The gender pay gap measures the difference in the average earnings of men and women within an organisation.
At CHASE, we remain firmly committed to creating an inclusive and diverse workplace that empowers all employees to thrive while driving innovation and excellence across the pharmaceutical, medtech, and biotech sectors, as well as the NHS. Addressing the gender pay gap is not just a regulatory requirement but a reflection of our dedication to equality and fairness across all levels of our organisation.
This report highlights our progress in 2025. It provides an overview of our workforce composition, pay data, and bonuses, reinforcing our commitment to meeting and exceeding industry benchmarks for equity and inclusion.
Our mean pay gap has continued to narrow, and whilst our median gap has widened this year, the data in this report sets out the structural reasons behind that movement.
The majority of CHASE employees work on client projects, meaning their salary and bonus levels are driven by our clients' specific objectives and targets. Where CHASE has direct control over remuneration, the picture is markedly different: our core employee group shows an average pay gap of 4.4% from a 60/40 female-to-male split, and for comparable roles within that group, the gap is zero or slightly in favour of females.
Unconscious biases can perpetuate inequality, and we ensure managers have the knowledge and skills to appraise individuals' performance fairly while ensuring representation and visibility at all business levels.
We are encouraged that 33% of our board's executive directors are female, that 4 of our top 10 earners are female, and that 10 of our top 20 earners are female. The representation of women at the upper end of our pay distribution matters, and we continue to focus on it.
We remain committed to fair pay for comparable work, to transparency in how we report, and to making CHASE a place where people of all backgrounds can build meaningful careers in life sciences.
Emma Busby
Chief Operating Officer, CHASE
The hourly pay data for 2025 shows a 14.1% mean pay gap in favour of men, a further reduction from 14.4% in 2024 and from an average of 15.2% over the previous five years. The mean* has consistently moved in the right direction.
The median* pay gap has widened to 23.6%, compared with 18.6% in 2024 and a five-year average of 15.7%. This increase reflects a shift in workforce composition rather than a change in pay policy for comparable roles. The median is particularly sensitive to the proportion of employees in lower-paid nursing positions, which are overwhelmingly held by women. When the large, outsourced nursing project is excluded from the data, the pay gap narrows to approximately 5%, from a workforce split of 58% female to 42% male.
For our 18% of core employees, where CHASE has direct control over remuneration, the average pay gap is 4.4% from a 60/40 female-to-male split. For comparable roles within this group, the gap is zero or slightly in favour of females.
We are also pleased to note that 4 of the top 10 earning employees and 10 of the top 20 earning employees are female.
*The mean is the average of all earnings or bonuses, whereas the median is the middle point of earnings or bonuses when individual recipients are sorted from high to low.
The gender bonus data for 2025 shows a 3.8% mean bonus gap in favour of men, a shift from 2024 when women held a 5.5% mean advantage. The median bonus gap has widened to 19.8% in favour of men, compared with 4.1% in 2024.
Bonus distribution continues to favour male employees by proportion: 65.8% of male employees received a bonus in the snapshot period, compared with 69.6% of female employees. The higher proportion of female bonus recipients reflects our continued focus on rewarding performance equitably across the organisation.
Our workforce is 70.8% female and 29.2% male, consistent with our five-year average of 70:30. Nursing roles form a significant proportion of our lower pay quartiles, which accounts for the female-weighted distribution in those bands.
The upper quartile is 56.9% female and 43.1% male. Whilst male employees remain statistically over-represented in the upper quartile relative to their share of the overall workforce (43% compared with a 30% average), the upper quartile is still female-majority and has been for several years.
The representation of women across all pay quartiles, including at senior levels, reflects that CHASE continues to attract and retain female employees throughout the organisation.
The table below sets out our pay gap data across the past several years. The mean pay gap has followed a broadly improving trend. The median figure is more volatile year to year, as it responds to shifts in workforce composition.
The gender pay gap measures the difference in average earnings between men and women across an organisation, regardless of role. It is distinct from equal pay, which concerns pay parity for the same or equivalent work. The gender pay gap reflects workforce composition and the distribution of employees across pay bands.
Under the Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2017, all organisations with 250 or more employees are required to report their gender pay gap on an annual basis.
At CHASE, we approach this reporting as an opportunity to understand our workforce more clearly and to hold ourselves to account. We will continue to review our pay practices, our workforce composition, and the structural factors that drive the figures in this report.
I confirm that the information in this report is accurate and has been calculated in line with the Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2017.
Danny McCormick
Chief Financial Officer
CHASE
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