Portrait of Ian Walmsley, Provost

This October we are publishing our 2023 gender and ethnicity pay gap report.

The data shows that the median ethnicity pay gap has increased slightly from 8.2% in 2021 and 2022, to 9.5% this year. The mean ethnicity pay gap has also increased to 15.7%, higher than 12.3% for 2022 but still lower than 2021’s gap of 17.8%.

In terms of gender, the median and the mean gender pay gap have both decreased, from 8% to 6% for the median and from 16.6% to 14.1% for the mean.

The main reason for both gaps is predominately due to an under-representation of women and minority ethnic colleagues employed in the senior levels of Imperial, particularly the academic grades, research grades and Levels 6 and 7 in the professional services job family. This is reflected in the current Imperial representation in the upper quartiles.

We need to continue to work to find ways to close both the gender and ethnicity pay gaps. This will include continuing to focus on the recruitment and retention of women and Black and other minority ethnic colleagues, particularly in senior roles – and in alignment with our Race Equality Charter and Athena Swan action plans, introducing additional initiatives to reduce the pay gaps. Our people are the most important part of Imperial and are at the centre of delivering our academic mission.

Best wishes,

Professor Ian Walmsley
Provost

What is the gender pay gap?

Like all other large organisations, Imperial has published details of its gender pay gap. This shows that the gap between the median hourly pay of men and women at Imperial is currently 6.0 per cent which is the lowest it has been since we started reporting our figures in 2017.

Imperial's previous gender pay gap figures and previous ethnicity pay gap figures can still be accessed alongside the most current figures. The gender pay gap isn’t the same as equal pay – Imperial rightly pays men and women the same for work of equal value. Doing so has been a legal requirement since 1970.

What is the ethnicity pay gap?

While ethnicity pay gap reporting is still voluntary, Imperial has been publishing details of its ethnicity pay gaps since 2020. Figures for 2023 show that the gap between the median hourly pay of Black and Minority Ethnic group (BAME) to the White ethnic group (which includes White Other) at Imperial has increased from 8.2% in 2022 to 9.5%. The gap between the mean hourly pay of Black and Minority Ethnic group (BAME) to the White ethnic group at Imperial has also increased since last year from 12.3% to 15.7%.

What are the reasons for our gender and ethnicity pay gaps?

Imperial pay gaps are predominately down to an under-representation of women and the BAME colleagues employed in the senior levels of Imperial: particularly the academic grades and Levels 6 and 7 in the Professional Services job family. This is reflected in the current Imperial representation in the upper quartiles.

Imperial has implemented many initiatives over the years to address the broad concept of equal representation at all levels, and we can see this is starting to make a difference. More information on these are shared via the ‘Initiatives and Projects’ link below.

What are the figures we’ve reported?

Like all other large organisations, Imperial has reported data across a number of different elements: gender and ethnicity quartiles, mean and median pay gaps, and pay gaps in bonuses. You can access the data through the links below for both the Gender and Ethnicity pay gaps.