Download the 2024 report as a PDF file
The 99ÈȾòÝÈÈ×îеØÖ· is world-renowned life sciences institute studying the fundamental biology of human development, health and ageing. The Institute holds charitable status and is committed to promoting and developing a culture of equity, diversity, inclusivity and mutual respect that supports our ambitions and attracts highly motivated and talented people from around the world.
The vision for our research culture is to sustain an inclusive community, in a positive environment that values dignity, inclusion, openness and integrity, for everyone to thrive and take pride in their contribution to the delivery of world-class bioscience research that benefits society.
The Institute continues to work to support equity, diversity and inclusivity (EDI) at the Institute and also as part of the Babraham Research Campus. Our work across EDI is coordinated by our equity4success (e4s) initiative which unites all aspects of EDI at the Institute, including implementation of our Athena Swan action plan and reporting on our progress in areas covered by the remit of the Athena Swan charter.
From 2022-2024, the Institute continued to implement our extended e4s action plan. Objectives defined within this action plan reflect the Institute’s commitment to working towards reducing the gender pay gap by regular analysis of pay and promotion rates, and benchmarking.
Alongside delivering the action plan, the Institute was also successful in securing a renewal of our Silver Athena Swan award in 2024 (access the application and action plan here). In developing an impactful plan for sustained progress, the Institute scrutinised data on people and processes to inform our priority areas for action. We are pleased to see coalescence of our EDI work with several of the Institute’s strategic initiatives: Wellbeing, the Technician Commitment and Research Integrity as part of a project delivered in 2024 to assess the Institute’s research culture. The Institute continues to explore new ways to embed EDI into all areas of the scientific ecosystem, including working with internal and external partners, to make faster, more effective progress.
Reporting our gender pay gap annually in line with current UK legislation allows us to track our progress in building a fair and diverse community that recognises and respects everyone.
[1] Mean: the percentage difference in average pay between male and female employees [2] Median: the percentage difference in the middle value pay between male and female employees
The table above shows the 99ÈȾòÝÈÈ×îеØַ’s overall mean and median gender pay gap (based on hourly rates of pay for all employees) at the snapshot date (5th April 2024) and additional 2023, 2022 and 2021 data for comparison of previous figures. Archived reports are available for previous years 2021/2022, 2020/2021, 2019/2020, 2017/2018 and 2016/2017.
The most recent pay analysis shows that the Institute’s gender pay gap has widened to a median difference of 12.14%, from a median difference of 2.87%. We are disappointed to see such a widening of the gap from previous figures. As a small organisation, small changes in personnel numbers can have a large effect on the gender pay gap calculations. Our eligible headcount for the 2023 calculation was 255 employees whereas our 2024 calculations report on 244 employees. Looking at the gender of these 244 employees, we have seen a small rise in the number of females (134 to 136) but a relatively big fall in the number of males (121 to 108), predominately in positions falling in the lower two quartiles. This increased the proportion of females at lower pay grades. The requirement set by the UK government for organisations to report their Gender Pay Gap is 250 employees in recognition of the impact of small staff changes on the Gender Pay Gap outcome. Our 2024 figures are illustrative of this impact.
With reference to the gender distribution across the four pay quartiles, there has been a slightly decrease in the gender balance in the third quartile, represented by an increase in the proportion of positions held by men from 42% to 46%. With the fourth, upper quartile remaining the same, this third quartile increase represents an overall increase in men at higher pay grades.
Looking at the lower two quartiles, the gender balance in both has shifted towards increased proportions of women, explained by reduced headcount and the loss of more men than women due to staff turnover. In the lowest quartile we seen an increase from 53% women to 64% women from 2023 to 2024 figures, and from the second lowest quartile from 53% to 61% (2023 and 2024 figures). Consequently, this widens the gap with more women in the lower pay quartiles and more men (compared to the 2023 gender pay gap reporting) in the higher quartiles.
Table 1 also shows the mean and median difference in bonuses paid to men and women in the year ending 5th April 2024. The bonus pay calculation represents the gender gap in performance related pay beyond standard pay increases plus bonuses paid to executive level employees.
The gender pay gap in relation to bonus data decreased between the 2023 and 2024 reporting periods. The reduction in the gap is explained by more senior females receiving a bonus compared to 2023 figures. To present relevant context to the 2022 and 2021 bonus pay calculations, for these years bonuses were paid as a flat figure while the Institute operated under pandemic measures. In 2023, and for 2024, bonuses were calculated as a percentage of salary as they had been previously. We recognise that the bonus gap will continue to remain high whilst larger bonuses, consisting of non-consolidated performance bonuses and consolidated performance-related pay awards for exceptional performance, are confined to the top two pay bands which remain solely occupied by males.
As illustrated by the charts in below, a similar proportion of female and male employees received a bonus.
The data below identifies the 99ÈȾòÝÈÈ×îеØַ’s gender distribution across the four equal quartiles (with each quartile containing 61 employees). At the snapshot date of 5th April 2024 the gender split across 99ÈȾòÝÈÈ×îеØÖ· staff was 56% females compared to 44% males.
Due to a reduction in headcount through role turnover and this relating to roles held by men in the two lowest pay quartiles, the gender split across roles in the first and second quartiles has shifted away from gender balance. Male-held roles have increased in the third quartile while the proportion of males and females in the fourth quartile has remained steady. We remain positive about seeing progression of women from the third to the fourth quartile through role development which will help to improve the gender balance at higher executive levels.
In terms of the number of posts represented in the fourth quartile, the gender split is 27 female-held positions and 34 male-held positions.
In the year preceding the snapshot date a total of 17 employees were promoted: 13 females and 4 males. To split the promotion awards by the two upper and lower quartiles, promotions affecting roles in the top two quartiles were awarded to 5 females and 3 males, and in the lower two quartiles were awarded to 8 females and 1 male. In terms of additional role-related pay, the Institute pays an additional amount in recognition of key citizenship contributions where these roles carry significant responsibility and involvement. These are:
We remain committed to long-term change, equitable practices and sustained effort to address gender imbalance at the higher levels of the Institute. Our 2024 gender pay gap figures show the strong influence of shifts in our demographics at lower pay grades while the gender balance at the two higher quartiles shows a smaller degree of change. Our largest difference between male- and female-filled roles is now seen in our lowest quartile where more women hold roles at this level than men. Across the organisation we remain confident that men and women are paid equally for equivalent level roles and that we are recognising and rewarding staff through bonuses without gender bias.
The Board of Trustees and Institute senior leadership remain committed to making progress and responding to our gender pay gap analysis and wider data. Our work in this area includes regularly monitoring gender pay and equal pay, minimising gender-biased actions in recruitment practices, assessing gender differences in the uptake of professional training and development opportunities, increasing transparency about our promotion processes, and identifying and addressing biases in how promotions are awarded.
To give specific examples of action taken to support career progression, the Institute’s Roving Researcher role continues to support research staff and technical teams in instances of long-term leave and we are proud to see this initiative adopted by other UK and European organisations. Focus groups held under the umbrella of our equity4success initiative explored gender disparity in leaving academia with female early career researchers and the findings of these influenced the data we will collect as part of our monitoring, forming actions in the Athena Swan action plan for 2024-2029. The action plan also contains other relevant actions, such as steps to create a supportive environment for parents and carers through the development of a Parent and Carer Network, offering part-time tenure-track group leader positions and career development actions to ensure that women are represented at higher levels of research. More widely, the Institute is continuing its focus on career development and role progression for our employees as part of our Strategic Talent Management Plan, strengthening our culture of support and building pipelines of career progression routes across research, technical and science support roles.
Eradicating the gender pay gap is part of the Institute’s wider commitment to support all employees to achieve their maximum potential, and to remove any barriers to this where possible.
As part of our quinquennial funding review by UKRI-BBSRC in 2023, the Institute developed a Research Culture Statement which is central to our vision of ensuring equitable opportunities for everyone working at the Institute across science and science operations. Objectives in this area (for 2024-2028) set out our plans to review and develop an HR People Strategy including our strategies for recruitment, learning & development and reward. As part of this work, we are progressing the development of a competency framework and a career development framework, continuing the progress made to date and ensuring that we have clearly defined, fair and supportive career paths to equip our staff to grow and succeed at all levels.