Ethnicity Pay Gap report 2022

This is the ethnicity pay gap report of the Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA) - the regulatory body for solicitors in England and Wales. Although there is no statutory requirement to publish ethnicity pay gap data we have chosen to do so for the second year running.

The ethnicity pay gap is defined as the difference between the mean or median hourly pay rate that White  staff and staff from a Black, Asian and minority ethnic background receive.

The mean pay gap is the difference between hourly earnings for staff from a Black, Asian and minority ethnic background and White staff, taking the sum of all hourly rates divided by the total number of White or other Black, Asian and minority ethnic staff.

The median pay gap is the difference between the midpoints in the ranges of hourly earnings between staff from a Black, Asian and minority ethnic background and White staff. It takes all salaries, in order from lowest to highest, and picks the middle-most salary.

The figures in the charts below are based on hourly rates of pay during the monthly pay period ending on 25 April 2022 and bonuses paid in the year up to 5 April 2022. The figures are compared to corresponding figures for  years ending April 2021 and April 2020.

Difference in pay between staff from a Black, Asian and minority ethnic background and White staff

In 2022, both the mean and median pay gap have decreased compared to 2021.

Difference in bonus between staff from a Black, Asian and minority ethnic background and White staff

In 2022 both the mean and median bonus gap have increased compared to 2021.

There are various bonus schemes for different levels throughout the SRA.

The charts show the ethnicity split when we divide our workforce by ordering hourly rates of pay from highest to lowest and grouping the pay into four equal quartiles.

Approximately 32 percent of our workforce are from a Black, Asian and minority ethnic background.

Understanding the gap

Our 2022 median pay gap is 12.7 percent, which is considerably higher than the current UK median pay gap of 2.3 percent (Office of National Statistics 2019).

Although we are pleased with the progress made in our ethnicity pay gap, our ethnicity bonus gap has widened. This is because the proportion of staff from a Black, Asian and minority ethnic  background who are eligible for a bonus has decreased.

What we've achieved on ethnicity pay

Overall, we have seen some welcome improvements to our ethnicity pay gap. But the picture is less positive at senior level, and we are committed to doing everything we can to make our senior grades more reflective of our wider workforce.

This is a summary of some of the ongoing measures in place to address our ethnicity pay gap:

• Develop an action plan to significantly improve ethnic diversity at those senior levels.
• Introduce a reverse mentoring scheme for Black, Asian and minority ethnic colleagues to mentor our Chief Executive and his executive team.
• Introduce a new inter-organisational mentoring scheme, initially targeted at colleagues from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds.

In further work we will:

• Set targets over the next five to ten years to double the number Black, Asian and minority ethnic staff within our senior team from 8% (as at 31 December 2021) to sixteen per cent in the next five years, and to further increase to twenty per cent by 2032.
• Focus on career development by conducting a survey to understand the barriers to career development, exploring specific career development programmes for underrepresented groups and secondment and apprenticeship opportunities.
• Focus on recruitment by sourcing a diverse panel of people for our leadership recruitment process, reviewing the essential requirements for roles. We will also re-tender our preferred suppliers for recruitment, with a focus on diversity.

We continue to be committed to a fully inclusive workplace.