The report at a glance

Northumbria has an ambitious aim to eliminate pay gaps by 2030.  In 2025, the university made modest progress in narrowing the gender pay gap, with the mean gap reducing to 10.7% and the median to 13.9% from 11.4% and 15.8% respectively. While disparities remain, particularly at senior levels such as grade 10 (University Executive), where the gap stands at 16.5%, most grades show no gap at the median, suggesting equal pay within grades but continued underrepresentation of women in leadership roles. Pay gaps within staff groups are notably smaller, with academic staff showing a mean gap of 7.8% and professional support staff just 2.4%, though workforce composition continues to influence the overall figures.

Encouragingly, the headline ethnicity pay gap has closed, with ethnic minority staff earning slightly more than white staff on average. However, intersectional analysis reveals deeper inequalities, particularly for ethnic minority women, who face a mean pay gap of 13.2% compared to white men. Disability pay gaps have narrowed significantly, falling to 6.3% at the mean, though disabled staff remain underrepresented in senior roles. The LGBTQ+ pay gap stands at 8.2%, with wider disparities observed within specific staff groups.

The pay gap report examines the combined 2025 gender pay gap for Northumbria University and Northumbria University Services Limited, analysing key characteristics such as area of work, staff group, age, and service length. It also explores pay disparities in terms of ethnicity, disability, and LGBTQ+ status and outlines how these will be addressed through proactive action to reduce occupational segregation, increasing representation of women in senior academic roles, and prioritising support for ethnic minority women in professional support roles. Strengthening disability inclusion and improving people data quality—especially around disclosure rates for protected characteristics—are also key to enabling more effective monitoring and action planning.