HM Land Registry: gender pay gap report 2025
Updated 24 March 2026
Applies to England and Wales
© Crown copyright 2026
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HM Land Registry’s mean gender pay gap increased from 5.6% to 5.8% this year. Our median gender pay gap increased from 8.2% to 13%.
Our mean gender pay gap has remained relatively stable for the last 4 years, with fluctuations within a 0.2% range. This pay gap is derived principally from the significantly higher proportion of women in our administrative grades. The proportion of women to men in these grades has increased this year. While we pay women the same rate as men for doing the same job, their higher representation within these grades brings down the average pay for women compared with men.
As of 31 March 2025, 61% of HM Land Registry’s employees were women. Women make up 63% of our Administrative Officer grade, and 66% of our largest grade, Executive Officer (EO).
There are more women than men in every pay quartile. There are also as many or more women in every grade group. Due to the high proportion of HMLR staff at HEO grade and below, our upper quartile consists of some staff at HEO grade and all grades at SEO and above. The percentage of women in the lower pay quartile has increased by 5% to 69.1%, reflecting increases in the number of women in administrative grades.
Our median pay gap has risen from 8.2% to 13%. The median pay gap calculation takes account of circumstantial differences in the pay of the median man and median woman on 31 March 2025. For example, a pay gap will arise if either the median man or woman is on national pay while the other is on London pay, or if one receives a skills and qualifications allowance while the other does not. For this reason, the median pay gap should be expected to vary from year to year.
In 2025, the median woman was an EO in the Service Delivery directorate, while the median man was an EO in the Technology and Transformation directorate and was in a role that attracted an IT allowance payment. The payment of the allowance accounts for the median pay gap.
Our median bonus pay gap remained stable at 0%, although the mean bonus pay gap increased from 7.4% to 8%. Women are more highly rated through our performance appraisal scheme than men and more women than men received a performance bonus in 2022/23. However, the bonus pay gap exists because of: -
- The relatively high value performance bonuses paid to members of the Senior Civil Service.
- Performance bonuses are pro-rated, and more women work part-time than men.
If the Senior Civil Service were excluded from the calculation the mean bonus gap would reduce to 4.8%. If part-time staff were excluded from the calculation, the mean bonus gap would reduce to -1%.
Our median gender pay gap is higher than the Civil Service average (6.4%), but our mean gender pay gap is lower than the Civil Service average (6.9%).
We also compare favourably with the median and mean bonus GPG for the Civil Service (14.3% and 22.5% respectively in 2025).
While our employment opportunities, working practices and inclusive culture continue to attract women into our workforce at all levels, a significant reduction in our gender pay gap will remain a challenge.
We recognise the opportunities that pay gap analysis and reporting provide to make sure our policies and practices are fair and equitable. We understand that change of this nature will take time to effect, and we reaffirm our commitment to minimising our gender pay gap through longer-term legacy actions, which support and encourage women in our workforce and create and maintain a culture in which they can thrive.
1. Introduction
Under the terms of the Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties and Public Authorities) Regulations 2017, HM Land Registry (HMLR), like other public authorities, is required to annually publish its gender pay gap information.
To fulfil this legal requirement, HMLR has prepared information on: -
- The mean and median gender pay gaps in hourly pay.
- The mean and median gender bonus pay gaps.
- The proportion of men and women who receive bonuses.
- The proportion of men and women full-pay relevant employees in each pay quartile.
The reporting period is 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025.
HMLR uses the standard civil service grading system, ranging from Administrative Assistant (AA) to Senior Civil Service (SCS). However, we also use 2 unique grades, SEO+ and Grade 7 Lawyer which were implemented to meet the specific needs of the department.
Our workforce by grade is:
| Grade | Headcount | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 31/03/2025 | 31/03/2024 | 31/03/2023 | 31/03/2022 | 31/03/2021 | |
| APP | 12 | 17 | 25 | 35 | 27 |
| AA | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| AO | 1391 | 1456 | 1664 | 1725 | 1839 |
| EO | 2575 | 2687 | 2459 | 2383 | 2170 |
| HEO | 1630 | 1592 | 1458 | 1358 | 1291 |
| SEO | 739 | 711 | 693 | 688 | 621 |
| SEO+ | 192 | 165 | 158 | 154 | 118 |
| Grade 7 | 151 | 140 | 134 | 133 | 121 |
| Grade 7 Lawyers | 121 | 129 | 124 | 112 | 121 |
| Grade 6 | 68 | 72 | 67 | 61 | 57 |
| SCS | 28 | 27 | 29 | 27 | 26 |
| Total | 6907 | 6996 | 6812 | 6677 | 6393 |
Delegated grades – AA to Grade 6
As a Civil Service department, HMLR is governed by public sector pay policy as set out in the Civil Service Pay Guidance for delegated grades. Pay guidance defines the overall financial parameters for Civil Service pay awards each year to ensure that these awards are consistent with the government’s overall objectives.
HMLR has 14 offices across England and Wales. We operate a national pay rate and an enhanced London pay rate to reflect the higher cost of living in the South-East.
In HMLR, the AA-HEO grades consist of a single spot rate of pay. Grades between SEO and G6 have pay ranges consisting of a minimum and maximum rate of basic pay. Movement through these ranges is via annual pay awards.
Senior Civil Service
The Senior Civil Service (SCS) is covered by separate SCS pay guidance published by government. Pay and grading for the SCS across the Civil Service is governed by the Cabinet Office. Within HMLR, the SCS structure consists of 2 grades: Deputy Director (SCS1) and Director (SCS2). Each grade has a set pay range within a minimum and maximum rate of basic pay.
2. Gender pay gap report
The gender pay gap shows the difference in the average pay between all men and women in a workforce. It is expressed as a percentage of earnings for men. If a workforce has a particularly high gender pay gap, this can indicate that there may be issues to deal with, and the individual calculations may help 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.
Each full-pay relevant employee’s hourly rate of pay has been determined using full-time equivalent salaries and contracted weekly hours. Permanent and pensionable allowances, non-consolidated performance payments, and salary sacrifice deductions are all incorporated to ensure that the methodology is consistent with reports produced in previous years.
The legislation and the standard calculation methodology used throughout the Civil Service relates only to the pay of men and women. By publishing our data accordingly, HMLR is not intending to make any comment on intersex people or those with non-binary gender identities.
HM Land Registry’s Gender Pay Gap figures
All data represents the position as at 31 March in any given year.
| 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gender pay gap | ||||
| Mean gender pay gap | 5.8% | 5.6% | 5.9% | 5.7% |
| Median gender pay gap | 13% | 8.2% | 0% | 1.7% |
| Bonus pay gap | ||||
| Mean bonus gap | 8% | 7.4% | 3.9% | 4.9% |
| Median bonus gap | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
Percentage of men and women receiving a bonus
| 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| % Men receiving a bonus | 42.9% | 39.9% | 40.5% | 37.2% |
| % Women receiving a bonus | 44.2% | 41.5% | 42.1% | 38.3% |
We pay ‘end of year’ non-consolidated performance awards. In the financial year 2024 to 2025, to be eligible for HMLR’s end of year non-consolidated performance award, employees had to be in HMLR employment on 1 June 2024.
Distribution of women through each pay quartile
| 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| % Women in lower quartile | 69.1% | 64.1% | 63.1% | 62.6% |
| % Women in lower middle quartile | 60.9% | 60.5% | 64% | 67.8% |
| % Women in upper middle quartile | 61.6% | 65.2% | 64.9% | 59% |
| % Women in upper quartile | 51.3% | 52.5% | 50.4% | 52.4% |
The table above shows the percentage of women in each pay quartile in HMLR. Pay quartiles are created by ranking each full-time employee in order from the lowest earning (lower quartile) to highest earning (upper quartile).
There are more women than men in every pay quartile. There are as many or more women than men in every grade. This demonstrates that there are no substantial barriers to women being able to access jobs within HMLR in the upper pay quartile.
Percentage of male/female by grade
| Grade (decreasing seniority) | Number of men (% of total male workforce) | Number of women (% of total female workforce) | % of women in the grade | % of women in the grade (2024) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SCS | 14 | 1% | 14 | 0% | 50% | 41% | |
| Grade 6/7 | 143 | 5% | 197 | 5% | 58% | 58% | |
| SEO+/SEO/HEO | 1121 | 42% | 1440 | 34% | 56% | 56% | |
| EO | 874 | 33% | 1701 | 40% | 66% | 65% | |
| APP/AA/AO | 523 | 20% | 880 | 21% | 63% | 62% | |
| Total | 2675 | 100% | 4232 | 100% | 61% | 61% |
The table above shows the distribution of men and women across grades within HMLR. While there are more women than men in the SEO+/SEO/HEO grade group, there is a higher proportion of the total male workforce at these grades than the female workforce. This is principally because of the higher proportion of the female workforce at the EO grade.
3. Analysis of pay gap
Mean pay gap
| 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gender pay gap | ||||
| Mean gender pay gap | 5.8% | 5.6% | 5.9% | 5.7% |
The mean gender pay gap figure uses hourly pay of all employees to calculate the difference between the mean hourly pay of men, and the mean hourly pay of women.
Our mean gender pay gap has remained relatively stable for the last 4 years, with fluctuations within a 0.2% range, reflecting staff movement within grades.
The mean pay gap is derived principally from the significantly higher proportion of women in our administrative grades. The proportion of women to men in these grades has increased this year. As of 31 March 2025, 61% of HM Land Registry’s employees were women. Women make up 63% of our Administrative Officer grade, and 66% of our largest grade, Executive Officer (EO). While we pay women the same rate as men for doing the same job, their higher representation within these grades brings down the average pay for women compared with men.
There are more women than men in every pay quartile. There are also as many or more women in every grade group. Due to the high proportion of HMLR staff at HEO grade and below, our upper quartile consists of some staff at HEO grade and all grades at SEO and above. The percentage of women in the lower pay quartile has increased by 5% to 69.1%, reflecting increases in the number of women in administrative grades.
Median pay gap
| 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gender pay gap | ||||
| Median gender pay gap | 13% | 8.2% | 0% | 1.7% |
The median pay gap is the difference between the hourly pay of the median man and the hourly pay of the median woman. The median for each is the man or woman who is in the middle of a list of hourly pay ordered from highest to lowest.
Our median pay gap rose from 8.2% to 13%.
Unlike the mean gender pay gap calculation, there can be significant annual variations in the median gender pay gap because the calculation methodology necessarily takes account of circumstantial differences in pay of the median man and median woman. For example, a pay gap will arise if either the median man or woman is on national pay while the other is on London pay, or if one receives a skills and qualifications allowance while the other does not. For this reason, the median pay gap should be expected to vary from year to year.
The stability of our mean gender pay gap figure shows that there has not been a detrimental shift in pay policies to adversely affect the pay gap.
In 2025, the median woman was an EO in the Service Delivery directorate, while the median man was an EO in the Technology and Transformation directorate and was in a role that attracted an IT allowance payment. The payment of the allowance accounts for the median pay gap.
4. Analysis of the bonus gap
| 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bonus pay gap | ||||
| Mean bonus gap | 8% | 7.4% | 3.9% | 4.9% |
| Median bonus gap | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
HMLR follows the standard Civil Service approach to pay and reward, and an agreed fund, based on a fixed percentage of the total pay-bill, is reserved for payment of non-consolidated, non-pensionable awards linked to performance.
HMLR made end-of-year non-consolidated performance awards, which are pro-rated for part-time employees. HMLR pays 2 rates of end-of-year performance awards: a higher rate for employees assessed as ‘exceeding’ through our performance management system and a lower rate for employees assessed as ‘high performing’.
HMLR also makes non-consolidated performance awards to members of the SCS in accordance with the practitioner guidance on the SCS Pay Framework.
| 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| % Men receiving a bonus | 42.9% | 39.9% | 40.5% | 37.2% |
| % Women receiving a bonus | 44.2% | 41.5% | 42.1% | 38.3% |
More women than men proportionately and in real terms earned at performance bonus in 2024/25. More women than men in delegated grades were paid the higher value performance bonus. However, the bonus pay gap exists because: -
- Performance bonuses are pro-rated, and more women work part time than men.
- Members of the Senior Civil Service earn relatively higher value bonuses than delegated staff.
If the Senior Civil Service were excluded from the calculation the mean bonus gap would reduce to 4.8%. If part-time staff were excluded from the calculation, the mean bonus gap would reduce to -1%.
5. Targeted action to reduce and close the gender pay gap
We review our activity on a regular basis and amend or replace actions as required.
Our external actions include:
- Using inclusive language in job adverts and ensuring the wording is gender neutral through use of algorithms
- Ensuring applications are name blind and offering structured interviews with the same questions used across candidates to remove any bias
- Offering flexible working and hybrid working as standard
- Broader advertising of all flexible vacancies
- Monitoring representation on recruitment panels, to make sure these are balanced
- Developing insight sessions on our application and interview processes
Our internal actions included:
- Offering transparent pay, promotion, and reward processes
- Helping recruiting managers to attract diverse applicants by asking them to consider flexibility in their person specification, such as minimum hours, suitable working patterns and only using essential criteria (studies show that women are more likely to hesitate in applying for a job if they do not meet all the listed requirements)
- Challenging common misconceptions around part-time working
- Promoting understanding of the menopause with a menopause policy and toolkit
- Supporting a Women’s network who advocate for women in HMLR and their development including a dedicated menopause subgroup which offers support and advice to members
- Achieving Carer Confident accreditation with Employers for Carers in April 2024
- Mentoring and coaching encouraged for all
- Continuing to offer parental and family friendly policies
- Implementing the legal duty to take reasonable steps to prevent the sexual harassment of employees in the course of their employment
6. Declaration
I confirm that data reported by HM Land Registry is accurate and has been calculated according to the requirements and methodology set out in the Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties and Public Authorities) Regulations 2017.
Becky Bishop, Interim HR Director