At the National Autistic Society, we are committed to promoting equality and diversity among our staff, which we believe is vital to our work as an effective and dynamic charity.

In line with the Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2017, this page sets out the pay rate differences between women and men.

The data shows that we have a small pay gap for the reporting year 2023. The differences are shown in relation to hourly rates of pay on the snapshot date of 5th April 2023 and are as follows:

• Our mean pay gap was 0.83% (compared to 1.68% in the reporting year 2022). This means that the average hourly pay of women who work for our charity was slightly less than the average for men, with the difference being £0.12 per hour compared to £0.23 per hour in the reporting year 2022.
• Our median pay gap was -0.89% (compared to 0.65% in the previous year). This means that the middle value of hourly pay rates for women was slightly more than the middle value of hourly pay rates for men, with the difference being £0.11 This can be viewed as a very slight worsening in the position, though the bias swung towards women, who overwhelmingly outnumber men in the organisation (see below).

The pay gap regulations also require us to show the percentage of women and men employed in different pay quartiles which is set out below.

• All employees whose standard hourly rate placed them in the upper quartile: males 27.6%, females 72.4% (female bias has increased by 1.6 percentage points). The mean pay gap was 4.34% (up from 3.03% in 2022), highlighting it as the area with the greatest discrepancy. This group also has the greatest hourly pay rate variance.
• All employees whose standard hourly rate placed them in the upper middle quartile: males 27.9%, females 72.1% (female bias has increased by 1.4 percentage points). The mean pay gap was effectively zero (-0.18%, down from -1.14% in 2022).
• All employees whose standard hourly rate placed them in the lower middle quartile: males 28.8%, females 71.2% (female bias has increased by 3.8 percentage points). The mean pay gap was effectively zero (0.03%, unchanged from 2022).
• All employees whose standard hourly rate placed them in the lower quartile: males 29.0%, females 71.0% (female bias has fallen by 4.5 percentage points). The mean pay gap was effectively zero (-0.06%, down from 0.33% in 2022).

These results reflect the fact that, as with most education and care providers in the charity sector, we employ more women than men at every pay level across the charity, and in most pay levels the average pay was the same.

We are also required to report on rates of bonus pay. In previous years there has been no identifiable bonus pay to report. In 2022/23 the charity made one-off bonus payments to acknowledge staff contributions at a time of only low or no pay increases. This was made possible by an extraordinary external contribution.

The proportion of our relevant population (active on the snapshot date of 5th April 2023) who received a bonus in the 12 months to April 2023 was as follows: females 61.1%, males 72.1% (a male bias of 11.0 percentage points). This difference is thought to be unrepresentative; high turnover and the high proportion of female staff mean that several females active and in receipt of a bonus when it was paid had left by the snapshot date.

The mean bonus pay gap was 4.0%, equating to £6.94 while the median bonus pay gap was 0%. Both the mean and median are skewed by the fixed bonus payment made in our Adult Services business which accounted for 80% of all bonus payments.

Overall, our results demonstrate that men and women are paid nearly equally across the charity, and we are committed to reducing the pay gap.

All figures above have been reviewed and signed off by our Chief Executive Officer, Caroline Stevens.