Our gender pay gap report

What is the gender pay gap?

The Gender Pay Gap is the difference between the average earnings of men and women across a workforce. UK companies with 250+ employees are legally required to report annually on their Gender Pay Gap. Our report covers UK employees, and it’s a snapshot taken by all reporting companies on the same date, in this case 5 April 2023.

In addition, we have divided all UK employees into four pay quartiles based on their hourly compensation. A breakdown of the percentage of men and women in each quartile is provided below.

The figures

The actions we’ve been taking to support diversity at Allica have made a tangible difference to our gender pay gap and the level of diversity at Allica. Since the end of 2021, we have increased the number of colleagues who identify as female at Allica from 35% to 42% and the number of colleagues who identify as female in senior manager roles from 16.5% to 35% today. There is still more we need to do in order to improve gender diversity at Allica, but we’re pleased to be making steps in the right direction as a result of the proactive action we have taken.

Between 5th April 2022 and 5th April 2023, Allica’s mean gender pay gap was 28.5%. The key driver of this gap is the number of colleagues in our technology and distribution teams, where the salaries tend to be higher and the industry talent pool is heavily skewed towards males. It is also driven by the number of female colleagues in our operations team where roles tend to be more junior. This can be seen in our pay quartiles, where in the top two quartiles we have a higher male representation and in the bottom quartiles we have a greater female representation.

We’re proud that 50% of the people we hired into technology roles in 2023 were female. However, the majority of these were in junior to mid-level roles, with the talent pool for more senior technology roles skewing heavily male. We’re committed to developing our colleagues internally, which can be seen in 16.1% of internal promotions during 2023. As we continue to invest in colleague development, we expect to see more of these junior colleagues progress to senior roles across the bank.

Allica's bonus gender pay gap

In the same period, Allica’s mean bonus gender pay gap was 26.7%. We recognise that this gap is largely perpetuated by the lower representation of women in the most senior roles during this period. However, it’s important also to take into account that these numbers include a deferred bonus from the previous year (paid in September 2022) when the work we’d done to improve our gender diversity had yet to take full effect.

The bonus gender pay gap calculations also do not take into account bonuses paid as shares. Because of this and because of the inclusion of a deferred bonus from a previous year, this is not a true representation of variable compensation at Allica.

But how are we doing now?

We’re pleased that Allica has already made significant jumps forward in improving our gender pay gap. Our mean salary gender pay gap has reduced by nearly 5% from 28.5% to 23.9%.

There are a number of reasons for this:

• Recruitment – one of our main focuses within recruitment has been encouraging a higher volume of female applicants. We have done this by carrying out targeted recruitment drives and ensuring our job adverts are both gender neutral and without bias. Additionally, we have ensured that we have a comprehensive benefits package that supports diversity. We have really seen the impact of our actions, particularly in technology where nearly 50% of our hires in 2023 identified as female.
• Promotions – Allica has recruited some amazing female colleagues so it’s no surprise that we have seen them grow and develop into bigger roles at Allica, helping to drive our growing business. In 2023, 19% of our females were promoted to more senior roles.
• Reporting and monitoring – Allica is a signatory of the Women in Finance Charter and we are confident about achieving our goals of 44% of all Allica staff and 35% of senior managers who identify as female by the end of the year. We are ensuring this information is reported on regularly to our ExCo and Board so they are constantly aware of how we are doing towards our targets.
• Executive – Allica’s Executive Committee is now 36% female, including three women recently named on Innovate Finance’s Women In Fintech Powerlist:
  • Ravneet Shah, Chief Technology Officer
  • Kate Valdar, General Counsel
  • Niv Subramanian, Chief Lending Officer
• Benefits – we have introduced new policies designed to support women, particularly mothers, and improve our diversity. In 2023, we improved our parental leave policies ensuring that colleagues can take time to support their families without having to rush back to work.
• Working practises – we work on a hybrid basis and encourage all our colleagues to speak to their managers about working practices that work for them and their life outside of Allica. Where possible, we always look to be flexible.