What causes our gender pay and bonus gaps?
We are in a strong position in terms of attracting, developing, and retaining Females. We are the only top 50 law firm with over 50% females at partnership level.
The gender pay gap is a simple measure, calculating the difference between men and women's average pay, irrespective of their role and seniority.
This means that when calculating the gender pay gap, any pay differences between men and women are much broader than when looking at equal pay. Equal pay relates to the Equality Act 2010, which requires employers to give Males and Females equal pay if they are employed to do like-for-like work.
The demographics of our colleague population are the main contributing factors for our gender pay gap and gender bonus gap:
- A higher proportion of Females work in certain sectors of our workforce, for example in less senior roles, including paralegal (84.5% female), document production (100%) and contact centre (76% female) roles, impacting the overall mean pay gap.
- 19% of our colleagues across the business are part-time. 93% of our part-time colleagues are Female, and, across our Associate and Senior Associate population (where bonus percentages are higher due to the construct of the bonus scheme), 88% of our part timers are Female compared to 12% of Male.
These factors impact our bonus gap because our bonuses are based on a percentage of an employee’s actual salary, which will be lower for part time workers due to fewer hours worked in comparison to full-time employees.
What do we have in place to ensure that our pay gap remains as low as possible?
Progressing inclusion and wellbeing is a focus area of both the Responsible Business strategy and our People Plan. We are committed to providing an equitable platform for all our colleagues to thrive, and have several policies and procedures in place in order to support this:
1.
We use gender-neutral language and consider the images and branding used in advertising roles and careers within the organisation. We also partner with third parties to target the advertising of our vacancies to reach individuals from minority and underrepresented groups.
2.
Our Hiring Manager guidance supports inclusive recruitment to give every candidate a level platform to showcase their potential, by providing advice, templates, and tips for avoiding unconscious bias and to give all candidates equal opportunities throughout the hiring process.
3.
Our Flexible by Choice approach supports colleagues to work at times and locations which align with their circumstances, dependant on meeting client and business needs. This was recognised as a key reason that women stay at Irwin Mitchell in the 2023 Encompass Equality report ‘Why Women Leave’, which over 200 of our colleagues took part in.
4.
As well as enhanced Maternity and Paternity leave policies, our Family Leave policy includes Adoption, Fostering, Surrogacy, and Shared Parental Leave, as we recognise that everyone’s situation is personal. This policy provides greater freedom for colleagues to do what is best for them.
5.
We monitor our people process outcomes by demographics to identify discrepancies and inform our strategy and initiatives.
In addition, we have taken action over the past year to improve our approach:
- Our reciprocal mentoring programme was relaunched with an expanded cohort of mentees which now includes disabled and LGBTQ+ colleagues as well as ethnic minority colleagues. We have over 65 colleagues taking part in the 2025/2026 programme.
- Partnering with Inclusive Employers to create a comprehensive inclusive recruitment report. An action plan has been developed from the recommendations in the report and will be delivered over the next three financial years.
- Our seven diversity network groups play a vital role in shaping initiatives by harnessing the lived experiences of individuals within the business.
Further details on our commitment to inclusion and responsible business can be found in our Responsible Business Report 2025.
