Ethnicity and Intersectional Pay Gap

Ethnicity pay gaps

There is no statutory duty to analyse or report on ethnicity pay, but in line with our determination to advance racial equality we have committed to do so. Our Ethnicity Pay Gap analysis follows the same methodology as is required for statutory reporting of the Gender Pay Gap, including the calculation of median and mean gaps, and quartiles. Employees who have declined to disclose their ethnicity, or whose ethnicity is unknown are excluded from the analysis (including head counts).

The University recognises the limitations of using only Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic (BAME) as a way of grouping colleagues and therefore provides data on both two and five groups of ethnicity.

• Two groups is reported as the difference between White staff and staff from a Black, Asian, or Minority Ethnic (BAME) background.
• Five groups is reported as the difference between White staff and staff from either a Black, Asian, Mixed or other background.

A positive number for a gap indicates that the mean or median pay amount is higher for White staff than for staff from other ethnic groups.

A total of 521 staff (15.8% of the total), comprising 217 women and 304 men, identify with an ethnic minority group. Some 2686 staff (81.6%) identify as ‘White’.

Two group analysis

The ethnicity pay gap is the percentage difference in average pay of the reference group (‘White’ employees) and comparative ethnic groups. The overall mean ethnicity pay gap at Northumbria University is -0.4% and the median ethnicity pay gap is -2.9%, indicating average pay for ethnic minority staff is higher than for white staff.

The mean gap ranged from 1.2% in 2021 to a peak of 7.7% in 2022, before falling back steadily to -0.4% in 2025. This means that on average, staff from ethnic minority backgrounds are now paid slightly more than white staff. The median gap has consistently been negative (except in 2024, when it was 0.0%), ranging from -4.5% to -2.9%. A negative gap means that the average salary for ethnic minority staff is higher than for white staff. However, these headline figures mask important differences within specific staff groups.

The ethnicity pay gap is significantly wider among professional support services staff than academic staff, with a mean gap of 15.2% and a median of 23.6%, compared with 9.0% and 7.9% respectively for academics.

Five group analysis

Further analysis by ethnic group shows that pay gaps are mostly in favour of ethnic minority staff, or (as is the case for the mean gap between Black and white staff) minimal. The mean pay gap is -0.4% for Asian staff, -0.5% for Mixed staff, and -3.1% for those in the ‘Other’ category, with the corresponding median gaps at -2.9%, -7.2% and -11.7%. The only exception is for Black staff, where the mean gap is 2.6% and the median is -3.1%.

Intersectional pay gap

This intersectional analysis compares the earnings of a specific demographic group with a reference group that serves as the baseline for comparison, typically the group with the highest earnings.

If we compare average pay for ethnic minority female staff with white men, the mean gender/ethnicity pay gap (13.2% is wider than the overall gender pay gap (both are 13.9% at the median)

Analysis of the pay gap for ethnic minority women versus white men examines the combined effect of both gender and ethnicity on pay and shows that ethnic minority women face additional pay disparities beyond those experienced by women as a whole, since the mean gender/ethnicity pay gap is wider than the overall gender pay gap. At 13.2% the mean gender/ethnicity pay gap is wider than the overall gender pay gap of 10.7% (both are 13.9% at the median).

Note: In the chart above, the gender pay gap is shown as the difference between women and men, while the intersectional pay gap is shown as the difference between ethnic minority women and white men.

Although the overall gender pay gap is narrower for professional support staff than for academic staff, the intersectional pay gap for professional support staff is wider than that for academic staff. This is because ethnic minority women are more concentrated in lower-graded support professional roles, while white men have greater representation in higher-graded roles (although it should be noted we have small samples for some groups). Among academic staff, the gender effect is stronger, but within professional support staff the combined effect of gender and ethnicity creates a larger disparity.

Intragroup pay gap analysis

When comparing average pay for ethnic minority women with white women, we find a gap of 3.8% at the mean and 0.0% at the median, indicating minimal evidence of disparity. The pattern is similar for men, with a mean gap of -0.7% and a median gap of 0.0%. However, these overall figures mask wider differences within the academic and professional support staff groups, where pay gaps are larger due to the concentration of ethnic minority staff in lower grades. These subgroup findings are based on small samples and should therefore be interpreted with caution.