• Our pay gap reports, available to download opposite, report on data covering the period from 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022.
  • For the first time, we have also published an ethnicity pay gap report.

Message from Chief Executive and Vice-Chancellor, Professor Karen Holford CBE FREng

In the 2021-2022 reporting year, our mean pay gap reduced from 22.2% to 21.0% and our median from 18.7% to 18.4%. While this is positive, progress has been incremental and slow and I am deeply committed to making more rapid progress in future years.

Alongside our gender pay gap report, for the first time, we are voluntarily publishing our ethnicity pay gap data too. We want to be transparent about our equality challenges and the lived experiences of our ethnic staff, and this report has helped shine a light on where we need to focus our activity.

A reduction in both the pay gaps is something we are all striving to achieve and, I believe, our collective mindset in addressing the challenges outlined in our reports will bring about such changes.

Of course, the retrospective nature of the reporting period means that the data in these latest reports is a snapshot of that particular time, and there is much that we are doing now that will impact positively on future figures.

In our Corporate Plan, Ambition 2027 – creating impact together, which we launched in August 2022, equity, diversity and inclusion (ED&I) runs as a thread throughout. In this, we set out our desire to be an ‘Employer of Choice’ – an organisation that people want to work for, with a fair, inclusive culture where everyone can flourish and contribute towards our success.

We want colleagues to feel part of a diverse, skilled and ambitious community who are empowered and engaged, and we aim to provide a collaborative, supportive and safe working environment where wellbeing is prioritised.

It's through our People strategy that this will be realised and this includes actions such as continuing to develop our pay and reward offering and we are determined to deliver year-on-year reductions in our gender pay gap by 2027.

ED&I is so important to us – we are committed to doing all we can to drive down the pay gaps and ensure Cranfield is recognised for its diverse and high-performing talent.