Gender Pay Gap Report 2021

The past year has seen continued challenges for all businesses, and our efforts, like many, have been geared towards weathering the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. As we emerge and adapt to a ‘new normal’, we feel it is imperative to reaffirm our commitment to equality in the workplace.

We have produced our Gender Pay Gap Report to provide a high-level snapshot of pay within our business, demonstrating the differences in average pay between all male and female employees as of 5 April 2021.

Our mean pay gap is 8.82%. This has increased slightly since our 2020 report, largely due to the appointment of more males into senior positions. However, we are delighted that our median pay gap has reduced to 0%,down from last year’s 0.36% and far below the national average of 15.5%. We believe this to be a more representative measure of the pay gap at Ascona as it is not affected by outliers at the top or bottom of the pay range.

Closing the gap.

We intend to be fully transparent as to any issues causing the gap identified by our data. The main cause of our gender pay gap, as with many companies, is largely due to the lack of women at the most senior levels of our company. That said, we are delighted to have appointed our first female executive director this year.

Our methodology in relation to how we determine pay rates and bonuses at Ascona is gender-neutral. Looking forward, we will continue to review our attraction and retention strategies across all areas of the business to ensure that we continually promote an inclusive and diverse workforce, allowing everyone at Ascona to build and sustain a successful career with us. There is always work to do and we are committed to making improvements.

I can confirm that this statement for the year ending 5 April 2021 is made pursuant to section 2 of the Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2017 and that the information contained therein isaccurate and will be recalculated and published annually.

Shane Higgon
Group Finance Director

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