The University of Sussex has published its latest pay gap figures. The data, which were gathered in March 2025, cover gender, ethnicity, disability and intersectional (gender and ethnicity) pay gaps. Reporting the gender pay gap is a legal requirement, and the University analyses and shares wider pay gap data as part of our ongoing commitment to advancing equality at Sussex.
The data show a positive direction of travel across all pay gap categories, but that the gaps, particularly for gender and disability, remain high and appear to lag behind the latest available sector figures.
What is a pay gap?
A pay gap is a measure of disadvantage (a gap) expressed as a comparison between what, on average, one group of staff earn and what, on average, another earn across an organisation. Pay gaps are assessed using both the mean pay gap (average hourly pay difference) and the median pay gap (middle hourly rate difference).
Pay gaps are not, in themselves, evidence of unlawful discrimination, but rather of potential structural and systemic barriers. Equally, whilst an important indicator, the elimination of pay gaps does not guarantee that there are no structural barriers for a group.
Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sasha Roseneil, said: “At the heart of our strategy, Sussex 2035: Creating Progressive Futures – flourishing, sustainability and progress for the whole world, is a commitment to the flourishing of the people who work at Sussex, by providing an equitable and inclusive environment where we embrace diversity in all its forms. We measure our pay gaps as one way to identify inequalities, and I am pleased to see our gender and disability pay gaps reducing (although they remain high) and our ethnicity pay gap effectively eliminated in the Professional Services staff group. As we develop and deliver our People and Culture Strategic Plan as part of the new strategy, we will focus even more attention on the issues that drive the gaps, to ensure that all staff are able to progress, and that barriers to equality are addressed.”
Gender pay gap
The mean gender pay gap for 2025 is 14.1%, a decrease of 1.5 percentage points compared to the previous year and the lowest gap the University has ever reported. The median gender pay gap has also decreased this year, by 4.2 percentage points to 11%. The mean gender pay gap decreased in both staff groups, falling by 1.6 percentage points in the academic staff group and by 1.8 percentage points in the Professional Services staff group. A stretch target which was set in 2018 to halve our gender pay gap to 10.4% by 2025 was not met and a new medium-term target framework based on historic trend data is being developed under the People and Culture Strategic Plan.
For academic staff, the overall proportion of women has remained stable at 48%. The proportion of women in the top pay quartile has increased to 43%. The median gender pay gap for academic staff decreased to 3%, compared to 7.9% the previous year.
For Professional Services staff, the median gender pay gap decreased from 10.8% to 7.7%. The proportion of women in the lowest pay quartile decreased from 73% to 70%.
The changes this year reflect internal promotions in previous years, re-gradings, and pay enhancements for certain staff, alongside shifts in pay distribution across the quartiles.
It is worth noting that a gender pay gap is different from an equal pay gap. Equal pay is the right for men and women to be paid the same for the same/equivalent work or work of equal value. The University conducts regular independent equal pay reviews and has policies and procedures to mitigate equal pay issues.
Ethnicity pay gap
The ethnicity pay gap appears to have effectively closed at the institutional level, as the overall mean ethnicity pay gap is now -2.3% (slightly favouring racially minoritised staff) and the median is -0.2%, closer to zero than ever. However, when disaggregated between academic and professional services staff, this masks a persistent 7.6% mean pay gap for racially minoritised academic staff, compared to white staff. The apparent institutional ‘closure’ is a statistical effect of racially minoritised staff being more concentrated in higher-paying academic roles than in PS roles. For Professional Services staff, the mean ethnicity pay gap is -1.2%, indicating a small pay gap in favour of racially minoritised staff and reflecting the even distribution of racially minoritised staff through the pay quartiles in this group.
Racially minoritised staff represent 19% of the University’s workforce. Representation differs between academic and Professional Services staff groups, which affects the overall institutional pay gap as academic salary scales begin higher than those in Professional Services.
Intersectional pay gap
The University has also published our ethnicity and gender intersectional pay gap for the third year. The data shows that gender remains the primary factor in pay gaps.
Pay gaps endure for women regardless of ethnicity, with the largest pay gap for Black women. This has decreased from 23.5% to 17.7%, though the population size remains small. The next largest mean pay gaps are for white women and Asian women, at 14.0% and 13.9% respectively, both slightly below the overall gender pay gap this year.
Professor David Ruebain, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Culture, Equality and Inclusion, said: “In our third year of publishing our ethnicity and gender intersectional pay gap, the data show that gender is the primary driver, with pay gaps existing for all women regardless of ethnicity. We have also found that the concentration of disabled staff in the lowest pay quartile continues to drive the disability pay gap. The level of detail revealed by our reporting is allowing us to further develop targeted approaches to promoting equality here at the University.”
Disability pay gap
Our mean disability pay gap for 2025 is 16.6%, a decrease of 0.6 percentage points compared to the previous year. The median disability pay gap has also decreased this year by 5.2 percentage points to 8.3%. The mean disability pay gap in the academic staff group decreased slightly to 11.6%, while in Professional Services it increased to 14.7%, a rise of 2 percentage points. The median disability pay gap for academic staff decreased to 15.1%, a reduction of 1.1 percentage points, while the median for Professional Services increased to 10%, a rise of 3.2 percentage points.
We remain committed to reducing our disability pay gap and creating a working environment where disabled staff can thrive. The Disability, Equality and Inclusion Steering Group continues to oversee and refine the actions that support this work, building on progress made in previous years and ensuring that our approach is informed by evidence, staff feedback and best practice. As part of this commitment, we are focusing on improving representation at all levels of the University and addressing the structural barriers that contribute to pay inequality
What actions are we taking to address our pay gaps?
The University is undertaking a wide variety of actions to address our pay gaps, including:
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Continued development of open and transparent academic promotion processes and criteria to support equality.
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An Equal Pay action plan is in development.
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Ongoing work to ensure fair and accessible recruitment and selection processes.
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Continuation of the Women's Leadership Academy for early career researchers.
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Delivery of a targeted internal leadership programme to address underrepresentation of racially minoritised women and disabled staff in leadership roles.
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Learning from the reciprocal mentoring scheme with the University of Ghana is being used to develop a career development toolkit and workbook.
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Development of a Positive Action toolkit (Section 159 of the Equality Act) to support equitable recruitment practices.
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Identity-based mentoring scheme remains under review to ensure its effectiveness and accessibility.
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Continued development of policies and procedures to support an equitable workplace.
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Workplace Adjustments Toolkit and Workplace Adjustments Working Group continue to embed accessible practice across all departments.
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Ongoing work to support search agencies in understanding and meeting expectations on inclusive recruitment.
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Strengthening channels to seek feedback from disabled staff and applicants regarding recruitment processes.
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Introduction of a new digital HR system to provide better quality workforce data and enable earlier identification of barriers.
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Ongoing work to improve equality monitoring completion rates through MyView.
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Equality monitoring of Council, Senate and other leadership committees to inform actions to address underrepresentation of disabled staff.
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Completion rates for mandatory and recommended EDI training, including Disability Awareness, continue to be monitored.
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Promotion, job evaluation and pay review processes continue to be strengthened with clearer criteria and guidance.
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Leaver surveys and staff feedback used to better understand factors influencing retention and progression for disabled colleagues.
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Revised and strengthened equality analysis processes to support more consistent consideration of disability inclusion across policies, practices and change projects.
- Actions are embedded across the Athena Swan, Race Equality Charter and Disability Equality and Inclusion action plans, alongside the People Strategy and Inclusive Sussex Framework.
If you have any questions, please contact the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Team at: edi.unit@sussex.ac.uk.
Further information
Read more about work underway to address inequalities, including pay gaps:
This work supports the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals: SDG 5 (gender equality) and SDG 10 (reduced inequalities). Read more about our work on the SDGs.