King’s gender and ethnicity pay gaps figures for 2021

We have published our latest gender and ethnicity pay gaps figures for 2021 based on data from March 2021. The requirement to report on the gender pay gap was introduced by the Government in 2017, and this is the fifth year we are publishing our figures.

Women’s mean hourly wage is lower than men’s by:^*

2017	2018	2019	2020	2021
19.5%	19%	17.8%	17.1%	14.8%

^{* The mean hourly rate is the average hourly wage across the entire university so the mean gender pay gap is a measure of the difference between women’s mean hourly wage and men’s mean hourly wage.}

The data we collect, calculate and publish enables us to track our practical progress across equality, diversity and inclusion. It is important to remember that a pay gap is not about equal pay. It is a reflection of occupational segregation, where more women and staff from BME backgrounds at King’s are in lower-paid roles than white staff and men. Having run a number of focused exercises with our staff, we are confident that we pay the same rates to those who are doing the same job at King’s.

The overall findings show that through our collective efforts, our mean gender pay gap has dropped for the third year running and now stands at just over 14%. This has been achieved by regular reporting to managers on the number of women in senior academic and professional services roles; through Professorial pay benchmarking exercises and through work on equitable appointment panels, progression and promotion.

Our Athena SWAN Action Plan provides a clear structure for continued improvements. We are learning how to make further change from the research undertaken by the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership.

We calculate and publish our ethnicity pay gap voluntarily to help us track our progress and areas for improvement. For 2021, this too has gone down but by a small percentage indicating that there is much more work still to be done.

Like the gender pay gap, the ethnicity pay gap reflects occupational segregation, with (following the insourcing of our security and cleaning services) the highest proportion of our Black and Minority Ethnic staff being in our lowest pay bands.

Our Race Equality Charter Action Plan provides the framework that we are using to address the urgent need for faster, tangible improvements.

Achieving balanced representation for different groups of people in roles at all levels across our university is our aspiration. It is a core part of ensuring that everyone, no matter what their background, has an equal opportunity of success as part of the King’s community.

Take a look at our Equality, Diversity & Inclusion webpages to find about what we’re doing to make King’s a more inclusive place to work. You can read more about pay gap reporting in the GOV.UK website.