Gender pay gap report
All UK companies with 250 or more employees are required to publish gender pay gap information.
This year the pay gap data has been produced and verified by the Law Society, as opposed to previous years when this was completed on our behalf by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority for the Law Society Group.
At a glance – our 2022 gender pay gap
The gender pay gap is defined as the difference between the mean or median hourly pay rate that female and male staff receive.
The mean pay gap is the difference between hourly earnings for female and male staff, taking the sum of all hourly rates divided by the total number of female or male staff in the sample.
The median pay gap is the difference between the midpoints in the ranges of hourly earnings between female and male staff. It takes all salaries in the sample, in order from lowest to highest, and picks the middle-most salary.
These figures provided in the charts below are based on hourly rates of pay during the April 2022 pay period. The figures are compared to our 2020-2021 gender pay gap reports.
Difference in pay between females and males
| 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | Percentage point change 2021-22 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mean pay gap | 16.8% | 13.5% | 11.3% | -2.2% |
| Median pay gap | 16.6% | 6.8% | 4.7% | -2.1% |
The 2022 mean and median gender pay gap has decreased compared to 2021.
Difference in bonus pay between females and males
| 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | Percentage point change 2021-22 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mean bonus gap | 22.8% | 23.4% | 16.5% | -0.9% |
| Median bonus gap | 15.4% | 17.3% | 15.6% | -1.7% |
In 2022, both the mean and median bonus gap have decreased compared to 2021.
Proportion of male and female staff receiving a bonus payment
The percentage of individuals who received a bonus decreased for both male and female staff by 4% and 4.6% respectively.
There are three bonus schemes (corporate bonus scheme, executive bonus scheme and commission) operating across the organisation.
Proportion of male and female staff in each pay quartile
The charts show the gender split when we divide our workforce by ordering hourly rates of pay from highest to lowest and grouping the pay into four equal quartiles.
Understanding the gap
Our 2022 median pay gap is 4.7%, which once again is lower than the current UK median pay gap of 14.9% (Office of National Statistics 2021).
The percentage of females who work for us is slightly lower than last year.
There are fewer females in the lower quartile and more females in the upper quartile compared to 2021.
Comparatively, there are more females in lower-paid job roles than males and more males as a percentage in higher paid roles than lower-paid roles.
What we're doing
Find out more from our equality, diversity, and inclusion report.
Archived gender pay gap reports
The Law Society Group – Gender Pay Gap Report 2021 (PDF 133.4 KB)
The Law Society Group – Gender Pay Gap Report 2020 (PDF 86.5 KB)
The Law Society Group – Gender Pay Gap Report 2019 (PDF 700 KB)
The Law Society Group – Gender Pay Gap Report 2018 (PDF 700 KB)
The Law Society Group – Gender Pay Gap Report 2017 (PDF 309 KB)
NOTE: The 2017 report was amended in February 2019. The initial 2017 report as published in 2018, in line with statutory timelines, did not factor in salary sacrifice deductions. The Law Society Group has now revised the calculations to include salary sacrifice deductions. This has adversely impacted the gender pay gap figures, because more female than male employees take up salary sacrifice arrangements.