At Cancer Research UK, we’re committed to being open and transparent about pay gap reporting. We combine our pay gap reporting for Cancer Research UK and Cancer Research Horizons, a wholly owned subsidiary, which aims to advance, develop and commercialise innovative science and research into effective treatments and diagnostics for cancer patients. For more info on Cancer Research Horizons’ pay gap reporting, please visit the Cancer Research Horizons pay gap web page.
Download the pay gap report 2025Equal pay means paying people the same for like-for-like work and it has been a legal requirement for over 50 years. We’re confident that we do this and have robust frameworks and guidelines that are applied consistently to ensure that pay is set fairly for similar roles across the charity. Gender pay gap reporting is a comparison between average hourly rates of pay for female and male staff, regardless of the work they perform. There is a UK Government requirement for all companies with over 250 employees to publish their gender pay gap data. Ethnicity pay gap reporting is a comparison between average hourly rates of pay of ethnic minority and White staff, regardless of the work they perform. Ethnicity pay gap reporting isn’t a legal requirement, but we welcome the opportunity to share our data.
Our mean (average) gender pay gap is 14.7%, widening slightly from 14.2% in 2024 and our median (middle) gender pay gap is 12.2%, narrowing from 13.8% in 2024
Our mean ethnicity pay gap remains the same as last year, at -3.3% (i.e. in favour of ethnic minority staff) and our median ethnicity pay gap is –7.6%, significantly narrowing from –14.0% in 2024 (i.e. remaining in favour of ethnic minority staff)
Our median (middle) gender pay gap has narrowed for a fourth consecutive year. This is largely a result of the action we’ve taken on pay over the last year, including the 6.7% National Living Wage uplift and a 2.5% pay increase to eligible staff as part of our Annual Saraly Review. Our mean (average) gender pay gap has widened slightly by 0.5%, after three consecutive years of improvement, due to a fractional increase in male colleague numbers. Retail colleagues make up more than half of our staff and we employ far more female staff (79%) than male staff in our shops. This means that the average hourly rate for female staff across the organisation is lower than it is for male staff, which then has an impact on our gender pay gap. The sex distribution across grades is always changing due to recruitment and turnover, however in some high-paid functions, such as technology and some senior management grades, we employ proportionately more male than females than our sex distribution overall, which then has an impact on our gender pay gap.
Our mean and median ethnicity pay gaps remain in favour of ethnic minority staff. The factors influencing our ethnicity pay gap remain predominately unchanged: we employ low numbers of ethnic minority colleagues across all levels and roles in the charity, we have a lower proportion of ethnic minority colleagues employed in our retail shops, and we have a significantly higher proportion of ethnic minority colleagues in higher-paid functions in the charity (for example in technology).
We’ll continue to ensure that our staff are paid equal pay for equal work, and continue to run merit-based competitive processes where the best candidates are appointed. We’ll maintain our commitment to our top leadership levels being a minimum of 50% women and 12% from an ethnic minority background and work to increase the proportion of staff from ethnic minority backgrounds from 16% to 19% by 2027. We’ll also maintain our strong culture of engagement and inclusion.
Read the pay gap report 2025Download our past gender and ethnicity reports.
Gender pay gap report 2024(PDF, 6.08 MB)
Gender pay gap report 2023(PDF, 861 KB)
Gender pay gap report 2022(PDF, 4.08 MB)
Gender pay gap report 2021(PDF, 5.03 MB)
Gender pay gap report 2020(PDF, 3.54 MB)
Gender pay gap report 2019(PDF, 1.91 MB)
Gender pay gap report 2018(PDF, 3.87 MB)
Ethnicity pay gap report 2023(PDF, 1.22 MB)
Ethnicity pay gap report 2022(PDF, 3.28 MB)
Ethnicity pay gap report 2021(PDF, 3.22 MB)
Ethnicity pay gap report 2020(PDF, 3.56 MB)
For more information about our pay gap reporting, alternative document formats of our reports or answers to any questions you may have, get in touch with us.
Email the Inclusion and Wellbeing team