As of April 2018, all organisations that employ 250 people or more are required to report on their gender pay gap.
What is the gender pay gap?
The gender pay gap is a measure of workplace inequality, expressed in terms of a comparison between men's and women's average hourly rates of pay.
It provides a framework within which gender pay gaps can be identified so that, both inside and outside of the workplace, employers and society at large can think constructively about why gender pay gaps exist and how we can all work to minimise them.
The gender pay gap compares pay of all men and women across a workforce without considering differences in roles, experience, and qualifications. The gender pay gap is not the same as 'equal pay' – paying men and women equally for performing identical roles – which has been a legal requirement since 1970.
Our gender pay gap and bonus gap results*
Pay gap
14.7% mean hourly rate (in favour of men)
6.6% median hourly rate (in favour of men)
Bonus gap
-4.8% mean (in favour of women)
0.0% median
Portion of women and men receiving bonus
35.8% women
23.6% men
Our workforce
| Quartiles | Men | Women |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 115 (14%) | 730 (86%) |
| 2 | 95 (11%) | 751 (89%) |
| 3 | 99 (12%) | 746 (88%) |
| 4 | 175 (21%) | 671 (79%) |
*Data reflects the organisation on the snapshot date of 5 April 2024. The bonus data for this reporting period reflects a) our Refer a Friend scheme (Recruitment Referral Scheme), b) our recruitment premiums for certain specialist roles in specific geographies, and c) a special bonus, COVID-related, awarded to employees in Wales & Northern Ireland for those on MC Clinical & Clinical Support T&Cs, which has been aligned in Marie Curie based on the NHS Agenda for Change related decisions.
Analysis and findings
We are pleased to report that our efforts since 2021 to close the gender pay gap have had a positive impact. During this period, the mean gap has reduced from 17.6% to 14.7%, a reduction of 2.9%, and the median gap has reduced from 14.6% to 6.6%, a reduction of 8%.
| 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mean gap | 17.6% | 14.2% | 15.4% | 14.7% |
| Median gap | 14.6% | 15.2% | 12.5% | 6.6% |
The key factor driving such significant decrease in the gender pay gap is the introduction, in 2023, of a new and improved set of terms and conditions for the population in clinical and clinical support roles, which enhanced the remunerations components for colleagues in these roles where 91% of the population is female.
While from 2023 to 2024 we observe a substantial decrease in the gender pay gap median (-5.9% from 2023 to 2024), the lower decrease in the mean (-0.7%) is connected to the nature of this measure which is influenced by few extreme data (very high or very low), while the median provides a more standard representation of the typical employee’s salary.
Additionally, our gender pay gap results are influenced by a combination of the following factors:
Our current and future efforts in closing the gap
During 2024 we continued with a series of initiatives, summarised below, which over time will positively impact our gender pay gap.
For colleagues on Marie Curie Clinical and Clinical Support Terms and Conditions (approx. 2100 colleagues, of which approx. 92% were women) we continued implementing annual salary increases in alignment with similar roles in the NHS. The average increase for this population in 2024 has been 5%.
Flexible job design and inclusive practices – we promote and offer our people at every level, the flexibility to establish both work-life balance and a working pattern that is right for them, and we maintain policies and practices that reflect the culture of inclusion we are striving for. Our workplace evolution initiative has seen more roles change from five days in the office to either flexible or fully remote roles.
Inclusive leadership development – a series of actions which focused on the development of leaders and how they create and foster engagement and performance in an inclusive manner. We're committed to addressing the gender pay gap and are aware that it will take time for our efforts to be reflected in the reported figures. Our new talent acquisition function supports our ongoing reward efforts to reduce the gender pay gap by improving fair hiring practices and processes, provision of advisory to hiring managers on salary offers, continued promotion of pay transparency in job adverts and enhanced technology to assess the diversity of our candidate pipelines and subsequent success of our attraction channels. In 2025 we will also start the roll-out of a series of enhancements in our performance management framework which will reinforce embedding best practices in the areas of diversity and
inclusion in our organisation.
