Gender Pay Statement
Gender Pay Gap reporting to March 2024
| Difference in the mean hourly pay male to female: | 19.4% |
| Difference in the median hourly pay male to female: | 34.3% |
| Proportion of male and female employees who were paid bonus pay: | 0% |
Proportion of male and female employees according to quartile pay bands:
| Female | Male | |
| Quartile 1 (Lower): | 93.8% | 6.2% |
| Quartile 2 (Lower middle): | 88.9% | 11.1% |
| Quartile 3 (Upper middle): | 76.5% | 23.5% |
| Quartile 4 (Upper): | 80.2% | 19.8% |
Aquinas Church of England Education Trust is an employer required by law to carry out Gender Pay Reporting under the Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2017. An employer must comply with the regulations for any year where they have a headcount of 250 or more employees on the snapshot date. On 31st March 2025, Aquinas had 726 employees (97 male, 614 female) for the purposes of these calculations.
In the latest reporting year, our overall gender pay gap has widened slightly from 18.94% to 19.4%, with the median pay gap also increasing from 32.25% to 34.3%. While these shifts are modest, they indicate persistent structural influences within our workforce that continue to shape pay outcomes. It is important to note that our gender pay gap remains shaped by the composition of roles and contracts at our organisation rather than unequal pay for equivalent work.
When placed in national context, the gender pay gap across all UK employees was approximately 12.8% in 2025, reflecting a gradual long‑term decline across the labour market. Within the education sector, gender pay gaps tend to be higher than the national average due to similar workforce structures, with sector figures reported around 24.6% or higher in many multi‑academy trusts. Our results are consistent with these education sector norms and broadly comparable to published figures from other multi‑academy trusts, where mean and median gaps often range from the mid‑teens to over 30%.
A key driver of our gap is the lower representation of male staff in the lower and lower‑middle pay quartiles contrasted with strong female representation in the upper quartile. This reflects the particular employment patterns in education, where male staff are more likely to occupy full‑year teaching roles and female staff are concentrated in support roles often on term‑time contracts. With males comprising just 13.6% of our workforce overall, changes in the composition of even a small number of roles can exert a large influence on our pay gap percentages.
Women hold a strong presence across executive and leadership positions. All positions within the organisation adhere to national education pay scales, ensuring pay equity for equivalent roles; the gender pay gap arises from occupational and contractual distributions rather than unequal pay. While our gap aligns with broader trends seen in multi‑academy trusts and the education sector overall, we remain committed to monitoring progress and exploring ways to reduce structural imbalances where feasible.