Gender Pay Gap
What is the gender pay gap?
A gender pay gap measures the difference in the average pay of men and women across an organisation as a whole. It is not the same as equal pay for equal work. Across the UK, a range of factors contributes towards the existence of a gender pay gap, such as the fact that men are statistically more likely to be in senior roles or that women are statistically more likely to be in part-time roles.
Reporting our gender pay gap annually allows us to reflect on gender equality in our workforce and reaffirm our commitment to initiatives that promote equity.
Our approach at Chester Zoo
At Chester Zoo, our people are at the heart of everything we do. We are committed to fostering a workplace that is inclusive, fair, and enabling, where every colleague feels respected, supported, and able to develop. Through our Inclusive Growth approach, we actively work to ensure equity in pay, progression, and opportunity, recognising that diverse perspectives and experiences strengthen our organisation and help us deliver lasting impact for wildlife and people. Ultimately, having a diverse and inclusive workforce is critical to achieving our mission of Preventing Extinction.
Our Actions in 2025
In 2025 we undertook several initiatives to support gender equality and inclusion, focusing on:
- Developing our People
- Cultivating a culture of inclusion
- Attracting diverse talent
Some of the initiatives we have taken in 2025 supporting these areas were:
Launch of our new Pay Progression Framework: We launched a new broad-band pay and grading framework to replace the previous model. Each pay band now contains progression criteria based on contribution and value. This new framework ensures a clear, equitable pathway for career development and enables employees across the zoo to develop in their roles and be rewarded for this.
Employee Engagement Survey: We carried out a pulse engagement survey with an excellent 73% response rate, providing insight into colleague sentiment. The results showed strong engagement across departments with a 79% employee engagement score and no difference in engagement levels between male and female employees, indicating no measurable ‘engagement gap’ in how our people experience the workplace. This feedback has been used to inform our people initiatives and maintain our inclusive culture.
Inclusive Growth Strategy: In 2025 we introduced our organisation-wide Inclusive Growth Strategy – positioning inclusion as a driver of both organisational and societal growth. This strategy embeds equity and inclusion across our workforce, services, projects, and partnerships. We established seven inclusion workstreams (covering areas such as people practices, communication, community engagement, etc.) to ensure that diversity and inclusion principles are integrated into all aspects of our operations. We have begun auditing our people policies to ensure they are inclusive and we have collated workforce data to identify gaps and opportunities to improve diversity and inclusion.
Apprenticeships: We are committed to maintain the gender equality of our workforce through our future talent programmes such as our Apprenticeship program. 5 of our 14 apprentices as female. We are proud of all of our apprentices and believe that encouraging females into areas such as conservation, construction and hospitality is important in continuing to challenge stereotypes, breakdown barriers and promote equity.
How our pay is measured
We are proud to be a gender balanced organisation. In total, Chester Zoo employed 931 employees identifying as male or female, as at the end of April 2025 payroll figures. Our staffing level was higher than the previous year when we had 917 employees.
Staff numbers by gender – April 2025
Staff numbers
Female: 525
Male: 392
Total: 931
Percentage of total staff
Female: 56%
Male: 44%
Total: 100%
Our Gender Pay Gap in 2025 (Snapshot April 2025)
Chester Zoo’s latest gender pay gap figures show a clear improvement over the previous year. The mean (average) gender pay gap in hourly pay has reduced to 8.7%, down from 10% in 2024. The median gender pay gap has fallen to 5.3%, from 7% last year. This falls below the latest reported UK National Gender Pay Gap as reported by the ONS.
The existence of a gender pay gap at Chester Zoo is predominantly due to female employees outnumbering male employees at the lower end of our pay scale. The proportion of females at Chester Zoo by pay quartile as of April 2025 can be seen below:
| Pay Quartile | Women | Men |
|---|---|---|
| Upper (highest pay) | 47% | 53% |
| Upper-Middle | 58% | 42% |
| Lower-Middle | 60% | 40% |
| Lower (lowest pay) | 60% | 40% |
This narrowing of the gap from the previous year is driven by significant pay increases at the lower end of our pay scale following the April 2025 salary review. Many of our colleagues in the lower quartile received more substantial proportional increases than employees in the upper quartiles. Given we have a higher percentage of females in the lower quartile this has impacted our gender pay gap positively.
Median pay for men and women is now equal in all quartiles. This means that at each level of work in the organisation, we have essentially reached pay parity between genders. In addition, in all but one quartile (the upper quartile) the mean pay is virtually equal. The overall gap persists primarily because a larger proportion of women work in the lower-paying roles, whereas men hold a slightly higher share of the top-paying positions. We are heartened that almost half of our most senior leadership positions are held by women, and we continue efforts to support women in advancing into higher-paying roles to further close the gap.
Gender Pay Gap by year – Period April 2021 to April 2025
| All Employees | Mean Gender Pay Gap (in favour of men) | Median Gender Pay Gap (in favour of men) |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 8.7% | 5.3% |
| 2024 | 10% | 7% |
| 2023 | 10% | 7% |
| 2022 | 9% | 8% |
| 2021 | 10% | 0% |
Looking Ahead: Our Commitments for 2026
Building on the positive momentum from 2025, we aim to further reduce our gender pay gap and promote equality in 2026.
Our strategy focuses on supporting women to advance into higher-paying roles and ensuring our lower-paid roles remain well-compensated, so that the gap continues to close from both ends. Actions we plan on taking in 2026 include:
Cultivating an Inclusive Culture: A sustainable reduction in the gender pay gap goes hand-in-hand with an inclusive workplace culture. We will continue to foster a genuinely inclusive environment through ongoing training and awareness. Over the next year, we will: roll out ED&I training for all line managers and staff; support and grow our employee-led networks; and further develop our “speak up” culture so that any concerns can be raised and addressed openly.
Enhancing Career Development and Progression: We plan to roll out a new management and leadership development programme aimed at equipping emerging female leaders (and all high-potential staff) with the skills and opportunities to advance. Alongside this, we will launch a formal mentoring programme to support talent development – pairing employees with mentors to guide their career progression.
Inclusive Recruitment and Talent Pipeline: We will continue to refine our recruitment, promotion, and onboarding practices to attract diverse talent and ensure fairness at every stage. In 2026, we are committed to implementing any findings from the 2025 recruitment review.
Data Monitoring & Accountability: We will improve how we track and analyse our workforce data. This involves monitoring recruitment, promotion, and pay outcomes by gender throughout the year to identify any emerging disparities promptly. We plan to develop more regular internal reporting on inclusion metrics so that our leadership can take action if, for example, women’s representation in a certain pay band is falling or if any pay practices inadvertently lead to inequalities. We will also repeat our employee engagement and inclusion surveys and use feedback to guide our actions, ensuring we stay accountable to our goals.
Through these commitments, Chester Zoo aims to continue the trend of narrowing the gender pay gap. Our overall focus remains on encouraging a diverse talent pool in all roles, providing development opportunities for everyone, and sustaining a culture of inclusion and equity. We are pleased with the strides made in 2025, with a reduced pay gap and an equitable pay structure across quartiles, but we know that maintaining a low gap - and ultimately eliminating the gender pay gap - will require consistent effort and transparency. Our commitment to this agenda remains strong.