Gender and Ethnicity pay: 2025

This report marks our ninth gender pay gap publication and includes our voluntarily reported ethnicity pay gap data, highlighting our ongoing focus on, and commitment to, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI).  

It presents the differences in pay for both gender and ethnicity - specifically, the gap between men and women, as well as the gap between employees who identify as part of an Ethnic minority and their White colleagues. 

The Gender Pay Gap, and the Ethnicity 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.  

The ethnicity pay gap looks at the difference in the average pay between Ethnic minority employees and White employees in an organisation, taking account of the full range of jobs and salaries. 

Gender and ethnicity pay gaps are different to legal equal pay requirements, which look at the differences between pay for men and women, and between pay for Ethnic minority and White employees, who carry out the same jobs, similar work, or work of equal value.  

The UK government sets out calculations to use to generate the gender pay gap figures, and we have used these to calculate both our gender and ethnicity pay gaps. 

Why does this report only include ‘men’ and ‘women’ as categories?

This report uses ‘legal sex’ data in compliance with current legislation. However, we recognise this limitation and collect data on gender identity for internal reporting as it’s a more inclusive approach which recognises, celebrates and includes trans and non-binary colleagues. 

Mean Pay Gap

The mean gender pay gap is the difference in the hourly pay for women compared to men. It is calculated by comparing the average pay of women to the average pay of men in our organisation. The mean ethnicity pay gap is calculated comparing the average pay of all Ethnic minority and White employees. 

Median Pay Gap

The median represents the mid-point. If we lined up all the women and all the men in the organisation, in order of their hourly pay, the median pay gap is the difference between the pay of the middle woman and middle man. The same approach is used to compare the pay of the middle Ethnic minority employee and the middle White employee. 

The pay figures reported are for 5 April 2025 and the bonus figures are for 12 months leading up to 5 April 2025

Our commitment to closing gender and ethnicity pay gaps

We are committed to being an equitable and inclusive organisation.   

We believe that creating an environment where all employees feel valued and supported is key to narrowing the gender and ethnicity pay gaps. By fostering diversity of thought and enabling colleagues to contribute a broad range of perspectives, we strengthen innovation and performance across the organisation. This also supports higher employee retention and helps build a more balanced workforce at all levels, which in turn can drive more equitable career and pay progression.   

Below we outline our approach, including policies and practices already in place, and those we continue to develop, to support our commitment to closing the gender and ethnicity pay gaps.  

Setting and working towards achieving DEI targets

In 2023, we set clear 3-year DEI targets across gender, ethnicity and disability/neurodiversity to help diversify our workforce. We continue to make good progress against these targets and have already exceeded our goals in two areas, Women in Leadership and Women in Windsor however, ethnicity in leadership is an area of focus for us. Setting clear targets has driven sustained improvement over time, moving us closer to our ambition of becoming a more diverse organisation. 

Building trust through transparency 

The number of colleagues choosing to share their diversity data with us across Gender Identity, Disability, Ethnicity and Sexuality remains high at 84%, reflecting increased confidence in how we use colleague data. Our focus now turns to strengthening our insight into socioeconomic background across the organisation, ensuring we have a clearer understanding of representation and potential barriers.  

Our enhanced quarterly DEI dashboard provides greater visibility of representation, recruitment, progression and attrition trends, enabling more targeted and transparent action. These insights help link actions to outcomes, ensuring pay gap movement is understood in the context of representation and progression.

Our inclusive policies and practices 

Leadership actions 

Alongside our 3-year DEI action plan, quarterly reviews and clear ownership from senior leaders are supporting steady movement towards a more representative leadership population. The continuation of our Inclusive Leadership programme has further equipped leaders with the skills and behaviours needed to foster equity, create psychologically safe teams, and actively address barriers to progression. Leadership capability and accountability remain central to reducing structural disparities in pay and progression, ensuring that leadership is aligned to our ambitions and actively driving positive change. 

We continue to strengthen leadership pipelines through fair and consistent talent reviews, succession processes, and quarterly reviews. Sponsorship and mentoring remain central to improving access, visibility and equitable opportunities for progression into senior roles, supporting movement in upper pay quartiles over time. 

Inclusive recruitment and internal development  

We continue to strengthen fairness and consistency in recruitment practices by hiring through more structured, skills-based recruitment, clearer and more inclusive job descriptions, and consistent assessment criteria. Processes for candidates applying via the Disability Confident scheme have been improved to ensure accurate routing and timely screening. Inclusive hiring guidance and a strengthened interviewer framework are being implemented, with diverse interview panels as standard practice to support objective, evidence-based evaluation. External partnerships (e.g. Women in Data, 10,000 Interns and Association of Black Engineers) continue to widen our talent pool and improve representation. 

Our Elevate sponsorship programme continues to support progression for Ethnic minority colleagues in entry and mid-level roles, addressing structural barriers to progression. This supports greater representation of Ethnic minority employees in the organisation while helping to close any pay gaps resulting from underrepresentation. 

A series of learning interventions are being delivered across the organisation; Inclusive Leadership learning (aimed at our Group Leadership Team), and Conscious Inclusion and Introduction to DEI training, with the majority of the workforce having completed one of these courses in 2025. These programmes support closing the gender and ethnicity pay gaps by equipping leaders and employees with the skills to recognise and reduce bias in decision‑making, helping to create fairer opportunities in recruitment, development, and progression. 

Inclusive family policies 

Our family policies are now effective from day one of employment to make sure our policies are inclusive and reflect the diverse situations people face in life. This helps colleagues to progress their careers without facing additional barriers. 

Culture & Lived experience 

Through the Lived Experience 3-Year Action Plan, employee insight continues to shape policy and culture. We expanded neuro-inclusion work, updating data questions and increasing workplace adjustments to better support neurodivergent colleagues. We remain intentional about culture as a core driver of retention, progression and, ultimately, pay gap reduction.  

DEI Networks 

The four colleague-led networks - Race Ethnicity & Culture; EmpowHer; Accessibility; and Out on the Estate - remain active partners in shaping policy and culture. Beyond creating safe and supportive communities, they provide insight, challenge and advocacy that inform decisions and help colleagues thrive and progress. 

Gender Pay

Gender Pay

In 2025, our gender pay gap narrowed substantially and the mean (average) gender pay gap now stands at 2.1%◊ (improved from 7.9% in 2024), which means that although across the organisation  women are paid, on average less than men, due to the higher representation of men in senior roles, the pay gap between women and men has reduced substantially compared to the 2024 reporting period. This has been driven by recruitment and promotion activity, which has increased the proportion of in women in the organisation, including in the upper pay quartile, resulting in a year-on-year increase in the average hourly pay for women, while the average hourly pay for men has remained largely unchanged.  

Our median gender pay gap has widened slightly and is 12.7%◊ (2024: 11%). This is due to our headcount growth during the reporting period, from both recruitment and employees TUPE transferring into The Crown Estate. More women joined the business than men and at the snapshot date the proportion of women in the business stands at 51%, up from 48% in 2024.  However, as a higher proportion of women joined in the lower and lower middle pay quartiles this has impacted our median gender pay gap. 

Gender Bonus Pay

Our mean gender bonus gap widened to 28.6%◊ (2024: 19%) and our median gender bonus gap widened to 26%◊ (2024: 10.9%).  In both 2024 and 2025 reporting periods more women than men joined the organisation and our headcount grew in both periods. During this reporting period, more women than men joined in the lower and lower-middle pay quartiles and as bonuses are linked to seniority this impacted our bonus gap. The timing of start dates also resulted in more men than women being eligible for bonuses in this reporting period.    

Proportion of men and women receiving bonuses

The proportion of women receiving a bonus increased slightly to 67.8%◊ (2024: 65.4%), and the number of men who received a bonus remained relatively static at 72.8%◊ (2024:72.5%).  

As explained above, the proportion of women and men receiving bonuses is impacted by joiners and leavers to The Crown Estate and employees becoming eligible for a bonus for the first time. Women accounted for 59.6% of employees joining the organisation during the reporting year, but due to timing of hiring not all were eligible for a bonus. 

Gender split by pay quartile

Representation of women strengthened in the upper pay quartile, the lower‑middle pay quartile and the lower pay quartile and remained virtually unchanged in the upper middle pay quartile, providing a good foundation for continued improvement. The changes are as a result of employees joining the organisation during the reporting period.  

During the reporting period, double the number of women than men joined the lower-middle pay quartile, and the upper pay quartile. Joiners to the lower quartile and upper middle quartile were relatively equal between men and women. This shows that more women are progressing into higher paid roles and positively impacts our mean gender pay gap, especially in the increased female representation in our upper pay quartile where senior roles offer higher salaries.   

Ethnicity

We are proud that at January 2026 86% of colleagues have shared their ethnicity data, which helps us focus interventions in the right areas to support Ethnic minority colleagues. We will continue to encourage colleagues to share their data and provide a supportive environment in which they feel able to do this, so that we can continue to build our understanding of how ethnicity is represented throughout our organisation.  

At the time of reporting, 14.5%◊ of employees are Ethnic minority*. Our overall ethnicity pay and ethnicity bonus gap is significantly impacted by differing representation at each level within the organisation and by the positive ethnicity representation on the Group Leadership Team.     

*68.6%◊ of employees have declared they are White, 14.5%◊ of employees have declared they are part of an Ethnic minority (7.3% Asian/ Asian British, 3.3% Black/ Black British, 2.6% from multiple ethnic groups and 1.3% from other ethnic groups). 1.6%◊ of employees prefer not to disclose their ethnicity, 0%◊ declared ethnicity unknown and 15.3%◊ of employees have not yet declared. 

Ethnicity Pay

Our mean ethnicity pay gap is -9.8%◊ (2024: -13%), which shows that across the organisation on average Ethnic minority employees earn more than White employees. The gap has narrowed compared with the previous year. This movement is driven by an increase in the number of Ethnic minority employees who have shared their ethnicity for the first time especially in the lower pay quartile and the fact that the majority of Ethnic minority new starters joining the organisation are in the lowermiddle pay quartile. 

Our median ethnicity pay gap is 8.1%◊ (2024: -5.3%), indicating that in the 2025 reporting period the median pay position for Ethnic minority employees has reversed compared with 2024 and is now lower than that of White employees. This movement reflects recruitment patterns and the number of colleagues sharing their data during the year, with more Ethnic minority employees joining the organisation or sharing their data for the first time in the lower and lower middle pay quartiles.  

Ethnicity Bonus Pay

Strong Ethnic minority representation in the Group Leadership Team reflects our diversity ambitions and is driving the overall mean ethnicity bonus gap of -58.2%◊ (2024: -53.3%), which shows that Ethnic minority employees received higher bonuses on average compared to White colleagues. 

Our median ethnicity bonus gap narrowed to 10.5%◊ (2024:17.2%), in favour of White employees. This reflects a higher proportion of White employees joining The Crown Estate during the reporting period who were not eligible for a bonus or who received a nominal bonus compared with Ethnic minority employees. 

Proportion of Ethnic minority and White employees receiving bonuses

All permanent and fixed term employees are eligible to participate in our bonus scheme, subject to the bonus scheme rules. However, whether an employee is awarded a bonus in the year they join or leave The Crown Estate will depend on the timing of when they join or leave. During the reporting period, a higher proportion of Ethnic minority employees joined at a point that made them ineligible to receive a bonus. 

Ethnicity split by pay quartile

The below graphic illustrates the distribution of Ethnic minority employees across the pay quartiles. Ethnic minority representation exceeds The Crown Estate average in both the lower middle and upper pay quartiles. However, because the overall proportion of Ethnic minority employees, relative to white employees and those who have not declared or prefer not to say, is comparatively small, the results should be interpreted with some caution. 

Ethnic minority representation in the lower, middle, and upper pay quartiles increased, while representation in the upper middle quartile decreased. These shifts in distribution have influenced the median and mean ethnicity pay gap results. 

The 2024 ethnicity pay gap figures have been restated to reflect an updated methodology. Following a re-evaluation of government guidance (Ethnicity pay reporting: guidance for employers), all employees, including those who 'prefer not to say', 'not declared', or 'ethnicity unknown', are now included in the total employee population before quartile calculations. Previously 2024 reporting period data related to 'prefer not to say', 'not declared', or 'ethnicity unknown' employees was excluded from the total employee population. This change has resulted in material variances to the previously reported 2024 ethnicity pay gap metrics**. This restatement ensures direct comparability with current year figures, where ‘prefer not to say', 'not declared', or 'ethnicity unknown', are included in the total employee population before quartile calculations. 

**2024 split by pay quartile reported was lower quartile 7.7% Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic, 92.3% White; lower middle quartile 22.1% Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic, % 77.9 White; upper middle quartile16.1 % Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic, 83.9% White; upper quartile 16.1% Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic, 83.9% White. The 2024 restated numbers have not been subject to Limited Assurance. 

* Where a single rounding adjustment was required to ensure totals summed to 100%, this was applied to the largest category to minimise proportional distortion to the overall distribution. 

Creating a fair, inclusive and equitable workplace remains central to who we are. Publishing our gender and ethnicity pay gaps helps us understand where inequalities exist and where we must focus our efforts. While we have made progress, there is still more to do. Our commitment is to strengthen representation, ensure our systems are fair, and create the environment for every colleague to thrive. There are no quick fixes, but we are taking sustained, evidence-based action, and we remain fully committed to this work. 

Declaration

I confirm that data reported by The Crown Estate is accurate and has been calculated according to the requirements and methodology set out in the Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties and Public Authorities) Regulations 2017. 

Lisa White 

Executive Director People and Culture 

Further information regarding Diversity, Equity & Inclusion can be found here: Diversity, Equity & Inclusion | The Crown Estate  

For more information on how we calculate our Gender Pay Gap and our Ethnicity Pay Gap, please see our reporting methodology documents below. 

Limited Assurance: KPMG LLP has provided independent limited assurance over selected gender pay gap and ethnicity 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 below, which together with our Reporting methodology should be read in conjunction with the assured gender pay gap and ethnicity pay gap data above.