Pay Gap Report
2026
Contents 2 Pay gap report – 31 March 2025 3 Gender pay gap Gender bonus gap Gender pay gap progression over time Our people Understanding our gender pay gap 7 Ethnicity pay gaps Ethnicity bonus pay gap Ethnicity pay gaps comparison to last year Our people Understanding our Ethnicity pay gaps 11 Disability pay gap Disability bonus pay gap Disability pay gap comparison to last year Our people Understanding our disability pay gap 15 Our commitment Our Action Plan Key Information 1
Pay gap report – 31 March 2025 This report contains the British Library’s pay gaps for gender, ethnicity and disability based on snapshot data on 31 March 2025.
All information has been calculated and reported on in accordance with government guidelines. We remain committed to ensuring that the Library becomes an increasingly welcoming and inclusive place to work. Although we have seen a slight increase in the median gender pay gap, it remains close to our target of 0% and we will continue to work to sustain our record as an equitable workplace for women and men alike.
While we have made some progress on reducing the pay gaps relating to race and disability, they remain higher than we’d like them to be. I’d like to restate the Library’s commitment to eliminate them through continued commitment and focus – as we have done with the gender pay gap. This voluntary benchmarking – now in its third year – helps drive our efforts, as well as ensuring we remain transparent and accountable on these vital measures. Jeremy Silver Interim Chief Executive Officer, said: 2
Gender pay gap The gender pay gap is the percentage difference between the median (or mean) hourly pay of men and women in an organisation. Gender pay gap On average women members of staff earn 98.16p for every £1 that men earn. Gender bonus gap At the time of reporting (March 2025) at the most senior level, three employees (three women) are entitled to a bonus payment in accordance with the terms of their contracts. All senior leaders opted to not take their bonus resulting in a 0% gender bonus pay gap.
2025 2024 Men receiving a bonus 0% 0.29% Women receiving a bonus 0% 0% 1.84% Median 1.71% Mean Median 2025: 0% 2024 : 100%
Mean 2025: 0% 2024 : 100% 3
Gender pay gap progression over time Median Mean 7.00% 6.00% 5.00% 4.00% 3.00% 2.00% 1.00% 0.00% 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 1.81% 6.22% 0.35% 3.89% 2.04% 5.93% 1.86% 5.12% 2.29% 0.21% 2.33% 2.25% 0% 1.89% 0.20% 1.84% 2.91% 1.71% 4 Gender pay gap
Our people
This is a snapshot of the British Library’s whole organisation
demographics broken down by gender.
Women
Men
Percentage of men and women in each quartile
Quartiles are calculated by dividing the workforce into four equal-sized groups
and show the proportion of men and women in each quartile band, quartile one
being the lowest earning and quartile four being the highest earning.
Q1 Q2
Q3 Q4
57%
43%
59%
43%
41%
57%
56%
44%
54%
46%
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Understanding our gender pay gap
This year the British Library median Gender pay gap has increased to 1.84%
from 0.2% in 2024. The mean Gender pay gap has decreased to 1.71% from
2.91% in 2024.
As in the previous reporting period, the median pay gap continues to be influenced
by the upper middle quartile (Q3), where there remains a greater disparity in
median average pay for women within the Library.
In contrast, the upper quartile (Q4) continues to show a negative gender pay gap
among our highest-earning staff, with women on average earning more than men
in both median and mean pay measures.
National and industry figures
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has reported its provisional Gender pay
gap figures for 2025. The national median pay gap for full time and part time staff
is 12.8% (13.1% in 2024), and the mean is 13.4% (13.8% in 2024). The ONS
also produce breakdown by industry. The report indicates that ‘Libraries, archives,
museums and other cultural activities’ sector have a median pay gap of 2.9% (6.5%
in 2024), and a mean pay gap of 7.8% (6.1% in 2024), meaning the British Library
is lower in both median and mean than the sector average.
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Ethnicity pay gaps
The ethnicity pay gap is the percentage difference between the median (or mean)
average hourly pay of employees in different ethnic groups. For the British Library’s
ethnicity pay calculations, we have calculated the average percentage earnings for
our Asian and Black colleagues relative to our white colleagues. This gives us two
separate pay gaps – one for each ethnic group.
5.53%
Median
5.03%
Mean
Bonus
Bonuses do not make up a significant component of employee pay at the British Library.
Only three senior employees are entitled to a bonus payment, in accordance with
the terms of their specific contracts. Due to the sensitive nature of this data and the
significantly low data size we are unable to share this information.
Asian pay gap
On average Asian members
of staff earn 94.47p
for every £1 that white
members of staff earn.
11.17%
Median
15.49%
Mean
Black pay gap
On average Black members
of staff earn 88.83p
for every £1 that white
members of staff earn.
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Median Mean 7.00% 6.00% 5.00% 4.00% 3.00% 2.00% 1.00% 0.00%
2023 2024 2025 5.33% 3.95% 5.65% 6.14% 5.53% 5.03% Asian pay gap Ethnicity pay gaps progression over time Median Mean 18.00% 16.00% 14.00% 12.00% 10.00% 8.00% 6.00% 4.00% 2.00% 0.00%
2023 2024 2025 13.03% 16.08% 12.76% 16.93% 11.17% 15.49% Black pay gap 8
Our people
This is a snapshot of the British Library’s whole organisation demographics broken
down by high-level ethnic groups.
Proportion of ethnic groups in each quartile
Quartiles are calculated by dividing the workforce into four equal sized groups
and show the proportion of each ethnicity grouping in each quartile band,
quartile 1 being the lowest earning and quartile 4 being the highest earning.
Q1 Q2
Q3 Q4
Asian
Black
Mixed
Other Ethnic group
Unknown
White
8%
9%
72%
6%
2%
3%
8%
9%
66%
12%
2%
3%
9
8%
9%
66%
10%
3%
3%
4%8%
73%
9%
2%
3%
3%
6%
81%
7%
2%
1%
Understanding our Ethnicity pay gaps
This is the third year that the British Library has reported our ethnicity pay gaps.
Disappointingly, we do have pay gaps for both our Asian and our Black colleagues
which we are working hard to eliminate. Reporting ethnicity pay gaps is voluntary
and it is difficult to identify an appropriate benchmark in our industry or our sector,
however, we are internally benchmarking our progress which can be seen in the
progression over time graph (page 8).
There has been a very slight decrease in the Asian pay gap compared to 2024
from 5.65% to 5.53% in 2025.
Asian representation across the organisation has remained at 8% in the current
reporting year. As in the previous year, the lower middle (Q2) and upper middle
(Q3) quartiles continue to drive both the median and mean pay gaps. This indicates
that the Asian pay gap remains most pronounced at the middle and middle-senior
levels of the organisation.
There has been a slight decrease in the Black pay gap compared to 2024
from 12.76% to 11.17% in 2025.
Representation of Black colleagues has remained unchanged at 6% across the
organisation in the current reporting year. As in the previous year, representation
within the upper quartiles remains low, with Black colleagues accounting for 4%
in Q3 and 3% in Q4. This under representation at middle senior and senior levels
remains the primary driver of the Black pay gap.
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Disability pay gap
The disability pay gap is the percentage difference between the
median (or mean) hourly pay of employees who are disabled and
employees who are non-disabled.
Disability pay gap
On average members of staff with
disabilities earn 89.34p for every £1 that
members of staff without disabilities earn.
Bonus
Bonuses do not make up a significant component of employee
pay at the British Library. Only three senior employees are entitled
to a bonus payment, in accordance with the terms of their
specific contracts. Due to the sensitive nature of this data and the
significantly low data size we are unable to share this information.
10.66%
Median
6.44%
Mean
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Disability pay gap progression over time
Median
Mean
14.00%
12.00%
10.00%
8.00%
6.00%
4.00%
2.00%
0.00%
2023 2024 2025 4.20% 5.15% 11.47% 7.09% 10.66% 6.44% 12
Our people This is a snapshot of the British Library’s whole organisation demographics broken down by disability status. Disabled Unknown Non-disabled Proportion of Disabled and Non-Disabled employees in each pay quartile Quartiles are calculated by dividing the workforce into four equal-sized groups and show the proportion of disabled and non-disabled staff in each quartile band, quartile 1 being the lowest earning and quartile 4 being the highest earning. Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 13 13% 21% 66% 13% 30% 57% 17% 22% 60% 11% 15% 74% 12% 15% 73%
Understanding our disability pay gap
This is the third year that the British Library has reported our disability pay gap.
Disappointingly, we do have a pay gap for colleagues with disabilities and we will
be working hard to eliminate this through our action plan. Reporting a disability
pay gap is voluntary and it is difficult to identify an appropriate benchmark in
industry or our sector, however, we are internally benchmarking our progress
which can be seen in the progression over time graph (page 12).
There has been a slight decrease in the disability pay gap compared to 2024
from 11.47% to 10.66% in 2025.
The representation of disabled colleagues within the whole organisation has
increased from 12% in last years report to 13% in the current reporting year.
There remains a high number of staff who have chosen not to declare or not
answered at 21%, however this number has reduced by 2% from 2024 (23%).
The disability pay gap is primarily driven by higher pay gaps within the lower
middle (Q2) and upper quartile (Q4) of the organisation. This indicates that the
disability pay gap is most pronounced at both the middle and senior levels of
the organisation.
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Our commitment
We are committed to eliminating the disability and ethnicity pay gaps by 2030 and
retaining a consistently low gender pay gap. To do this we will be monitoring our
progress on an annual basis by publishing all of our pay gaps and taking action to not
only eliminate pay gaps but improve all aspects of working life at the British Library.
Gender
• Fostering a flexible working
environment where staff and
candidates are supported with
different ways of working
• Improving and introducing
new family friendly guidance
as part of our policy renewal
programme, including
guidance on menstruation
(periods), fertility treatment
and pregnancy loss
• Introducing trans-inclusion
guidance for staff and
managers and fostering an
inclusive culture where all
staff feel comfortable sharing
their gender identity with us
• Improving our menopause
awareness and support for
staff and managers
• Continuing to be proactive
in the prevention of sexual
harassment including training
for both staff and managers.
Ethnicity
• Investing in career
development opportunities
for Asian, Black, mixed race
and other ethnically diverse
colleagues
• Investing in specific leadership
development workshops on
race and senior leader impact
• Continuing to implement our
Race Equality Action Plan
across the organisation
• Continuing to work towards
the seven calls to action set
within the Race at Work
Charter
• Continuing our reciprocal
mentoring scheme for
Strategic Leaders and Black,
Asian, mixed race and other
ethnically diverse colleagues.
Disability
• Investing in specific leadership
development workshops on
disability and senior leader
impact
• Organising disability
awareness sessions for both
staff and managers covering
a range of topics
• Implementing ‘reasonable
adjustment’ passports at
the British Library
• Investing in career
development opportunities
for disabled colleagues
• Continuing to work towards
becoming a Disability
Confident Leader and
implementing the
associated actions.
All
• Improve our data monitoring and disclosure rates for protected characteristics in order to
generate more specific and targeted analysis of experiences
• Implement the recommendations from the inclusive recruitment review to remove barriers
for applicants and improve experiences.
• Continuing our early careers training placements providing opportunities for disabled
people, people from lower socio-economic backgrounds, Black, Asian, Mixed Race and
other ethnically diverse people entering the sector
• Continue to embed diversity and inclusion in all new training programmes
• Continue to collaborate and work with Trade Union colleagues and our staff networks.
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Our Action Plan
Key Information
A pay gap is not the same
as unequal pay
A pay gap is not the same as unequal pay.
Unequal pay means that employees performing
equal work, or work of equal value, are not
receiving equal pay – which is unlawful.
A pay gap is a measure of the difference
between one group’s average earnings across an
organisation as a whole over a period of time,
regardless of role or seniority. It is not a like-
for-like comparison of employees of different
gender, ethnicities, or disability. This means that
although we have a fair pay and reward policy,
and equal pay, we may still have a pay gap.
Mean and median explained
The mean and median are different ways of
calculating the average of a dataset and are used
to calculate pay gaps. Both are used as they tell
us different things about the data. The mean or
mathematical average is worked out by adding
all the data values together and dividing by
the total number of values in the data set. The
median is the positional average. It is found by
ordering all values (in a data set) in numerical
order and finding the middlemost value.
The advantage of the median over the mean
is that the mean is affected by any outliers
in the data set (such as a very small or large
value), whereas the median looks for the value
‘positioned’ in the middle of the data set.
Therefore, we lead with the median figure.
Terminology
We use the data recommended by the
government to calculate the gender pay gap.
However, we recognise that not all our staff
will identify as men or women. In recent years
we have encouraged staff to share their gender
identity with us including non-binary and trans
staff in this data capture. Our action plan aims to
ensure gender equity among all staff including
women, non-binary, and trans staff.
We have calculated the ethnicity pay gaps based
on the list of high-level ethnic groups as found
on the 2021 census and recommended by the
Ethnicity facts and figures guidance on gov.uk.
These are ‘Asian or Asian British’, ‘Black, Black
British, Caribbean or African’, ‘mixed or multiple
ethnic groups’, ‘other ethnic group’ and ‘white’.
This contrasts with using terms such as ‘BAME’
(Black Asian and minority ethnic) and calculating
only one pay gap.
By reporting on separate Asian and Black
pay gaps we aim to highlight the different
experiences of these groups and therefore
develop more targeted and effective measures to
address each of these gaps.
Statistical robustness
The government recommends any group needs
a minimum of 50 individuals to be reported on
as a separate category. This ensures anonymity
of data – ethnicity and disability are a protected
category of data under GDPR, and we have a
duty under the law to protect this data. It also
allows for statistical validity, meaning that there
are enough data points within the overall data
set to trust the results.
Due to this statistical robustness, there are only
two ethnic groups that we can draw a pay gap
for; Asian or Asian British and Black, Black British,
Caribbean or African. This has also meant that
we have grouped disability categories into
one overall category to calculate the disability
pay gap.
The individual categories that contribute to
the disability pay gap are:
Hearing
Long term chronic/
progressive conditions
Learning
Mental health
Mobility
Neurodiverse
Other
Physical
Speech
Sensory
Visual
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