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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 legally required to publish gender pay gap data each year.
The Office for National Statistics state that it is important to look beyond the headline figures, for example 36% of the pay gap is estimated to be driven by occupation group and working pattern.
As of 5th April 2024, Diamond employed 630 men and 199 women, representing a gender split of 76% male and 24% female employees.
Our mean gender pay gap for 2024 for all employees is 7.63% and our median gender pay gap is 13.74%. Our mean gender pay gap remains below the National Average for 2023 of 13.1%. [Source: ONS].
Since we began reporting seven years ago, we have seen our gender pay gap reduce by five percentage points, from 12.1% in 2017 to 7.6% in 2024. This steady positive reduction in our gender pay gap has been sustained since 2020 with a decrease in the gap of at least 1% increments each year.
As in previous years, the main reason for our mean and median gender pay gaps continues to be the under-representation of women in senior science, technical and engineering roles. To put our data in context, the latest government workforce data (December 2022), provides a useful snapshot of gender equity throughout the STEM sector. The overall percentage of women that make up the core STEM workforce is currently 25%. [Source: Education Statistics].
Diamond is committed to rewarding male and female employees equitably and have undertaken Equal Pay Audits since 2021.
We have seen a small growth in the overall numbers of women in our workforce, now standing at 24% up from 23.71% in the previous year. Our Mean pay gap has improved slightly at 7.63% and is below the UK national average of 13.1% in 2024 (ONS Gender pay gap in the UK 2024). The median pay gap is 13.74% against 6.7% in the previous period.
The bonus pay gap is 2.7% and was 1.5% in 2023 although the median bonus gap has improved from 28.6% in 2023 to 4.9% in 2024. Unique to this reporting period was our decision to make two qualifying payments to a large number of staff.
First, in recognition of the cost-of-living pressures faced by our staff due to inflation and increased energy costs, Diamond gave a cost-of-living payment to all our staff in grades two to eight and Apprentices in July 2023.
In addition, we are currently undertaking the Diamond-II upgrade project. This exciting and challenging project will see a significant upgrade in our beamline capabilities and place us at the forefront of synchrotron research worldwide. In recognition of the efforts our staff are making to deliver this key piece of UK scientific infrastructure on time and on budget, we made a payment to all staff in post at the relevant date to recognise and reward this commitment.
Overall, bonuses were received by more men than women (96.4% compared with 95.3%).
Our figures show that we have increased the number of female staff in the upper middle and upper quartile, and we are continuing to work to develop career paths for women and see them progress to senior roles.
We have appointed a female lead to head up one of the Diamond-II pillars, a crucial role in the delivery of this major project. We have also appointed two senior women to roles as ‘Change Agents’ to ensure that the cultural and operational review programme which is currently being undertaken ensures that women are properly represented in the process.
Diamond Light Source is the UK's national synchrotron science facility, located at the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus in Oxfordshire.
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Diamond House
Harwell Science & Innovation Campus
Didcot
Oxfordshire
OX11 0DE
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