This was published when the organisation was the Royal Pharmaceutical Society.

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RPS pay gaps introduction

A pay gap is the difference between the average rates of pay of employees in different groups across an organisation. It is used as a simple indicator of equality and fair career progression, allowing for comparisons between different organisations.

Organisations with 250 or more employees have a legal obligation to report their gender pay gap every year. The RPS (now RCPharm) has fewer than 250 employees. The RPS reports its gender and ethnicity pay gaps voluntarily as part of its commitment to equality and inclusion.

On the last reporting date in April 2024, female employees at RPS were paid 21.5% less on average than male employees. Employees from ethnic minorities were paid 9% less on average than white employees.

These figures don’t mean that the RPS has unfair pay disparities between people doing the same job, but reflect levels of seniority in the organisation and employment patterns in its junior and mid-level roles. For example, the RPS employs women and men in approximately equal proportions in its most senior roles, but women form a far higher proportion of employees in the society’s junior and mid-level roles. The same is true to a lesser extent for employees from an ethnic minority.

Over the past few years, the RPS has analysed the reasons for its pay gaps and carried out annual pay benchmarking to ensure that it is paying a reasonable market rate for all its job roles, looking at both external and internal comparisons. It has also introduced other initiatives such as gender-neutral advertising, and blind recruitment.

The RPS ethnicity pay gap has fluctuated but overall shows improvement since the society began reporting in 2020. However, the RPS gender pay gap has risen since the society began reporting in 2019, and the actions taken so far have not been effective in addressing this.

The RPS recognises that there are many complex factors that contribute to its pay gaps, including external labour market factors that it can’t influence directly. It has gone into more detail about this and the actions that it is taking in the separate reports for its gender and ethnicity pay gaps below.

April 2024: RPS gender pay gap

The RPS 2024 report is based on 142 female and 65 male employees paid in the month of April.

In April 2024, the society’s median gender pay gap was 21.5%. This shows little change over the previous year but remains well above the national median of 13.1% (Office for National Statistics (ONS), October 2024). The main driver for the society’s pay gaps is the composition of its workforce. Its employ women and men in roughly equal proportions at senior levels in the organisation, and its executive team is 50% female. However, women significantly outnumber men in the society’s more junior roles.  

In April 2024, women represented 69% of the society’s total workforce, held 45% of posts in the upper pay quartile and 79% of posts in the lower pay quartile (the highest- and lowest-paid quarters of the RPS workforce). Both quartiles showed a small negative shift, from 46% and 78%, respectively, in 2023.

In 2024, about 60% of applications for all advertised roles were from women, rising to up to 90% for some roles. Over the past few years, the society has seen a gradual increase in the proportion of women employed, rising from 64% of its workforce in 2021 to 69% or 70% in recent years.

There are several reasons why the society attracts more women to many of its job roles. The society offers excellent opportunities for flexible working, including at senior level, and much of its workforce falls within the pharmacy and publishing professions, where women predominate.

This pattern is reversed in the RPS technology department. The department has a female CTO, but overall, 75% of technology employees are male. Over the past two to three years, market forces and changes to the society’s skills mix have driven up salary levels in this area, which in turn affects the RPS gender pay gap.

Action to address the pay gap

The RPS gender pay gap would improve if proportions of men and women were more evenly balanced at all pay levels. At present, the proportions of men and women in the society’s upper pay quartile are least reflective of the 61:39 ratio in the organisation. The RPS’s current focus for reducing its gender pay gap is to increase the proportion of female employees in its upper pay quartile to at least 50%.

The society strongly supports internal career progression for women and promote diverse application pools and shortlists for director and senior management vacancies. In 2024, the society recruited two women and one man to senior management roles (head of department and above), and promoted two women internally to roles at this level.

Over the past four years, male and female employees have benefitted equally from in-year pay increases and promotions, in proportion to their numbers in the organisation. Men have done slightly better than women from pay benchmarking adjustments in most years, reflecting market rates for different roles. However, between 2023 and 2024, 7.7% of female employees received a pay benchmarking uplift, compared with 4.6% of male employees.

In 2024 the society provided inclusive recruitment training for managers to ensure that its hiring managers have the skills to support objective recruitment decisions and to help reduce any potential bias that may exist in its recruitment processes.

Breakdown of RPS gender pay gap for April 2024

The charts below show the break down of the society’s pay gap and proportions of female/male representation at all levels within the RPS.

The figures should be looked at considering the percentage representation of each employee group in the whole organisation. The RPS employs approximately 69% women and 31% men. If pay levels were evenly distributed between the two groups, the society would expect to see these percentages approximately reflected at each quartile level.

April 2024: RPS ethnicity pay gap

The RPS reports its ethnicity pay gap on a voluntary basis, in the same way it does its gender pay gap. It also measures the ethnic diversity of its employees at different levels in the organisation.

In the 2021 census, 81.7% of the England and Wales population identified as white, with the remaining 18.3% from ethnic minorities.   

The RPS 2024 report is based on 136 white and 68 ethnic minority employees paid in the month of April. These numbers represent 67% and 33% of the society’s workforce, respectively, an increase of 3.4% in the proportion of RPS employees from an ethic minority background since 2023.

The median pay gap between the society’s white and ethnic minority employees was 9% in April 2024, down from 10.1% in the previous year.

There is no simple comparison between the RPS white/ethnic minority pay gap and a national pay gap as there are differences between ethnic groups. Based on the ONS five-point categorisation, pay gaps range from mixed or multiple ethnic groups, who earn 7.2% more than white workers, to black or black British who earn 5.7% less (ONS, November 2023).

In April 2024, 33% of the RPS’s employees were from ethnic minorities. Asian or Asian British employees comprised 20% of the society’s workforce, followed by Black and mixed ethnicity employees, both 6%, with other ethnicities made up up the remaining 1%. Ethnic minority employees held 26% of posts in the upper quartile, up from 15.4% in 2023 and 12.2% in 2022. This was balanced by an upward swing from 28% to 39% representation in the lower pay quartile.

The improvement in upper quartile representation has been supported by increased recruitment to the RPS’s technology department, where over half of employees are from ethnic minorities.  

In 2024, for the first time, the RPS has broken down its pay gap using the ONS five-point categorisation. The society’s pay gap for Asian employees was 7.5% in 2024, compared with -3.3% nationally. Pay gap differences for the other groupings appeared to reflect national trends. RPS hasn’t reported on these separately due to small numbers, which could make its findings statistically insignificant.

Action to address the ethnicity pay gap

Over the past four years of reporting, ethnic minority and white employees have benefitted equally in proportion to their numbers from annual pay benchmarking uplifts. Over the past two years, ethnic minority employees have also benefitted equally from in-year promotions and pay changes, an improvement on previous years.

To help improve pay gaps and career progression for racially disadvantaged groups, the RPS is promoting diverse application pools and shortlists for director and senior management vacancies. In 2024, the society recruited three people externally to senior management roles (head of department and above). These comprised one Black woman, one white woman and one white man.

The RPS’s focus for reducing its ethnicity pay gap is to increase the proportion of ethnic minority employees in its upper pay quartile to better reflect the overall ethnicity proportions in the UK population. In April 2024, 26% of the society’s upper quartile employees were from an ethnic minority, up from 15.4% in 2023 and 12.2% in 2022. This means that in 2024 the RPS exceeded its current target of at least 18% ethnic minority employees in its upper quartile roles. The society hopes to see this trend continued in 2025.

In 2024 RPS provided inclusive recruitment training for managers to ensure that its hiring managers have the skills to support objective recruitment decisions and to help reduce any potential bias that may exist in its recruitment processes.

Breakdown of RPS ethnicity pay gap for April 2024

The charts below should be looked at considering the percentage representation of each employee group in the organisation. With about 67% white and 33% ethnic minority employees in the organisation, if pay levels were evenly distributed, the society would expect to see these percentages approximately reflected at each quartile level.