Royal College of Physicians gender pay gap 2025

On 5 April 2025 the RCP employed a total of 418 staff, comprising 283 (68%) women and 135 (32%) men. This includes people working for the Federation of the Royal Colleges of Physicians of the UK as they are employed by the RCP. Following the national rules, on the pay period our data cover, 12 women were excluded from the pay gap and pay quartile sections of the report because they received less than their normal pay (due to maternity and sick leave).

The number of full-pay relevant employees used to calculate our gender pay gap was therefore 406 staff (272 women and 134 men). This is a decrease from 2024 (460), primarily due to the lower number of casual workers that fell under relevant employees during this period (46; 2024: 82)). Casual workers include examiners and clinicians employed on a short-term basis for projects. The RCP employed workforce excluding casual workers was made up of a total of 372 staff, comprising 254 (68%) women and 118 men (32%).

In 2025, the median gender pay gap for the RCP was 13.6%. The mean gender pay gap was 13.9%. This is a reduction of 8.3% in the median and 5.8% in the mean compared with 2024. The 46 casual workers have been included in these calculations.

Excluding the casual workers, the median gender pay gap was 7.9% and the mean was 10.9% (this represents a reduction of 11.8% in the median and 6.6% in the mean compared with the 2024 figures).

Further analysis

This figure shows the proportion of women and men in each pay quartile. The quartile pay bands are calculated by dividing the workforce into four equal bands ranging from the highest to the lowest hourly rate. The deviation from the distribution of staff that we would expect to see in each quartile, based on the gender split of the RCP’s workforce, is shown in light blue. These data show that women made up 72.3% of employees in our lower quartile (a decrease of 2.5% on 2024) and 71.6% of employees in the lower-middle quartile (an increase of 12.3% on 2024). 

There was an almost equal split between women and men in senior roles making up our upper quartile, similar to previous years. Our executive leadership team, comprising the most senior staff roles at the RCP, is made up of four men and three women.

The differential distribution of women and men in the wider workforce continues to have an impact on the gender pay gap at the RCP, with a higher proportion of men employed in senior posts, and more women in administrative and coordination roles. 

Actions and next steps

We are pleased to show a reduction in our gender pay gap for 2025. While it represents the biggest reduction since we started reporting, we recognise that there is still some way to go. The inclusion of 46 casual workers employed on 5 April has contributed to our 2025 gender pay gap – the comparative figures illustrated above show a significantly lower gap when they are excluded.

A Gender Pay Gap Action Group was set up last year to champion actions to reduce the RCP’s gender pay gap. The group has membership from across the RCP, including People and Culture representatives, our diversity, inclusion and belonging reps and the chairs of our Employee Forum and Women’s Network. It is co-chaired by the interim CEO and executive director for CP&R. 

The group is investigating and benchmarking against other organisations that have successfully addressed (or are successfully reducing) their gender pay gap and is engaging with both internal and external specialists to identify actions the RCP can take.

Agreed actions

Our Gender Pay Gap Action Group (GPAG) has developed a 3-year action plan to deliver the following actions under the following areas: learning opportunities and support; structures, pay and transparency; and workforce awareness and management skills. We hope that these changes in process, culture and practice will lead to a sustainable reduction in our gender pay gap over the life of the action plan.

Learning opportunities and support
Objective 1: Ensure a transparent approach for accessing learning and development opportunities, including for those with part-time/flexible working patterns.

Objective 2: Offer women mentorship programmes and/or coaching to support them into leadership positions.

Structures, pay and transparency
Objective 1: Offer part-time and other flexible options at all levels of the organisation.

Objective 2: A commitment to analyse how the RCP’s workforce structure impacts gender balance, focusing on key areas of our people strategy that enhance our practice as a college.

Objective 3: A commitment to strategic pay transparency and benchmarking: conduct regular, evidence-based benchmarking exercises to evaluate our pay data.

Workforce awareness and management skills
Objective 1: Ensure that all managers have the knowledge, skills and confidence to understand women-specific health needs such as menopause and that policies support women related to this.

Objective 2: Ensure that staff handling complaints have the knowledge, skills and confidence to better understand women’s experiences of discrimination and harassment, including those with intersectional barriers.

Objective 3: Ensure that managers have the knowledge, skills and confidence to manage operational needs with flexible working patterns.

Objective 4: Biannual updates to be published by the GPAG on progress so far, with comments invited from the executive board to ensure engagement with the objectives.

Chiraag Panchal
Executive director, People and Culture