Our gender, ethnicity, class and disability pay gap reports 2024-2025

This year, we are proud to publish four strands of our pay gap reporting: gender, ethnicity, socio‑economic background (class), and disability. For class and disability, this marks the first time we’ve published these figures. 

Across all strands, our gaps continue to narrow. Like‑for‑like analysis shows that where colleagues are working at the same level, pay is comparable. However, structural and historical barriers (especially around senior‑level representation) remain the biggest contributors to our overall gaps. Our work continues to focus on removing unnecessary barriers and ensuring career progression is accessible and supported for everyone. 

Progress doesn’t happen by accident. It happens when we back our people and challenge what needs to change. We’re proud of how far we’ve come, and we’re committed to going further."

Abigail Fisher Chief People Officer

Headline figures 

Our pay gaps for 2024/2025 are based on a data snapshot taken for April 2025 

The reportable mean* pay gaps (employees only) for 2024/25 are: 

• Gender pay gap of 11% (2% annual decrease)
• Ethnicity pay gap of 10% (1% annual decrease)
• Class pay gap of 7%
• Disability pay gap of 3% 

When partners are included, our mean* pay gaps for 2024/25 are: 

• Gender pay gap of 28% (5% annual decrease)
• Ethnicity pay gap of 29% (4% annual decrease) 

NB: Partner data is not currently reported on for Class or Disability 

Our reportable mean* bonus gaps (employees only) for 2024/25 are: 

• Gender bonus gap of 27% (16% annual decrease)
• Ethnicity bonus gap of 33% (5% annual increase)
• Class bonus gap of 10%
• Disability bonus gap of -5% 

*The mean is calculated by adding up all of a relevant group’s pay and then dividing it by the population of that group.

Insights shaping our next steps 

Gender  

Our gender pay gap has halved since 2022, falling from 22% to 11% in 2025. This improvement is driven primarily by increased female representation in senior roles – particularly at director level, which has risen from 22% female talent in 2022 to 37% in 2025.

Retention following parental leave has also improved: female retention in the two years following return from family leave increased from 67.7% to 72.3%, and male retention from 57.3% to 61.2%. These shifts reflect the enhancements we’ve made to family leave and flexible working options for all genders. 

The Gender bonus gap reduced significantly year on year, reducing by almost half to 27.39%. Whilst there is still work to do, we are pleased with our progress. 

Ethnicity

Our ethnicity pay gap continues to reduce, falling from 14% in 2022 to 10% in 2025. Representation of ethnic minority colleagues has grown across all levels of the firm, strengthening the pipeline of ethnic minority talent at senior levels in the future. 

The mean bonus gap for ethnic minority colleagues increased slightly compared to prior years. This was due to a shift in grade composition – ethnic minority individuals represented a larger share of bonus recipients in 2025, but were concentrated in slightly lower grades, due to the lower representation in senior levels. Despite this, Ethnic Minority colleagues saw a 3% increase at junior levels, while white colleagues saw a 3% decrease, showing progress in balancing the scales at junior levels. 

Class 

This year marks our first publication of the class pay gap. The 2024/25 class pay gap is 6.55%, the lowest since we began tracking the metric in 2022 and a reduction of 1.85% from the previous year. 21% of colleagues at junior levels identify as having a working-class background, which closely mirrors 19% of colleagues at senior levels. 

The class bonus gap also fell sharply, halving year-on-year from 20.81% in 2024 to 10.02% in 2025. 

Disability 

We are also publishing our disability pay gap for the first time. The 2024/25 regulatory pay gap is 3%, driven by consistent representation of disabled colleagues across all levels. Around 15% of colleagues at junior levels identify as having a disability, closely mirrored by 14% at senior levels. 

We recognise that disability inclusion is shaped by more than pay alone. Improvements to workplace adjustments, digital accessibility, and manager capability remain central to our ongoing commitments. 

There is no bonus pay gap for disabled colleagues.

What we achieved in 2025 

Across the firm, we continued to strengthen our culture of inclusion by enhancing progression pathways, supporting gender-specific wellbeing, and maintaining our family friendly culture. In 2025, one of our key initiatives across all strands of diversity was introducing Catalyst, a programme designed to support early career, high-potential talent from underrepresented backgrounds. 

Key achievements included: 

Gender 

• Maintained our position as a Top 10 Working Families Employer in 2025
• Recognised as a Times Top 50 Employer for Gender Equality 2025
• Sponsored the launch of the Family Friendly Workplaces accreditation and became one of the first organisations to be accredited
• Achieved our Women in Finance Charter target for female representation at senior management level (Directors and Partners)
• Published our Women in Business 2025 report
• Published findings from our Mid-career momentum study, exploring the experiences of 600 women in professional services, and hosted our EmpowHer event on mid-career pivots progression
• Provided data insight to senior leadership to inform decisions and hold leaders accountable
• Provided one-to-one coaching for female talent via a coach dedicated to this area
• Launched Menopause Matters, bi‑monthly support sessions hosted by a menopause champion
• Renewed our EIDA membership, delivered domestic abuse awareness training for people managers and people advisors, and updated related guidance
• Rolled out free sanitary products across all offices 

Ethnicity 

• Continued the firm-wide rollout of Amplify, our sponsorship programme for ethnic minority talent, supported by a dedicated coach
• Launched Portraits of Power during Black History Month, celebrating Black excellence
• Updated and published our internal Outsider Experience Within report, informing future action plans
• Maintained accountability for improvement in senior representation via our Ethnicity Board
• Delivered Aspire, our flagship belonging event for ethnic minority colleagues
• Provided one-to-one coaching for ethnic minority talent via a coach dedicated to this area
• Celebrated our first Cultural Awareness Week and launched the Culture Compass
• Began rolling out cultural intelligence sessions across the business to improve cross firm and cross-cultural collaboration
• Director, Cherryl Cooper, and Partner and Ethnicity Convenor, Akin Ogboye, were shortlisted as finalists at the Black Talent Awards
• Partner Amaechi Nsofor was named Professional Senior Leader of the Year at the Black Scottish Awards  

Class 

• Started our partnership with Progress Together to support progression of socio-economic talent in financial services. Specifically, hosting C-suite roundtables with Progress Together, to bring together decision makers to shift the dial on social mobility, and publishing our insights to support the sector more broadly.
• Strengthened mentoring programmes, launching a new pilot for Assistant Managers with Partner mentors
• Delivered impactful Social Mobility Day campaigns in partnership with the Social Mobility Foundation
• Increased visibility of socio-economic role models, including senior advocates. Our CEO, Malcolm Gomersall, was named Champion of the year at the 2025 SOMO awards
  Re-energised our community network to improve engagement
• Pulse surveys showed stable inclusion scores; engagement from SEB (working class) maintained
• Worked with Access Accountancy to increase awareness of opportunity within the Accountancy sector by hosting virtual work experience specifically ringfenced for young people with a low socio-economic background.   

Disability 

• Opened our new London HQ, designed with accessibility at its core and developed in consultation with the BDF, supported by internal sustainable property guidelines which ensure accessible design is a key feature of all property projects. Key features include wellness and multi-faith rooms, alongside a range of versatile spaces suitable for different needs and ways of working
• Achieved Bronze in our first British Disability Foundation Smart audit
• Embedded a Disability Champions model across 10 key business areas
• Enhanced workplace adjustment processes, supported by improved use of diversity data
• Delivered the Tech Enabled campaign, promoting accessibility through digital tools
• Delivered training for internal coaches on coaching neurodivergent colleagues
• Published People Manager guidance for supporting a neurodiverse individual
• Introduced a neurodiversity buddy scheme enabling access to peer mentoring 

Our plan to close the gaps 

We remain focused on addressing the systemic and cultural barriers that impact underrepresented groups. Our work continues to span sponsorship, flexible and family-friendly working, education and language, visible role models, accountable leadership, and transparent opportunities.  

Each business area seeks to ensure there are equal and transparent work opportunities for everyone. Senior leaders are held accountable for improvements in diversity representation across all levels, ensuring that opportunities for promotion and performance are transparent and positively impact diversity in our firm. 

Key actions include: 

• Implementing strand-specific action plans sponsored by senior leaders for gender, ethnicity, class, and disability
• Embedding a new I&D business partnering model, aligning inclusion goals with business priorities and embedding into the employee lifecycle
• Reviewing performance ratings by diversity strand across all service lines, together with a review of the proportion of people who’ve been promoted
• Sharing quarterly representation and pay gap insights with each business area
• Investing in progression for underrepresented colleagues of all backgrounds through Catalyst, tailored coaching, and structured development programs 

What comes next 

Gender 

• Expanding gender-specific health support for all genders, including menopause and fertility support, through our Peppy partnership
• Preparing our Gender and Menopause action plans for external publication ahead of the April 2027 deadline
• Continuing support for carers through our caring for others policy and the ‘Let’s Care Together’ program
• Continuing to shape the profession through flagship research, such as our annual ‘Women in Business’ report  

Ethnicity 

• Enhancing digital confidence and capability among ethnic minority colleagues
• Building on Portraits of Power to amplify advocacy for Black talent and supporting access to professional services
• Rolling out race allyship training
• Improving intersectional support, initially focused on ethnic minority women and colleagues from lower socio-economic backgrounds
• Embedding recommendations from our Insider Experience Within report and data analysis
• Improving cultural inclusion through guidance on religious celebrations and manager awareness of key events

Class 

• Using our first published class pay gap as a catalyst for year-on-year action
• Provide People Manager training on spotting common barriers LSEB colleagues may face such as accent bias
• Continuing our Progress Together roundtable series. Engaging C-suite leaders on social mobility to further increase leadership accountability for equal opportunity and progression for talent from all backgrounds.
• Working with Access Accountancy to host professionals from across the Accountancy sector, and beyond, for thought leadership roundtables on Social Mobility Day. Raising the profile of this topic in the Accountancy sector and sharing insights to support organisations to see real impact in retention and progression of LSEB talent.
• Continue investing in our communities by supporting underprivileged young people through the Grant Thornton Foundation. As well as continuing to support our existing charities in 2026, we will begin our mentoring partnerships through Inspiration for All, supporting Head Teachers and building long-lasting relationships with schools.
• Continuing employability support for young people through the ICAEW RISE initiative, 1 Million Mentors, and the Social Mobility Foundation 

Disability 

• Working with disability champions to improve accessible communications and digital inclusion
• Continuing to embed accessibility in our built environments
• Strengthening people manager and wider firm capability to support disabled and neurodiverse colleagues
• Improving accessibility for clients through better tools, processes, and awareness 

LGBTQIA+

Whilst we have not published our LGBTQIA+ pay gap data for the 2024/25 period, we continue to monitor our progress in this area using other measures. Our 2025 highlights and future actions are as follows: 

What we achieved in 2025: 

• Launched our internal Trans+ Inclusion Hub – which provides a variety of internal and external resources and support for Trans+ colleagues (and those who support them) across a range of topics and challenges they may be facing – all in one place.
• Held Ignite – a one-day development programme for our LGBTQIA+ Managers, Senior managers, and Associate directors to support progression.
• Celebrated Pride in Manchester and Brighton with a Pride breakfast event followed by marching and watching the parades respectively.
• Added support for accessing a gender dysphoria diagnosis to our private medical benefits. 

What comes next: 

• Annual belonging event to provide opportunities for colleagues to come together, supporting inter-community connection and networking.
• Refreshed action plan, supported by guidance outlined in our application for the Proud Employers Accreditation.
• Follow-up for Ignite cohort, ensuring learnings continue and outlining next steps, supporting ongoing development for LGBTQIA+ colleagues looking to progress.
• Partnership with AKT through the Grant Thornton Foundation, allowing for greater charitable support and outreach work with the wider LGBTQIA+ community. 

 Appendix

Pay gap reporting – legal entity clarification 

Employees working within the Grant Thornton UK business are employed by Grant Thornton Services LLP. Grant Thornton Services LLP provides staff to Grant Thornton UK Advisory & Tax LLP under a services arrangement, and Grant Thornton UK Advisory & Tax LLP in turn makes staff available to Grant Thornton UK LLP. Employees therefore work across the Grant Thornton UK business while remaining employed by Grant Thornton Services LLP.

In accordance with UK gender pay gap reporting legislation, the statutory pay gap disclosure submitted to HMRC is therefore made by Grant Thornton Services LLP, as the employing entity.

Neither Grant Thornton UK LLP, nor Grant Thornton UK Advisory & Tax LLP employ any staff and, as a result, do not have separate pay gap reporting obligations. As all employees are employed by Grant Thornton Services LLP, there is no requirement to produce separate pay gap disclosures for individual trading entities for audit separation purposes.

For the purposes of this website publication, references to “Grant Thornton UK” are used in a commercial sense to describe the Grant Thornton UK business as a whole, encompassing all partners and employees included within the scope of this pay gap disclosure and the relevant legal entities described above.