The diversity of our workforce continues to grow and by building an inclusive working environment where all our people can thrive, we can leverage their different skills, experiences and perspectives to deliver sustained outcomes for our clients. By focusing on inclusion and diversity for more than twenty years and positioning it as a matter for everyone, not just a few, we’ve made continual progress in increasing the representation of women and ethnic minorities at the most senior levels of our firm. This, in turn, is essential to closing our pay and bonus gaps which are driven by our demographics. More information on the actions we are taking to improve representation and deliver against our targets for gender, ethnicity and socio-economic background can be found in the Inclusion & Diversity section of our Annual Report 2023 and in our Diversity and Inclusion five-point action plan.
Our approach has always been based on data analysis and insights. By using the personal data that our people voluntarily share with us in our statistical analysis and reporting, we hold ourselves accountable for improved outcomes which are essential for today and to sustain us into the future. This regular analysis allows us to pinpoint areas to take targeted action and inform our approach - to deliver equity and fairness - and then measure the rate of change. The transparency and accountability that goes alongside this work is more important to us than ever, given the level of expectation of employers and business in helping to address the inequalities that exist across the UK.
While we have more work to do, we are proud of our progress and the external recognition we received for our efforts during 2023 including: one of The Times Top 50 Employers for Gender Equality; the “Inclusive Employer” award at the British LGBT Awards and ranking fourth in the Social Mobility Employer Index.
We first voluntarily published our gender pay gap in 2014, prior to the Gender Pay Gap Regulations being introduced in 2015. Since then we have held ourselves accountable by disclosing data points even where there is no regulatory requirement to do so. This includes our partners in our data (currently excluded under the reporting requirements) and publishing our ethnicity pay and bonus gaps since 2018. Once again, this year we are breaking down our ethnicity pay and bonus gaps to show our Asian, Black, Chinese and Mixed Ethnicity gaps. Since 2021, we have also reported our socio-economic background (SEB) and disability pay and bonus gaps and we are into our second year of disclosing our sexual orientation pay and bonus gap having published for the first time in 2022.
The figures above all relate to PwC UK as a whole. For all the 5 April 2023 figures, the gender pay gap is a measure of the percentage difference in the average hourly pay of men and women working for PwC. The ethnicity pay gap is a measure of the percentage difference in the average hourly pay of white and ethnic minority employees working for PwC. The socio-economic background pay gap is a measure of the percentage difference in the average hourly pay of those from a lower socio-economic background based on parental occupation and those from a professional or intermediate socio-economic background based on parental occupation (see Social Mobility Commission measurement guidance). The disability pay gap is a measure of the percentage difference in the average hourly pay of employees with disabilities and employees with no disabilities working at PwC. The sexual orientation pay gap is a measure of the percentage difference in the average hourly pay of lesbian, gay or bi-sexual and straight or heterosexual employees. All data is regardless of role in the organisation, length of service and any other differentiating factors.
The pay gaps including partners reflect actual partner income for FY23 together with a snapshot of actual employee cash for FY23 (including 30 June pay plus bonus payments for the FY23 financial year but excluding deferred FY22 staff bonuses which were included in the FY22 pay gap figures).
We have seen a reduction in nearly all our gender pay and bonus gaps, our socio-economic background pay and bonus gaps and in all our disability pay and bonus gaps. We are particularly pleased to see a sustained downward trend in our median pay and bonus gaps for gender, socio-economic background and disability.
This positive trend reflects our commitment to delivering against our five-point action plan, particularly re-wiring our people processes linked to recruitment, work allocation, performance management and promotions. We know from experience that these actions serve to strengthen the diversity of our talent pipelines and indeed this year, of our internal admissions to partnership, 42% were women (40% FY22) and 19% from an ethnic minority background (14% FY22).
However, while the high volumes of recruitment have served to boost the representation of ethnic minority talent in our business, this has primarily been at the more junior and lower paid grades. As a consequence, we have seen an erosion of the negative ethnicity median pay gap and an increase in the median bonus gap.
When we then look at the specific gaps by sub-ethnic groups, we can see that the significantly higher levels of representation of Asian and Chinese talent in our most junior grades are driving these changes this past year. Indeed, all of our pay gaps are driven by the under-representation of the relevant population in senior, more highly paid roles. This is why we have set targets by grade for gender, ethnic background and socio-economic background which are based on accelerating our progress over a five+ year period. Put simply, delivering our targets is essential to closing these pay gaps.
Alongside this, we are also progressing our plans to increase the levels of disclosure in relation to disability and sexual orientation to enable us to set targets as well as conduct reliable and valid pay gap analysis because we know that small population sizes have the potential to impact our year on year outcomes.
It is important to note that these gaps are different from equal pay and at PwC we are committed to ensuring our people are paid equally for doing equivalent jobs across our business. We take action to address any gaps and to make sure all our policies and practices are fair.
Entity | Date | Gender pay gap (median) | Gender pay gap (mean) | Gender bonus gap (median) | Gender bonus gap (mean) | Males receiving bonus | Females receiving bonus |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
PwC UK | At 5 April 2023 |
4.3% | 8.2% | 2.3% | 19.5% | 98.4% | 98.5% |
PwC UK | At 5 April 2022 |
6.8%* | 9.1%* | 5.9% | 17.4% | 94.9% | 96.4% |
PwC Services Ltd | At 5 April 2023 | 4.2% | 7.5% | 2.2% | 19.7% | 98.6% | 98.7% |
PwC Services Ltd | At 5 April 2022 | 6.1%* | 8.5%* | 5.4% | 17.8% | 94.8% | 96.2% |
PwC LLP | At 5 April 2023 | 30.7% | 29.8% | 53.1% | 39.0% | 99.6% | 100.0% |
PwC LLP | At 5 April 2022 |
30.2%* | 30.6%* | 45.6% | 38.2% | 99.4% | 99.9% |
Staff & partners combined | 2023 2022 |
7.1% 10.3% |
33.7% 36.8% |
* Numbers have been restated for April 2022 pay gap due to a change in methodology relating to the eligible population for inclusion and inaccuracies relating to additional payments which should have been included in the 2022 data.
Population | Date | Lower quartile | Lower middle quartile | Upper middle quartile | Top quartile | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Male | Female | Male | Female | Male | Female | Male | Female | ||
PwC UK | 5 April 2023 | 53.8% | 46.2% | 48.7% | 51.3% | 51.5% | 48.5% | 57.7% | 42.3% |
PwC Services Ltd | 5 April 2023 | 54.8% | 45.2% | 49.3% | 50.7% | 52.3% | 47.7% | 58.2% | 41.8% |
PwC LLP | 5 April 2023 | 12.0% | 88.0% | 36.8% | 63.2% | 46.8% | 53.2% | 58.1% | 41.9% |
Staff & partners combined | 2023 | 53.7% | 46.3% | 46.4% | 53.6% | 50.9% | 49.1% | 62.3% | 37.6% |
* Quartiles are calculated by ranking the pay for each employee from lowest to highest. This list is then divided into four equal sized groups of men and women. The above shows the percentage of men and women in each of these groups.
Entity | Date | Ethnicity pay gap (median) | Ethnicity pay gap (mean) | Ethnicity bonus gap (median) | Ethnicity bonus gap (mean) | Ethnic minorities receiving bonus | White staff receiving bonus |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
PwC UK | At 5 April 2023 | -2.8% | 6.3% | 20.9% | 32.0% | 97.8% | 98.9% |
PwC UK | At 5 April 2022 |
-6.4%* | 4.5%* | 11.6% | 25.6% | 93.5% | 96.6% |
PwC Services Ltd | At 5 April 2023 |
-5.9% | 3.7% | 16.5% | 28.6% | 98.2% | 99.0% |
PwC Services Ltd | At 5 April 2022 |
-10.9%* | 1.3%* | 6.2% | 20.8% | 93.4% | 96.3% |
PwC LLP | At 5 April 2023 | 10.2% | 11.1% | 31.4% | 29.5% | 99.8% | 100.0% |
PwC LLP | At 5 April 2022 | 11.0%* | 13.6%* | 29.8% | 29.0% | 98.5% | 99.8% |
Staff & partners combined | 2023 2022 |
0.0% -3.0% |
32.4% 32.3% |
* Numbers have been restated for April 2022 pay gap due to a change in methodology relating to the eligible population for inclusion and inaccuracies relating to additional payments which should have been included in the 2022 data.
Population | Date | Lower quartile | Lower middle quartile | Upper middle quartile | Top quartile | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
White | Ethnic minority | No data | White | Ethnic minority | No data | White | Ethnic minority | No data | White | Ethnic minority | No data | ||
PwC UK | At 5 April 2023 |
70.2% | 28.2% | 1.6% | 61.7% | 36.2% | 2.1% | 56.1% | 41.1% | 2.8% | 69.6% | 26.7% | 3.6% |
PwC Services Ltd | At 5 April 2023 |
71.0% | 27.4% | 1.6% | 60.3% | 37.6% | 2.1% | 54.8% | 42.5% | 2.7% | 66.9% | 29.2% | 3.8% |
PwC LLP | At 5 April 2023 |
86.9% | 11.7% | 1.4% | 85.2% | 12.7% | 2.1% | 89.0% | 9.3% | 1.7% | 90.0% | 7.9% | 2.1% |
Staff & partners combined | 2023 |
66.7% | 31.1% | 2.3% | 62.9% | 33.7% | 3.5% | 55.2% | 40.5% | 4.2% | 71.9% | 22.8% | 5.3% |
* Quartiles are calculated by ranking the pay for each employee from lowest to highest. This list is then divided into four equal sized groups of ethnic minority employees and white employees. The above shows the percentage of ethnic minority and white employees in each of these groups.
Minority ethnic group | Median pay gap 2023 | Median pay gap 2022* | Mean pay gap 2023 | Mean pay gap 2022* | Median bonus gap 2023 | Median bonus gap 2022 | Mean bonus gap 2023 | Mean bonus gap 2022 |
Asian | -3.6% | -7.3% | 5.7% | 2.8% | 21.8% | 8.7% | 30.8% | 23.5% |
Black | 2.5% | 0.9% | 14.1% | 13.9% | 20.6% | 23.9% | 48.0% | 43.6% |
Mixed | -3.8% | -3.9% | 2.2% | 3.4% | 11.2% | 1.7% | 18.6% | 11.5% |
Chinese | 21.9% | 10.6% | 20.1% | 14.3% | 48.4% | 19.1% | 47.4% | 31.5% |
All | -2.8% | 6.4% | 6.3% | 4.5% | 20.9% | 11.6% | 32.0% | 25.6% |
This disaggregated pay gap data is calculated as the difference between the average earnings received by employees from a specific ethnic background compared to White Ethnic Groups.
Note that Chinese is included in the Asian numbers and also reported on separately.
* Numbers have been restated for April 2022 pay gap due to a change in methodology relating to the eligible population for inclusion and inaccuracies relating to additional payments which should have been included in the 2022 data
Minority ethnic group | Median pay gap 2023 | Median pay gap 2022 | Mean pay gap 2023 | Mean pay gap 2022 |
Asian | -0.5% | -4.7% | 33.1% | 32.3% |
Black | 3.7% | 3.5% | 42.1% | 44.5% |
Mixed | -2.8% | -0.4% | 24.0% | 26.6% |
Chinese | 23.1% | 16.9% | 46.4% | 44.6% |
All | 0.0% | -3.0% | 32.4% | 32.3% |
This disaggregated pay gap data is calculated as the difference between the average earnings received by employees from a specific ethnic background compared to White Ethnic Groups.
Note that Chinese is included in the Asian numbers and also reported on separately.
Socio-economic background | Date | Median pay gap 2023 | Median pay gap 2022* | Mean pay gap 2023 | Mean pay gap 2022* | Median bonus gap 2023 | Median bonus gap 2022* | Mean bonus gap 2023 | Mean bonus gap 2022* |
PwC UK | 5 April | 13.2% | 13.3% | 9.0% | 8.3% | 0.6% | 7.2% | 7.6% | 7.3% |
Staff and Partners combined | 30 June | 12.0% | 13.4% | 6.7% | 4.5% |
* Numbers have been restated for 2022 due to inaccuracies relating to the eligible population coming from a lower socio-economic background.
Population | Date | Lower quartile | Lower middle quartile | Upper middle quartile | Top quartile | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 + 2 | 3 | No data | 1 + 2 | 3 | No data | 1 + 2 | 3 | No data | 1 + 2 | 3 | No data | ||
PwC UK | At 5 April 2023 | 64.0% | 21.4% | 14.6% | 64.0% | 18.7% | 17.3% | 66.2% | 14.8% | 18.9% | 66.7% | 14.2% | 19.0% |
Staff & partners combined | 2023 | 65.1% | 20.5% | 14.4% | 63.7% | 19.3% | 17.0% | 66.9% | 14.6% | 18.5% | 67.7% | 14.8% | 17.6% |
Socio-economic background classification based on Social Mobility Commission measurement guidance: 1 = Professional, 2 = Intermediate and 3 = Lower
Disability | Date | Median pay gap 2023 | Median pay gap 2022 | Mean pay gap 2023 | Mean pay gap 2022 | Median bonus gap 2023 | Median bonus gap 2022 | Mean bonus gap 2023 | Mean bonus gap 2022 |
PwC UK | 5 April | 12.6% | 16.3%* | 11.5% | 12.0%* | 4.0% | 14.5% | 13.8% | 15.4% |
Staff and Partners combined | 30 June | 14.5% | 16.7% | 32.7% | 34.8% |
* Numbers have been restated for April 2022 pay gap due to a change in methodology relating to the eligible population for inclusion and inaccuracies relating to additional payments which should have been included in the 2022 data.
Population | Date | Lower quartile | Lower middle quartile | Upper middle quartile | Top quartile | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Non - Disabled | Disabled | No data | Non - Disabled | Disabled | No data | Non - Disabled | Disabled | No data | Non - Disabled | Disabled | No data | ||
PwC UK | At 5 April 2023 |
86.8% | 5.4% | 7.8% | 86.2% | 4.3% | 9.4% | 88.4% | 4.1% | 7.5% | 87.8% | 3.3% | 8.9% |
Staff & partners combined | 2023 | 85.7% | 5.7% | 8.5% | 85.3% | 4.4% | 10.3% | 87.1% | 3.9% | 9.0% | 86.9% | 3.1% | 10.0% |
Sexual Orientation | Date | Median pay gap 2023 | Median pay gap 2022 | Mean pay gap 2023 | Mean pay gap 2022 | Median bonus gap 2023 | Median bonus gap 2022 | Mean bonus gap 2023 | Mean bonus gap 2022 |
PwC UK | 5 April | 17.5% | 15.4%* | 10.6% | 10.4%* | 13.7% | 20.9% | 15.0% | 17.8% |
Staff and Partners combined | 30 June | 15.6% | 20.4% | 23.4% | 26.0% |
* Numbers have been restated for April 2022 pay gap due to a change in methodology relating to the eligible population for inclusion and inaccuracies relating to additional payments which should have been included in the 2022 data.
Population | Date | Lower quartile | Lower middle quartile | Upper middle quartile | Top quartile | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Non - LGB | LGB | No data | Non - LGB | LGB | No data | Non - LGB | LGB | No data | Non - LGB | LGB | No data | ||
PwC UK | At 5 April 2023 |
85.3% | 5.4% | 9.3% | 86.5% | 4.1% | 9.4% | 86.4% | 3.2% | 10.4% | 81.5% | 3.0% | 15.5% |
Staff & partners combined | 2023 | 84.2% | 5.1% | 10.6% | 85.5% | 3.9% | 10.6% | 84.5% | 3.1% | 12.3% | 78.6% | 2.9% | 18.5% |
Notes
We are pleased to be making progress but we know we need to stay focused. Over the past year we have been working on this agenda more collaboratively with our staff who are helping to shape our work and contribute to our progress and this is clearly paying dividends and will continue in the future. Here you can find our five-point action plan and more information on the actions we are taking to drive transformative change across our firm to make sure all our people have a strong sense of belonging and trust in our firm.
Kevin Ellis
PwC UK Chairman and Senior Partner
Ian Elliott
Chief People Officer