The Royal College of Physicians’ (RCP) gender pay gap report is an annual snapshot of RCP employee data.
The gender pay gap is the difference between the average earnings of men and women across an organisation. The RCP is committed to monitoring its gender pay gap on an annual basis and delivering a plan to address this gap.
In 2020, the RCP’s mean gender pay gap was 11.8%, a decrease of 3% from 2019. At the time of reporting, on 5 April 2020, the RCP employed 404 staff with a female to male ratio of 69% to 31%. According to the Office for National Statistics, the gender pay gap among all UK employees was 15.5% in 2020, down from 17.4% in 2019.
The mean provides a good indication of the overall pay gap without distortion caused by unusually large or small pay rates, or ‘outliers’. In contrast, the median gender pay gap compares the midpoint pay rate for women compared with the midpoint pay rate for men. In 2020, the median gender pay gap was 16.7%, a decrease of 1.1% from 2019. Table 1 shows how these figures have changed over the past 4 years.
Table 1. RCP mean and median gender pay gap 2017–2020
Although reporting on the gender pay gap was suspended in 2020 due to COVID-19, we elected to report our figures for transparency and continuous annual monitoring. We will publish a summary report covering 2020 and 2021, including further detail on the figures by earnings quartile, in the near future.
‘It’s positive to see the RCP gender pay gap reduce by 3% from the previous year and I remain committed to see this continue. Last year we published the Summerskill independent review into diversity and inclusion, which has invigorated efforts across the RCP to tackle inequalities in all areas. Our gender pay gap figure for 2020 is a step in the right direction, but we have more to do. It is great to see more diversity at leadership tiers and build on the positives of being a more inclusive organisation.’ – Ian Bullock, chief executive officer.
At the RCP we remain committed to fair pay irrespective of gender and will continue to build on our work to reduce the gender pay gap.