender pay gap. Similarly, we have seen positive improvements in the ethnicity and disability mean pay gaps with 4.3 and 1.9 respective percentage point changes since 2023.
Our remaining pay gaps continue to be driven mainly by imbalances in the distribution of colleagues in different roles and grade levels within the organisation. To help address this, in 2023 we revised and expanded our gender and ethnicity targets, making them more ambitious to increase female and minority ethnic representation at senior levels of our organisation.
Alongside target setting, our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programme[3], which runs to 2026, sets out several interventions that will help to:
- improve representation across all diversity characteristics
- narrow our pay gaps even more in future years
4. Pay gaps
4.1. Pay gaps by gender, ethnicity and disability
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Data table
4.2. Distribution by salary quartiles
The distribution by salary quartiles looks at the hourly rate of pay when ordered from lowest to highest and grouped into equal quarters.
Gender
There has been a slight decrease in the distribution of women in the lower middle quartile, moving from 53% to 52% when compared with the previous year.
This positive trend means there are relatively more women moving into the higher middle quartile, with 48% in 2024 compared to 47% in 2023.
There has been no movement in the higher quartile at 42% for both 2023 and 2024.
Ethnicity
While there has been a 1.0 percentage point increase in the lower quartile (49% to 50%), there has been a decrease of 1.0 percentage point in the lower middle quartile (41% down to 40%) for the minority ethnic group.
There has also been a 2.0 percentage points increase in the higher middle quartile (32% to 34%) and a 5.0 percentage points increase in the higher quartile (18% to 23%) for the minority ethnic group.
This is a positive trend with an increase of the distribution of the minority ethnic group into the higher salary quartiles when compared against the previous year.
Disability
The number of colleagues who have disclosed a disability is 275, which is 7.8% of those who declared their disability status. This compares with 208 colleagues (7.1%) declaring a disability in 2023.
Even though the numbers are small, there tends to be a more even distribution through each of the pay quartiles in 2024. There has been a slight increase in the percentage of colleagues in the lower middle, higher middle and higher quartiles compared to 2023.
4.3. Contractual grade breakdown
The figures below provide a breakdown by contractual grade for gender, ethnicity and disability.
The figures show the overall FCA pay gaps by contractual grade for each characteristic.
Given the size of the associate contractual grade, this has been separated out into two groups:
- level 9 and level 8 associates
- senior and lead associates
The disclosure rates in Figure 8 differ from the overall disclosure rates set out in Figure 2 as employees are not included who either:
- are not categorised to a contractual grade
- have selected ‘prefer not to say’ for a disclosure category
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Data table
Gender
Figure 9 shows the mean gender pay gap broken down by contractual grade for 2024 and 2023.
Within grades the gender pay gap is relatively small.
- Negative numbers indicate pay gaps that favour women.
- Positive numbers indicate pay gaps that favour men.
The professional support pay gap of -29.5% reflects the fact that there are more than 6 times as many women as men. This over-representation is a significant driver of the overall gender pay gap.
We have reproduced the overall 2024 gender pay gap figures but excluded any employees in the professional support contractual grade. This reduces the median gender pay gap from 11.5% to 8.1% and the mean pay gap from 12.2% to 8.3%.
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Data table
Ethnicity
Figure 11 shows the mean ethnicity pay gap broken down by contractual grade for 2024 and 2023.
There has been an overall positive change in all grades for ethnicity except for manager, where the gap has increased by 1.5 percentage points.
- Negative numbers indicate pay gaps that favour ‘minority ethnic’.
- Positive numbers indicate pay gaps that favour ‘white’
There is a greater proportion of minority ethnic employees within the level 9 and 8 associate roles, with lower numbers in the senior associate and lead associate roles when compared against the white group. This is similar within the professional support grade and explains the larger pay gaps at this grade.
The level 9 and 8 associate group has seen a positive change, with a reduction in the ethnicity pay gap of 1.4 percentage points from 4.7% down to 3.3%.
The senior and lead associate group has also seen a positive change with a reduction in the ethnicity gap of 2.4 percentage points, from 4.3% down to 1.9%.
The professional support grade now has the largest ethnicity pay gap at 8.1%, however this is down 1.3 percentage points from the previous year.
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Data table
Disability
Figure 13 shows the mean disability pay gap broken down by contractual grade for 2024 and 2023.
- Negative numbers indicate pay gaps that favour ‘Disabled’.
- Positive numbers indicate pay gaps that favour ‘Not disabled’.
The disability pay gap has improved in all contractual grades except for technical specialist and associate – level 9 and 8. However, the overall disability pay gap for both of these is not significant at 0.4%.
The proportion of employees declaring a disability is small and as such the figures can vary considerably year on year.
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Data table
*Where there are fewer than 6 people, this will show as 0 on the chart view and an asterisk (*) in the data table, to avoid identifying individuals
4.4. Intersectional gender vs ethnicity pay gaps
We have also considered the intersectionality of ethnicity and gender.
Since 2020 we have calculated the pay gap for minority ethnic women, based on a comparison between minority ethnic women and white men.
- Negative numbers indicate pay gaps that favour ‘minority ethnic women’.
- Positive numbers indicate pay gaps that favour ‘white men’.
When comparing the 2 years, there has been an improvement in the combined gender and ethnicity median and mean pay gaps.
While most gaps are reducing, minority ethnic women experience the largest pay gaps. These gaps are largely driven by the higher concentration of minority ethnic women in more junior roles and the higher concentration of white men in more senior roles.
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Data table
4.5. Ethnicity by contractual grade
Figure 17 shows the ethnicity pay gap broken down by contractual grade against the 5 Office for National Statistics (ONS) ethnicity categories.
For the purposes of this reporting, our apprentice and graduates are categorised as associates – level 8.
- Positive numbers indicate pay gaps that favour ‘white (equivalent grade)’.
- Negative numbers indicate pay gaps in favour of the relevant comparator characteristic
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Data table
* Where there are fewer than 6 people, this will show as 0 on the chart and an asterisk (*) in the data table, to avoid identifying individuals.
The data shows that on average the highest pay gaps are among our black employee population. There is also a significant pay gap for mixed/multiple ethnicity and other groups at the professional support contractual grade.
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Data table
* Where there are fewer than 6 people, this will show as 0 on the chart and an asterisk (*) in the data table, to avoid identifying individuals.
4.6. Pay gaps for the associate grade broken down by ONS categories
Figure 19 below shows the ethnicity pay gap broken down by the associate grade against the ONS ethnicity categories.
- Positive numbers indicate pay gaps that favour ‘white (equivalent grade)’.
- Negative numbers indicate pay gaps in favour of the relevant comparator characteristic noted under the ‘category’ heading.
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Data table
* Where there are fewer than 6 people, this will show as 0 on the chart and an asterisk (*) in the data table, to avoid identifying individuals.
The associate grade includes a wide range of roles, so this breakdown provides a truer reflection of the pay gaps within this very broad grade.
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Data table
* Where there are fewer than 6 people, this will show as 0 on the chart and an asterisk (*) in the data table, to avoid identifying individuals.
4.7. Combined gender and ethnicity associate grade pay gaps
Figure 21 shows the pay gap broken down for minority ethnic women in the associate grade against the ONS ethnicity categories.
- Positive numbers indicate pay gaps that favour ‘white men (equivalent grade)’.
- Negative numbers indicate pay gaps in favour of the relevant minority ethnic women noted under the ‘category’ heading.
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Data table
*Where there are fewer than 6 people, this will show as 0 on the chart and an asterisk (*) in the data table, to avoid identifying individuals.
We have a high representation of women and minority ethnic colleagues in our professional support and associate roles. With the additional breakdown of the associate grades by ethnicity and gender we can see the highest pay gaps are among black women in the senior and lead associate levels at 3.8% and 4.8% respectively.
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Data table
* Where there are fewer than 6 people, this will show as 0 on the chart and an asterisk (*) in the data table, to avoid identifying individuals.