Gender pay gap 2025/26

NCSL Gender Pay Gap Narrative

Our mean gender pay gap is 1.57%, and our median gender pay gap is 6.67%.

The mean pay gap indicates that, on average, there is a relatively small difference in pay between male and female employees. This follows implementation of a new pay and grading structure in 2025 and comprehensive job evaluation exercise.

The median pay gap is higher, which reflects differences in the distribution of male and female employees across the organisation.

Pay Quartiles

The proportion of men and women across our pay quartiles for 2024/25 and 2025/26 is set out below:

• Lower Quartile: Female representation increased from 9.09% (2024/25) to 16% (2025/26) 

• Lower Middle Quartile: Female representation increased from 11.94% to 13% 

• Upper Middle Quartile: Female representation remained broadly unchanged (5.71% to 5%)

• Upper Quartile: Female representation increased from 7.46% to 12%

Men continue to make up the majority of employees in all quartiles, particularly in the upper middle and upper quartiles.

Summary

The data shows some improvement in female representation across the company, particularly in the lower and upper quartiles. However, women remain underrepresented overall, especially in higher-paid roles. This distribution contributes to the median gender pay gap.

We are committed to ensuring pay equality and to improving the representation of women at all levels of the organisation. We will continue to review our recruitment, retention and progression practices to support this.

Actions

We are committed to reducing our gender pay gap and improving female representation across all levels of the organisation. To support this, we will review progress against these actions annually as part of our gender pay gap reporting:

• Improve recruitment practices by ensuring diverse candidate shortlists and using inclusive language in job advertisements

• Monitor hiring and promotion outcomes to identify and address any gender imbalances

• Support career progression through targeted development opportunities, mentoring and leadership programmes for underrepresented groups

• Increase representation in senior roles by strengthening succession planning and encouraging internal progression

• Promote flexible working to support work-life balance and improve retention of female employees

• Continue regular analysis of gender pay data to track progress and inform future actions