Gender Pay

What is the Gender Pay Gap?

The gender pay gap looks at the difference in the average pay between all men and women in an organisation, taking account of the full range of jobs and salaries.

It is different to equal pay, which looks at the differences between pay for men and women who carry out the same jobs, similar work, or work of equal value.

The UK’s gender pay gap for median gross hourly earnings is currently estimated to be around 14.9%.

We will continue to challenge ourselves to tackle some of the systemic challenges that underpin imbalance, and we will focus our actions where we can make the biggest difference, as we strive to build an ever stronger and more diverse organisation, where everyone has an equal chance to succeed.

We have a number of processes in place to create greater equity and support a workforce that is more reflective of society. Our latest figures, show that the work we have been doing to bring our pay gap closer to balance has made a difference, but we know we still have more to do across all parts of our business.*

Gender Pay at The Crown Estate (reporting date 5th April 2022)

Base Pay

Our mean (average) base pay gap now stands at 7.4%◊, slightly reduced from 8.1%* in 2021.

Our median gap is 6.7%◊, reduced from 11%* last year.

Both figures show some improvement on the previous year.

The number of women in the business has increased (45% in 2022 vs 42% in 2021) and we have recruited and promoted more women during this reporting period into higher pay quartiles.

Bonus Pay

Our mean bonus gap is 21.6%◊ it was 8.1% in 2021 and our median bonus gap is now standing at –8.8%◊ it was -7.2% in 2021.

In 2021 the largest bonus was paid to a woman who no longer works at The Crown Estate and in 2022 the largest bonus was paid to a man. This has caused the mean bonus gap to widen.

70.0%◊ of men and 67.1%◊ of women received a bonus this year. (In 2021 82.5% of men received a bonus and 78.9% of women received a bonus)*.

Due to a number of new joiners and leavers to The Crown Estate during the reporting period who were ineligible to participate in the bonus arrangement, the proportions receiving a bonus has decreased.

Gender split by pay quartile

As the graphic below illustrates, we have a relatively balanced representation of men and women in the upper middle quartile of our organisation. The higher and lower levels of our pay spectrum are disproportionately men, and the lower middle quartile is disproportionately women.

*The metrics for 2022 have been calculated in accordance with the Reporting Criteria, that sets out the treatment of casual workers which has been changed during the period following further legal advice on the interpretation within The Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2017. Metrics for 2021 have been re-stated for a direct comparison. Metrics for 2020 have not been re-stated and as they are not directly comparable to 2021 and 2022 metrics, they have not been included in this report.

The re-stated metrics are stated below:

What are we doing to close the gap?

Over the last year we have continued to drive forward initiatives to help close this gap. We want an inclusive culture where we attract and develop new and diverse capabilities; and build a workplace where our people are empowered, diverse thinking is encouraged, and people are recognised for their contribution.

We have recently started our talking talent practice. Our Diversity Equity and Inclusion data has given us a view on representation within senior talent pools and over the next 12 months we will look deeper into the organisation. From a recruitment perspective, our hires at an organisational level have been balanced, however we have more to do at a senior level, where 35% of hires have been women. When looking at succession in our Group Leadership Team, 63% of our identified next level leaders are women. This talent pool will have targeted investment to help them realise their leadership potential over the course of the next 2-3 years. We believe that this action will increase the proportion of women in higher pay quartiles which in turn could improve our gender pay gap.

We continue to provide coaching for those returning to work following parental leave with the majority accessing the coaching support. Of those people who have accessed the coaching, 90% have remained within The Crown Estate for longer than 12 months after their return to work from the period of leave, as of April 2022. We believe that these actions create the right environment to support our returning parents.

Lisa White - Director of People and Culture

For more information on how we calculate our Gender Pay Gap, please see here for our methodology.

Limited Assurance: KPMG LLP has provided independent limited assurance over selected gender pay gap data highlighted on this webpage with the symbol ◊, using the assurance standard ISAE (UK) 3000. KPMG has issued an unqualified opinion over the selected data. KPMG’s full assurance statement is available here, which together with our Reporting Criteria, should be read in conjunction with the assured gender pay gap data above.