Crown Prosecution Service Gender Pay Gap Report for year ending March 2024

1. Executive Summary

The CPS has prepared this report as part of the legal requirement for public authorities to report annually on their gender pay gap. It sets out our gender pay gaps based on an analysis of information at the snapshot date of 31 March 2024 as well as why those gaps exist. It also identifies the measures and initiatives we have in place that will help to narrow them.

The CPS is a non-ministerial government department with a total headcount of 7,738 employees at 31 March 2024, of which 7646 are ‘full pay relevant’ employees as defined under the Gender Pay Gap reporting specification.¹

Our analysis shows there has been an increase of 0.8% in female representation within our most senior and consequently higher paid grades (Grade 7 to Senior Civil Service roles). Combined with a range of other factors which have impacted the gender structure of the organisation, this has been a main contributor to the marginal decrease in the mean gender pay gap from 10.5% to 10.1% in 2024.

A significant decrease in the median gender pay gap from 26.4% to 21.1% has been realised in 2024, compared to 2023. This results from a smaller proportionate increase in the male median hourly pay compared to the female median hourly pay. The outcome can be attributed in large part to the 2023/24 pay settlement which provided higher percentage awards to employees in our lowest paid grades compared to others. As the makeup of those lower paid grades  is predominantly women this resulted in women’s median hourly pay increasing by a greater degree than that for men.

As in previous years the underlying reason for the mean/median gender pay gap is attributed to the distribution of the genders across our grades. This sees a significantly high proportion of our total female workforce (c45%) in our most junior and lower paying grades (AA, AO and EO) compared to only 34% of the male workforce in those grades.

The mean bonus pay gap is 22.1%, up from 5% in 2023. The value has varied year on year, largely driven by the distribution of  performance related pay awards to the CPS’ most senior employees (SCS and SLM cadres). The awards to the latter group can vary considerably in value whereas for those below these grades the amount is fixed.

The median bonus pay gap remains unchanged at 0%.

2. Introduction

In 2017, the government introduced legislation that made it mandatory for organisations with 250 or more employees in post on a specific date each year to report on their Gender Pay Gap. Government departments are covered by the Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties and Public Authorities) Regulations 2017. These regulations underpin the Public Sector Equality Duty and require relevant organisations to publish their Gender Pay Gap data by 30 March each year. The measures are:

• the mean and median gender hourly pay gaps
• the mean and median gender bonus pay gaps
• the proportion of male and female employees who received bonuses; and
• the proportions of male and female employees in each pay quartile.

The Civil Service Gender Pay Gap figures, published on GOV.UK under the annual Civil Service Statistics release, provides an overall picture across government. Alongside these figures this report fulfils the CPS’ individual reporting requirements for 2024.

3. Organisational context and gender composition

The CPS total headcount (staff in post) on 31 March 2024 is 7738 employees. Of these number 7646 employees were identified as “full pay relevant employees” as set out in the Gender Pay Gap regulations and included in the Gender Pay Gap (GPG) calculations for the mean and median hourly pay gap.

CPS uses the Civil Service grading system, which provides roles ranging from Administrative Assistant - the most junior grade - to Senior Civil Servant (SCS) - the most senior grade. Grades are determined by the level of responsibility held for each job role and apart from those at AA and AO each has a set pay range. The range is aligned to a National or London-designated pay zone as determined by the CPS.

The composition of the CPS workforce by gender and grade at 31 March 2024 using the standard Civil Service grading is illustrated at Table 1.

Table 1 – 2024 distribution of relevant full pay employees by grade and gender

* The CPS has two senior legal grades which are equivalent to the SCS. These have been included within this group.

There has been an increase in the organisation’s headcount year-on-year since Gender Pay Gap reporting began. However, the gender split for 2024 is broadly similar to previous years.

The bar chart, Figure 1, shows the percentage breakdown of the workforce by gender and grade. It illustrates the high representation of women in the more junior and lower paid grades of Administrative Assistant (AA), Administrative Officer (AO) and Executive Officer (EO). Women in these grades represent 30.2% of the entire workforce compared to only 11% of men in these grades.

The difference in gender distribution within these junior grades is the most significant contributing factor to the CPS gender pay gap as it substantially lowers both the mean and median hourly pay for women. The gender distribution for each individual grade remains broadly similar to previous years.

Figure 1 – Percentages by Gender and Grade across CPS Workforce

4. Gender Pay Gap Measures:  Summary outcomes

CPS six gender pay gap figures reported for 2024 are set out in Table 2, Figure 2 and Table 3 below. For comparison the reported figures for both 2022 and 2023 are also included. 

Table 2 - CPS Gender Pay Gap Figures 2024

The data shows an overall decrease of 1.1 percentage points in the mean pay gap and a much more significant reduction of 7.2 percentage points in the median pay gap between 2022 and 2024.

The mean bonus pay gap is a factor of the performance related pay scheme - available to the CPS’ most senior employees (SCS and SLM cadres) - and the corporate recognition schemes available to those in roles below SCS and SLM. There is no targeted distribution for either scheme so the mean bonus pay outcomes are subject to fluctuation.  Notwithstanding the vast majority of the payments can be attributed to the corporate recognition schemes hence the absence of a median bonus pay gap.

The charts at Figure 2 illustrate the distribution of both men and women in each respective pay quartile. There is a higher representation of women in all pay quartiles, with the greatest concentration in the lower and lower middle quartiles where the more junior grades reside.

Figure 2 - 2024 Distribution of women and men within each pay quartile

Table 3 sets out the comparative pay quartiles for 2024, 2023, and 2022.  This data confirms a fairly consistent trend in the gender quartile distribution.

Table 3 - 2024 Pay quartiles compared to 2023 and 2022 quartiles

5. Analysis of Mean, Median and Bonus pay gaps

With respect to the monetary value, analysis of the 2024 mean and median GPG figures shows the difference in mean and median hourly pay for men and women is £2.53 and £5.06 respectively.

The CPS mean and median pay gaps are not due to men being paid higher salaries than women, but rather due to a higher concentration of women populating more junior roles (and therefore on lower salaries) in comparison to men. The effect is a lower mean and median hourly rate of pay for the female workforce.

Mean Hourly Pay Gap

(Down by 0.4 of a percentage point – from 10.5% to 10.1% reported for the 2023 pay gap)

Averaged hourly pay for men increased by £1.07 to £25.08. Average hourly pay for women also increased by £1.07 to £22.55 however the increase is proportionally higher for women.

The decrease to the mean pay gap is due to a combination of factors including but not limited to:

(1) 2023/24 pay settlement

This provided a flat rate 4.5% award to eligible employees at B3 and above. For those below this grade, the award directed a specific proportion of the available funds to provide more substantial awards of up to 8.1%. With a significantly high proportion of women in grades at HEO equivalent and below, this had the overall impact of a higher proportionate increase in the average hourly pay for the women’s dataset.

(2) Minor changes to gender headcounts at some CPS grades

Changes to headcounts within some CPS grades has limited the growth of average hourly pay for men compared to the average hourly pay for women.
HEO/SEO – The total headcount for women in these grades has increased by 10%, when compared to 2023. Within the same period, the headcount for men increased by only 4%. More women in these middle management grades artificially reduced the growth in hourly pay for men.  
G6/G7 –The headcount of women within these grades increased by 3.4% compared to male employees at only 0.1%. More women in these grades has contributed to the increase in the average hourly pay for women.

(3) Employee turnover and recruitment

Over 700 employees left CPS between April 2023 and March 2024 and of these, 69% were women and 31% men, which broadly aligns to the overall gender makeup of the organisation. Of the women who left CPS within this period, the largest group (at almost 35%) were in AO or equivalent roles. Comparatively, of the male leavers within the same period the largest group at 38% were in Grade 7/6 equivalent roles. Of those who joined CPS, 72% were women and of these 25% were in the AA/AO grade; around 19% joined at Grade 7/6. Of the 28% of men who joined, 35% were in the AA/AO grade and almost 20% were Grade 7/6 or higher.

A larger proportion of women leaving the organisation from our most junior grades alongside a large proportion of men in our more senior grades - coupled with backfilling that saw a larger proportion of men enter our more junior grades than women - has helped to dilute men’s average hourly pay.

Median Hourly Pay Gap

(Down 5.3 percentage points – from 26.4% to 21.1% reported for the 2023 pay gap)

The high concentration of women in the junior grades of AA to EO (which all place within the lower and the lower middle quartiles) means that the mid-point of the women’s pay dataset is a significantly lower hourly rate than the mid-point of the dataset for men’s hourly pay. This is the main reason for the 21.1% pay gap.

In actual monetary values, between 2023 and 2024, the median hourly rate of pay for men decreased by 22p or 0.9% (from £24.23 to £24.21) compared to women’s median hourly pay which increased by £1.11 or 6.2% (from £17.84 to £18.95).

Alongside the above, the reduction in the median pay gap can also be linked to the outcome of CPS’ 2023 pay award which saw higher awards directed to those in our more junior grades. Because of the high concentration of women in these grades, proportionately more women than men benefited from higher individual awards which increased the median pay for women.

Mean Bonus Gap

(Up 17.1 percentage points – from 5.0% to 22.1% reported for the 2023 pay gap)

CPS maintains its in-year employee recognition schemes which rewards employees for substantial corporate contribution through the use of vouchers. Additionally, the CPS operates a non-consolidated performance related pay scheme (in-year and end-of-year) for its’ SCS and equivalent grades.

The awards under the latter scheme (available to a group of CPS’ most senior grade, equal to 1.2% of the workforce) vary in value whilst those for the former are a fixed amount. Coupled with the distribution which can vary widely between genders, the mean bonus gap is subject to considerable fluctuation year to year.

Median Bonus Gap

(Unchanged from 0% reported in 2023)

As with previous years, we report no median bonus gap as the monetary value of the median bonus payment is the same for men and women.

6. Work on Reducing the Gender Pay Gap

The CPS gender ratio is slightly more than 2:1, women to men, with almost 45% of female employees populating our most junior grades (AA/AO/EO). To facilitate the narrowing of the pay gaps, CPS’ efforts continue to focus on limiting any barriers for women to move into more senior roles.

Talent management and management development

Through various talent management and management development programmes (which are available to both men and women), together with identifying and eliminating potential barriers to career progression, CPS aspires to increase the representation of women in its’ senior grades. Whilst there is evidence demonstrating these interventions are successful in their outcomes, the volume of women recruited into the most junior grades has the impact of offsetting some of the gains achieved from these career development initiatives.

Pay analysis

The CPS undertakes an annual pay analysis which compares the mean and median salary by grade for those in specific protected characteristic groups so that any disparities can be identified and addressed. It also helps inform the CPS’ pay strategy. The 2024 Pay Analysis does not identify any major areas of concern across CPS pay by grade and gender.

Earlier analysis has identified a continued under representation of women in our crown advocacy (Grade 7/6 equivalent) legal roles. To improve the diversity within this group of advocacy grades and to better reflect the communities we serve, a new Crown Advocate pathway has been introduced as part of the CPS’ 2025 Advocacy Strategy. The Crown Advocate Level 1 role has been introduced for newly qualified barristers who have been pupils or legal trainees in the CPS’ pupillage schemes. There is no formal application/interview process, instead all newly qualified applicants will be given the option to become a Crown Prosecutor or a Crown Advocate Level 1. This will enable employees to pick their preferred route, which offers a clearly defined career development pathway.

Diversity and Inclusion

We have appointed a Sex Equality Champion who has been working hard to influence and drive forward behavioural and cultural change. Work has also been on going to raise awareness and improve understanding around menopause and miscarriage. These will continue with a view to improving women’s workplace experience.

Recruiting, Retaining and Developing an Inclusive Workforce

Recruitment activity is either ‘internal’ (applications limited to existing CPS employees only) or ‘external’ (open to existing employees, the wider civil service, and the general public). During 2023/24 women accounted for 65% of all appointments (internal and external) whilst men accounted for 27%. For grades AO to SEO, women appointments accounted for 68% of all external and internal recruitment, compared to just over 25% for men recruited into these grades. For Grade 7 and higher, women appointments account for 61% of all recruitment at these grades, compared to 30% for men appointed to these grades.

CPS recruitment complies with the Civil Service Commission Recruitment Principles that ensure appointments are on merit following fair and open competition. To safeguard against bias at the shortlisting stage of the selection process the CPS recruitment procedure follows an approach where each application submitted is name and gender blind/anonymised. All panel members must complete success profile training as well as CPS e-learning modules covering equality, diversity and inclusion and its application in recruitment and the avoidance of unconscious bias.

The Crown Prosecution Service has a robust marketing strategy to attract quality candidates across all of its core roles through a range of initiatives including proactive brand and campaign-specific awareness through LinkedIn, Instagram, search, Indeed, Glassdoor, DWP jobs, The Student Room and trade publications. Our recruitment marketing content is designed to appeal to the candidates the department wants to attract and reflects where growth in certain characteristics would be beneficial. For example, we ensure that our video content contains profiles of employees who are reflective of the candidates we’re trying to encourage into particular roles or grades. This is intended to demonstrate the variety of role models available within the organisation and to encourage applications from those who may identify with these individuals.

Career Paths

The CPS offers a wide range of apprenticeship opportunities to assist employees with their continuous development and career progression. Throughout the period of 2023/24, CPS ran a portfolio of 17 different non-legal apprenticeship schemes offering individuals an opportunity to gain qualifications from levels 3 – 7 for business functions including but not limited to Operational Delivery, Human Resources, Learning & Development, Project Management, Finance, and Policy.

These schemes attracted 190 participants in total (for non-legal schemes) with women on average making up 71.1% of participants, compared to men who average 28.9% of participants.

Legal prosecutor pathways offer a unique opportunity to gain academic and professional qualifications via sponsored study with training, to become a Crown Prosecutor whilst maintaining the security of the current job role. 
Participants of the legal trainee scheme graduate pathway and solicitor apprenticeship schemes are made up of 74.2% of women and 25.7% of men.  There is a significant representation of women in each of the 4 legal programmes offered, which demonstrates that CPS initiatives to encourage women into more senior roles is having a positive impact.

These opportunities create a viable pathway to a career in law.

7. Declaration

We confirm that data reported by the Crown Prosecution Service 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.  

Helen Starkey
Interim Chief People Officer
Crown Prosecution Service
April 2025