Channel 4 publishes its 2019 Pay Report

28 November 2019

Channel 4 today publishes its 2019 Pay Report. For the first time this will include pay data for four diverse groups: Gender, BAME, disability and LGBT+. Channel 4 is one of a small number of media companies to disclose data across all four groups – which it does as part of a commitment to becoming a fully inclusive organisation, though there is no legal or regulatory requirement to do so.

The Pay Report measures the difference in the average hourly pay in each of these groups, by mean and median average. A summary of the key data is attached below:

Gender

On a like-for-like basis compared to 2018, Channel 4’s gender pay gap decreased by -1.1 percentage points (from 22.6% in 2018 to 21.5% this year). However the acquisition of Box in January 2019, which had a larger gender pay gap, has impacted the data – and therefore Channel 4’s reportable gender pay gap has increased by +0.7 percentage points (from 22.6% in 2018 to 23.3% this year).

BAME

On a like-for-like basis compared to 2018, Channel 4’s BAME pay gap decreased by -1.4 percentage points (from 19.1% in 2018 to 17.7% this year). However the acquisition of Box in January 2019, which had a larger BAME pay gap, has impacted the data – and as a result Channel 4’s reportable BAME pay gap has still decreased, but by a smaller amount of -0.1 percentage points (from 19.1% in 2018 to 19.0% this year).

Disability

The disability pay gap data, which we are reporting for the first time, shows no meaningful pay gap at Channel 4 – with a mean pay gap of -0.4%.

LGBT+

The LGBT+ pay gap data, which we are also reporting for the first time, shows that Channel 4 has a mean pay gap of 17.7%, though this reduces to 8.1% by median.

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Whilst the overall proportion of staff at Channel 4 in each diverse community remains high and close to our target levels, there are common themes driving the size of the pay gaps – particularly the imbalance between the number of staff at junior and senior levels.   We clearly don’t want to reduce the proportion of diverse staff in junior roles at Channel 4 and therefore our continued focus must be on ensuring progression of diverse staff into more senior roles.  

The Pay Report published today sets out an action plan that Channel 4 is taking to help address this.

As CEO, Alex Mahon makes clear in the report: “When we look on a comparable, like-for-like basis between 2018 and 2019, Channel 4’s gender pay gap and BAME pay gap has decreased. This indicates that, as an organisation, we have continued to reduce our pay gaps and are moving in the right direction. We are also confident that we continue to have no equal pay issues at Channel 4.

“However, our acquisition of Box in January 2019 has impacted the formal pay gap calculations that we must report given that the business has a larger gender and BAME pay gap. Our final reportable gender pay gap has therefore increased by 0.7 percentage points, to a mean average of 23.3% and our BAME pay gap has decreased more slowly than otherwise, by 0.1 percentage point, to 19.0%. These are clearly disappointing results.

“We are proud to employ significant numbers of diverse staff but recognise that we need to rebalance the distribution of diverse staff between the upper and lower quartiles. While there are no quick fixes, and it will take time to address the pay gaps on a long-term and sustainable basis, our focus – across all groups – remains on ensuring the progression of diverse staff into more senior roles.

“This report shows that we still need to do much more to become the truly inclusive organisation that we aspire to be. Alongside our ambitious Inclusion and Diversity Strategy, the action plan in this report will help us to deliver this.”

The full Pay Report 2019 is here.