LGBTQ+ Pay Gap

The LGBTQ+ pay gap refers to the difference in average hourly pay between LGBTQ+ employees and heterosexual employees. Based on the available data, the 2025 LGBTQ+ pay gap is 8.2% at the mean and 3.7% at the median, meaning that heterosexual staff earn 8.2% more on average than their LGBTQ+ colleagues and 3.7% more at the median. The gap for LGBTQ+ professional support staff is wider than that for academic staff.

LGBTQ+ declaration rates have increased by 28.5%, from 36.9% in 2024 to 65.4% in 2025, strengthening data for pay gap analysis this year compared to last year.

In total 197 staff (4.3%) (106 women and 91 men) report their sexual orientation as being either lesbian, gay, bisexual or another sexual orientation and 32.7% report their sexual orientation as heterosexual.

As with other pay gap figures, the headline data masks variations between major staff groups, with the figures for both academic staff and professional support staff both much wider than the overall figures. The data therefore highlights the importance of looking at staff groups separately, as the university-wide figure alone understates the challenge.