Food Standards Agency Gender Pay Gap Report 2025
Published 1 June 2026
Applies to England, Northern Ireland and Wales
© Crown copyright 2026
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1. Introduction
In 2017, the government introduced legislation that made it statutory for organisations with 250 or more employees to report annually on their gender pay gap. Government departments are covered by the Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties and Public Authorities) Regulations 2017 which came into force on 31 March 2017.
These regulations underpin the Public Sector Equality Duty and require the relevant organisations to publish their gender pay gap data annually, including mean and median gender pay gaps; the mean and median gender bonus gaps; the proportion of men and women who received bonuses; and the proportions of male and female employees in each pay quartile.
This is the Food Standard Agency’s (FSA) ninth Gender Pay Gap report and fulfils our reporting requirements, analyses the figures in more detail and sets out what we are doing to close the gender pay gap in the organisation.
The reporting period is 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025.
2. Organisational context
The FSA is a non-ministerial government department established under the Food Standards Act 1999 and operational since April 2000. The FSA’s role is defined in law. The Food Standards Act states that:
The main objective of the Agency in carrying out its functions is to protect public health from risks which may arise in connection with the consumption of food (including risks caused by the way in which it is produced or supplied) and otherwise to protect the interests of consumers in relation to food.
Our offices are in Belfast, Cardiff, London and York. We also have significant numbers of employees working through England, Wales and Northern Ireland based in abattoirs or as field staff and homeworkers.
The FSA supports the fair treatment and reward of all staff. We want to ensure that someone’s background or protected characteristics are never a limiting factor in the FSA, but rather an asset that can be drawn upon to improve policy making and service delivery.
3. Organisational structure
The FSA uses Civil Service grades ranging from Administrative Officer to Senior Civil Servant. Grades vary according to the level of responsibility that staff have, and each grade has a set pay range. Salaries are paid according to grade and annual pay awards within the grade are paid irrespective of gender.
All grades except for the Senior Civil Service (SCS) have both a London and National pay range.
As of 31 March 2025, headcount had increased by 9 from the previous year with 51% of the FSA workforce female, up from 49% in 2024.
| Grade | Number of men (men as % of workforce at this grade) | Number of women (women as % of workforce at this grade) |
|---|---|---|
| AO/EO | 276 (71%) | 113 (29%) |
| HEO | 158 (41%) | 230 (59%) |
| SEO | 187 (40%) | 282 (60%) |
| Grade 7 | 111 (46%) | 132 (54%) |
| Grade 6 | 33 (49%) | 34 (51%) |
| SCS | 15 (48%) | 16 (52%) |
| Total | 780 (49%) | 807 (51%) |
4. The Gender Pay Gap
Ordinary pay
The gender pay gap shows the difference in the average pay between all men and women in a workforce. If a workforce has a particularly high gender pay gap, this can indicate there may be a number of issues to deal with, and the individual calculations may help to identify what those issues are.
The gender pay gap is different to equal pay. Equal pay deals with the pay differences between men and women who carry out the same jobs, similar jobs or work of equal value. It is unlawful to pay people unequally because they are a man or a woman.
The mean gender pay gap is the difference in the average hourly pay for women compared to men. A negative number indicates that women on average earn more than men. The median represents the middle point of a population. If you separately lined up all female employees and all male employees, the median pay gap is the difference between the hourly pay rate for the middle woman compared to that of the middleman.
This year, mean average pay for women is 5.1% higher than that of men. Median pay for women across the organisation is 12.4% more than that of men. In monetary terms, the mean hourly difference in ordinary pay is £1.13 compared to £1.28 in 2024 and the median hourly difference is £2.40 compared to £1.98 compared to in 2024. The following table shows the mean and median gender pay gap since 2017.
Mean and median pay gap
| Year | Mean | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | -5.1% | -12.4% |
| 2024 | -5.9% | -10.2% |
| 2023 | -8.7% | -16.2% |
| 2022 | -7.8% | -21.2% |
| 2021 | -9.5% | -23.1% |
| 2020 | -9.6% | -21.6% |
| 2019 | -8.0% | -14.7% |
| 2018 | -9.3% | -17.5% |
| 2017 | -9.4% | -16.7% |
The negative gender pay gap is mainly due to the structure of our workforce.
For the first time since we started reporting our gender pay gap, the FSA workforce has a higher proportion of females (51%) than males (49%). Male staff account for 71% of employees in the two most junior grades.
The percentage of women at higher grades (HEO-SCS) is 58%, up 1 percentage point from 2024. AO/EO grades are our lowest paid and 35% of male employees work in these grades (mainly as Meat Hygiene Inspectors at EO grade). Whereas only 14% of female staff are employed at these grades.
In addition to this, most Meat Hygiene Inspectors are on national pay bands, which
are lower than the London range to reflect the difference in living costs.
With the exception of SCS grades where there is no differential between London and National pay ranges, the gender balance for roles in London is 55% to 45% in favour of women (down from 56% last year) whereas outside of London, men occupy 50.4% of roles (down from 52% in 2024).
In our AO/EO grades, 92% of roles are outside London. The proportion of roles at HEO to Grade 6 outside London is 79%.
Bonus pay
The FSA offers an in-year reward and recognition scheme for delegated grades (AO to Grade 6), funded from a non-consolidated performance pot of 0.5% of delegated pay bill.
Individuals or teams may be rewarded for exceptional achievements relating to specific tasks or activities, and/or for acting as an outstanding role model in the demonstration of the FSA’s Values. Awards are limited to specific values (£50, £100, £250, £500 or £750). There is no limit to the number of awards an individual may receive but the total amount is capped at £2,500.
The People and Organisational Change team analyse the scheme by grade and protected characteristics, not just gender, and report twice yearly to senior managers allowing them to see the full equality analysis of performance awards in their own areas and across the FSA.
SCS receive end of year performance awards and in-year bonuses. The rules and funding for the SCS schemes follow Cabinet Office guidance and are different to those for the delegated scheme.
Funded from a performance pot of 3.3% in line with the Cabinet Office rules, this year, SCS performance bonuses ranged between £2,500 and £7,000 depending on whether they were for in-year or end of year performance recognition.
End of year performance awards and in-year awards at FSA are not pro-rated for part-time staff (so these staff receive the full value of the bonus). Therefore, the gender bonus pay gap is not affected by numbers of part-time staff in either gender.
The difference in schemes means in one, an employee could receive a bonus of £50 (FSA reward and recognition scheme) and in another an employee could receive a bonus of £7,000 (SCS end of year). As a result, the bonus pay gap can change quite significantly from one year to the next. The following table shows the mean and median bonus gaps since 2017.
Mean and median bonus pay gap
| Year | Mean | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | -7.8% | 0.0% |
| 2024 | -21.6% | 0.0% |
| 2023 | -28.6% | -14.3% |
| 2022 | -7.8% | 0.0% |
| 2021 | -25.3% | -40.0% |
| 2020 | -16.3% | 0.0% |
| 2019 | 11.8% | 0.0% |
| 2018 | 0.9% | 0.0% |
| 2017 | 4.7% | 5.5% |
In 2025 the median bonus value for men and women was £300 (up from £250 in 2024). The mean bonus value for women was £449, up from £405 in 2024. The difference in mean bonus values between women and men reduced from £72 to £43 – a fall of £29.
The mean gender bonus gap narrowed this year, driven mainly by shifts in the AO/EO population. The value of male EO bonuses increased while female EO bonuses fell, reversing last year’s pattern and significantly reducing the overall difference.
The impact of high‑value SCS awards that was previously a major factor widening the gap in favour of women also diminished. As a result, the average bonus received by men moved closer to that of women, reducing the mean gender bonus gap overall.
Proportion of men and women receiving a bonus
The following table shows the proportion of men and women receiving a bonus since 2017. In 2025, women were more likely than men to receive a bonus, helping narrow the pay gap. This was partly offset by shifts in award values, particularly at EO level, where men’s average bonuses increased while women’s decreased.
| Year | Men | Women |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 72.6% | 76.2% |
| 2024 | 75.5% | 75.6% |
| 2023 | 92.9% | 91.8% |
| 2022 | 73.5% | 58.3% |
| 2021 | 60.6% | 65.3% |
| 2020 | 62.9% | 62.8% |
| 2019 | 60% | 60% |
| 2018 | 28% | 32% |
| 2017 | 33% | 38% |
Distribution of men and women through each pay quartile
The hourly pay quartiles show the proportion of men and women that are in each pay quartile, when we arrange staff in order of hourly pay rate.
Because of the structure of our workforce, women are proportionately less represented in the lowest pay quartile and more represented in the upper‑middle and highest quartiles, indicating a strong presence in higher‑paid roles.
| Year | Percentage of women in lower quartile | Percentage of women in lower-middle quartile | Percentage of women in upper-middle quartile | Percentage of women in upper salary quartile |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 37.4% | 52.6% | 57.9% | 53.6% |
| 2024 | 35.7% | 49.9% | 57.3% | 53.0% |
| 2023 | 25.6% | 52.9% | 53.2% | 53.5% |
| 2022 | 22.4% | 50.7% | 54.4% | 49.3% |
| 2021 | 23.1% | 37.5% | 52.0% | 47.4% |
| 2020 | 25.7% | 33.0% | 49.5% | 51.4% |
| 2019 | 25.6% | 26.3% | 50.2% | 46.4% |
| 2018 | 25.5% | 21.3% | 47.9% | 43.7% |
| 2017 | 24.6% | 20.1% | 42% | 41.4% |
5. Taking action
We are committed to fair pay irrespective of gender and to eliminating our gender pay gap. We will continue to promote policies and initiatives to support equal opportunities for our entire workforce.
The structure of our workforce is unlike many organisations with more men than women occupying the lowest paid jobs. Although the number of women in the traditionally male role of meat inspector has increased, the long length of service of current staff, particularly amongst meat inspectors, means there is little turnover and low recruitment. The demographic at these grades is unlikely to see a significant shift for some time.
Whilst our structure has a significant impact on the gender pay gap in relation to ordinary pay, we recognise the importance of existing initiatives and seek to continuously improve the diversity of our workforce.
We support all staff who wish to work more flexibly such as job share, reduced hours and compressed hours. We have developed modern working practices that offer staff greater flexibility, focussing on outcomes, and location agnostic roles where possible. Our employees can be office-based, work from home or split their time between the office and another location.
We continue to offer parental and family friendly policies in connection with pregnancy, maternity, shared parental, adoption, and carers which enable employees and skills to be retained.
Our Carers Policy recognises the importance of providing a supportive workplace for employees who have caring responsibilities. We offer carers up to 5 days paid special leave annually to support them in managing their caring responsibilities whilst continue to being engaged in their work.
We support career development through learning opportunities, including mentoring and talent schemes to remove barriers to progression.
We have a range of employee led networks and community groups that provide a forum to discuss, and provide mutual support, for those with a common interest.
FSA people plan
In 2023 we launched our three-year people plan. This set out how we will improve as an employer and the benefits this will bring us, the businesses we regulate and the public whose health we protect.
In doing this we:
- established inclusion champion-chaired action groups to evolve inclusion governance and support strategic and corporate delivery
- increased declaration of protected characteristics (including socio-economic background) and progress towards an even more representative workforce, particularly in Operations and at management grades
- achieved Carer’s accreditation level 2 and Disability Confident Leader Level, and submitted our application for Carer Confident accreditation Level 3
- continuing to offer a range of engagement channels and networking opportunities to our colleagues on the front line to help them feel more included, with additional support for groups who are under-represented in Field Operations
6. Declaration
We confirm that our data has been calculated according to the requirements of The Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties and Public Authorities) Regulations 2017.