News

Wellcome publishes its gender pay gap

Today, we’re publishing Wellcome’s gender pay gap data. On 5 April 2017, we had a gender gap in median pay of 20.8%, slightly higher than the UK average of 18%.

Wellcome's logo

This gap exists mainly because of the disproportionate balance of men and women at different levels of Wellcome.

Overall, around 64% of Wellcome employees are women, but most of the highest-paid senior roles in Wellcome are held by men.

How the gender pay gap is assessed

Gender pay gap is the difference between the average rates of pay for men and women. It reflects broad trends in employment and salaries at an organisation, rather than comparing individuals.

It’s not the same as equal pay, which is the legal requirement to pay people the same rate for the same work.

All UK employers with more than 250 staff are required to publish gender pay gap data on the government website by April 2018.

Measures we're taking to eradicate our gender pay gap

This year we will:

  • introduce fairer ways to support recruitment, progression and retention of women at senior leadership levels
  • improve our diversity data so that we understand better where to target new initiatives
  • provide staff training to mitigate bias.

We have already begun working towards a balanced distribution of men and women throughout Wellcome. As we learn more about the specific barriers that disadvantage certain groups from progressing in our workplace, we will remove them.

In November 2016, Wellcome made Diversity and Inclusion a priority area. To broaden the diversity of people we fund, engage with and employ, we need to change some of our internal structures and practices.

Many of the priority area changes we’re committed to will also help to reduce – and eventually eradicate – our gender pay gap.

More information