Our pay gap data 2021

Our gender pay gap reporting is based on legal sex because we don’t yet collect data about gender identity. We acknowledge that this does not reflect our commitment to inclusion of the trans and non-binary community and we are working with our LGBT+ Network (InsideOut) to ensure our reporting can be more inclusive going forward. We also publish our ethnic and disability pay gaps again, even though this is not a legal requirement. The calculated pay gaps are based on data recorded on March 31, 2021. The same method of calculation as used to calculate the gender pay gap is used to calculate the ethnicity and disability pay gaps.

We report our pay gaps based on those who share their gender, ethnicity and disabled status.

Pay and bonus gaps

The median gender pay is 20.1% down a further 0.3% from 20.4% in 2020. The mean gender pay gap has decreased to 16.3%, a 2.1% decrease since 2020.

The ethnicity pay gap has seen a larger decrease. The median pay gap is 24.5%, down by 4.4% from 28.9% and the mean pay gap is 24.4%, down by 2.6% from 27.0% in 2020.

Last year we reported our disability pay gap for the first time. The median disability pay gap is 9.4%. It has increased by 1.7%. The mean disability pay gap is 3.8%, a drop of 0.1% when compared to last year.

Our gender bonus gap is 23.5% (median) and 20.2% (mean). The bonus gap is based on the gross bonus paid in the period from 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021. The median has increased by 0.9%, and the mean has increased by 1.2% since last year.

The ethnicity median bonus gap is 5.3% higher than the gender bonus gap and the mean is 5.7% higher at 25.9%. In the last year there has been a 3.2% decrease in the median and a 5.9% decrease in the mean.

The disability median bonus gap has increased from 11.6% to 15.1%. The mean has increased from 5.2% to 15.3%. The proportion declaring a disability is less than 5% so the figures can vary considerably year on year.

Total bonus amount and proportion

Chart tips: hover over data series to view the data values and filter the data categories by clicking on the legend.

Distribution by salary quartiles, 2020/21

Gender, ethnicity and disability split when hourly rate of pay is ordered from lowest to highest and grouped into equal quarters.

The gender distribution split by salary quartiles shows that over the last 12 months the distribution has remained quite static. The percentage of women in the highest quartile has moved from 39% to 40%. There has been no change in the proportion of men and women in the other three quartiles.

There have been some changes to the distribution of the BAME population. The lower and higher middle quartiles show a 1% increase in the BAME population. The lower middle and higher quartiles show a 2% increase in the BAME population. 

The number of colleagues recorded as having any form of disability is 162, 4.2% of the total population. Even though the numbers are small, we see a more even distribution through each of the pay quartiles this year.

Contractual grade breakdown

We’re continuing to work hard to make sure we close our pay gaps by identifying and enacting positive actions to drive this change. Part of this change is to become as open and transparent with our data and figures as we can while complying with GDPR.

Last year we started to publish our ethnicity pay gap even though publication is not mandatory. This year we’ve listened to the request for greater disclosure and transparency around our gender and ethnicity pay gaps and have produced breakdowns that go beyond the mandatory legal reporting requirements.

The charts below provide a breakdown by contractual grade for gender, ethnicity and disability. The charts all show the overall FCA pay gaps by contractual grade for each characteristic.

The gender pay gap chart shows that between grades the pay gap is small. The Administrator pay gap of 20.8% is disproportionately in favour of women. This is the largest driver of the gender pay gap and has dropped by 3.8% since the previous year.

Employee numbers by grade

The ethnicity pay gap shows a large pay gap for Associates. Even though this is the largest BAME population across the grades (so less chance of fluctuation due to small numbers) it’s been consistently high. Analysis has shown that this is due to a greater proportion of the BAME population being in junior Associate roles. This is similar for the Administrator grade.

Employee numbers by ethnicity

Employee numbers by ethnicity - where there are fewer than 10 people n * is used to avoid identifying individuals.

The disability pay gap shows much smaller differentials, with the Head of Department (HoD) grade showing a significant pay gap in favour of those with a disability. The proportion declaring a disability is less than 5% so the figures can vary considerably year on year.

Employee numbers by disability

Intersectional gender vs ethnicity pay gaps

We’ve also considered the intersectionality of ethnicity and gender, not only to provide greater transparency but also to highlight the challenges faced by different groups and how to focus our actions.

This year we’ve again calculated the pay gap for BAME women. The calculation is based on a comparison between BAME women and white men. 

The figures show that BAME women experience the largest pay and bonus gaps:

The FCA currently uses the term ‘BAME’ to describe ethnic diversity, including several ethnic categories aligned to the UK census. We are aware that the term ‘BAME’ is being considered throughout society as the lived experience of those from different ethnic groups is not the same. As an organisation, we are actively considering the future use of this term and possible alternatives. As we have a high declaration rate, it is possible to provide more granular detail on the pay gaps of different ethnic groups. The FCA uses the term BAME to describe all ethnic minorities.

We’ve been more transparent by breaking our ethnicity pay gap down further into the UK census ethnicity categories. This level of breakdown, although still grouping different ethnic groups, is permissible under GDPR.

Ethnicity by contractual grade

Employee numbers ONS breakdown and contractual grade:

Where a * is present there are fewer than 10 people in each category. 

Pay gaps for the Associate grade broken down by the ONS categories

The charts show the Associate grade has some of the highest pay gaps among our black and Asian population. We have investigated further by breaking the Associate grade to sub levels of Junior Associate, Associate and Senior Associate. 

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. This shows the largest pay gaps are at the Junior Associate level, followed by the Associate level, particularly for Black and Mixed/multiple colleagues. The pay gaps are lower for Senior levels of the grade.

Employee numbers by ONS breakdown within the associate grade:

 Gender vs ethnicity – Associate grade pay gaps

We have a high representation of women and BAME colleagues in our Business Support and Junior Associate roles, but with an additional breakdown of ethnicity by gender we can also see there are significant pay gaps at the Junior Associate level for Asian and black women. The pay gap is also high for black women at the Associate level, which has the highest population.

ONS breakdown of women within Associate grade breakdown:

Our biggest challenge remains addressing the representation of women and BAME people at senior levels. We also need to address the over-representation of women and BAME colleagues in our Business Support and Junior Associate roles.

We’re continuing to focus on achieving our set targets at our Senior Leadership Team (SLT) level but even if this is achieved by the end of 2021 it won’t have a significant impact on our pay gap. The analysis by contractual grade and by Divisions shows that to make meaningful improvements to our gender and ethnicity pay gaps we need to increase the proportion of women and BAME colleagues in roles from Senior Associate to Manager level. We have committed to expanding our gender and ethnicity targets beyond our SLT level – introducing targets at Manager, Technical Specialist and Senior Associate level. Improving our mix in these areas is key, not least because these roles are the pipeline for our future senior leadership, and progress in representation at these levels should improve our gender and ethnicity pay gaps.

We continue to review our recruitment and promotion processes to remove bias. In particular our diversity and inclusion resourcing strategy aims to create a level playing field for diverse talent by removing barriers, making it more objective and focusing on recruiting for diversity of experience. We launched a new inclusive talent review process – talent reviews are key to understanding the capability and development potential of all our people. They provide insights into the depth and breadth of capability across the FCA and enable us to make more informed decisions on how we develop, deploy or even recruit people. The approach has been designed to mitigate the influence of unconscious biases by introducing greater objectivity, inclusivity and transparency to the way that we assess, discuss and develop the potential of our people. We are transparent about our salary ranges and about our reward and promotion processes and our Executive members are measured on how effectively they are delivering against our diversity and inclusion goals. We also continue to review and update our flexibility and parental leave policies to ensure they are fit-for-purpose.

For more information about the work we’re doing to improve diversity and inclusion at the FCA and therefore make progress on closing our pay gaps, please see our Annual Diversity Report 2020/2021[1].