Background
- The Government requires all organisations with over 250 staff to calculate and publish the difference in average pay between all men and women in the organisation.
- Historic Royal Palace's results can be found below. The mean and median hourly gender pay gap calculations show a snapshot of the average organisational position as of 05 April 2025. The mean and median bonus pay gap relates to the 12-month period up to and including 05 April 2025.
- Where relevant, comparisons have been made to the results that were published for the 2023-24 year.
- The gender pay gap regulations do not define the terms ‘men’ and ‘women’ and we respect our colleagues right to choose how they identify their gender. For the purposes of these calculations we use information that colleagues have already provided for our HR system records. If an employee does not self-identify as either male or female we will exclude them from these calculations.
Gender Pay Reporting Results
Historic Royal Palace's results for 2024-25 are as follows, with the 2023-24 results shown in brackets:
• Mean hourly gender pay gap = 4.25% lower for women (4.03% in 2023-24)
• Median hourly gender pay gap = 5.66 % lower for women (7.93% in 2023-24)
• UK Gender pay gap for median gross hourly earnings for April 2025 is yet to be published but was 13.1% in 2024.
Quartiles:
Upper Quartile: 40% (41%) men, 60% (59%) women
Upper Mid Quartile: 45% (47% men), 55% (53%) women
Lower Mid Quartile: 30% (43% men), 70% (57%) women
Lower Quartile: 40% (32% men), 60% (68%) women
(2022-23 figure)
Bonus Pay Data Reporting Results
• Mean bonus gender pay gap = 35.2% (29.1% in 2023-24)
• Median bonus gender pay gap = 5.7 % (3.2% in 2023-24)
• Proportion of males and females receiving a bonus payment = 73.3% of males and 65.7% of females (72.1% of males and 61.4% of females in 2023-24).
Analysis of Data
Here is some further context to help you understand these results.
Hourly Pay Gap
- Although the mean pay gap has increased slightly, the median pay gap has reduced significantly, indicating changes in how men and women are distributed across the pay quartiles. For example, there are now better represented in the upper quartile (62%, compared to 60% last year).
- The mean gap is more affected by individual high earners. This year, the average hourly rate for males in the upper quartile (£35.02 p/h) increased more than the average for females (£32.85 p/h), widening the mean gap.
- The Executive Team, who all fall within the upper quartile, currently comprises 3 females and 6 males, which also influences the gap.
Length of service
- Since the reintroduction of progression points, employees with longer service are reaching higher points on the pay scales.
- Male employees have a higher average length of service (7.5 years) compared to female employees (5 years), which contributes to the hourly pay gap as longer service correlates with higher pay.
Allowances
- Some roles attract additional allowances (e.g., shift disturbance, on-call, market rate supplements). These roles are predominantly held by males, particularly in departments such as Security, Yeoman Body, IT, and Maintenance, which increases the hourly pay gap.
- Other allowances—such as extra responsibility and first aid supplements—are not tied to specific departments but are also provided more frequently to males. These allowances are currently being reviewed as part of the Pay and Reward Review project.
HRP bonus
- Both the mean and median bonus gaps have increased this year.
- Bonuses are paid pro rata based on contractual hours, and with 30% of women working part time (compared to 7.9% of men), this reduces the bonus amounts awarded to female employees. Removing part time employees from the calculation does significantly reduce the bonus gap.
- In addition, the higher proportion of male staff within the Executive Team, who receive larger bonus amounts, also impacts the bonus gap.
Actions
• We will conclude our current pay and reward review particularly on allowances and progression points to ensure that there remains an objective and equitable framework for how we pay for all roles at Historic Royal Palaces. We remain committed to ensuring that remuneration is fairly proportioned between both genders where practicable.
• We will continue to take action to further support and promote female talent and succession within the organisation, especially in senior roles.
• We will continue to promote gender diversity in roles which have traditionally been perceived as being more ‘masculine’ or ‘feminine’ (i.e., roles with a security element which are generally dominated by men, and seasonal/casual roles which are generally dominated by women).
• We will review our performance review process to include career discussions so that we can address any retention concerns particularly with our female workforce which is impacting on their length of service
• We will review our bonus criteria, particularly around pro rata pay, to ensure this is awarded fairly for woman in comparison to men.
In addition to the above and within the process of developing a detailed Equity, Diversity and Inclusion action plan we will now produce an ethnicity pay gap as part of our on going commitment to ensure our workforce represents the diversity of the UK.