Irwin Mitchell Publishes Latest Gender And Ethnicity Pay Report

Irwin Mitchell has this week published its latest Gender and Ethnicity Pay Gap Report for the 12 months up to 5 April 2023.

The report confirms that Irwin Mitchell continues to remain below that of the UK average and for the legal sector, reflecting the firm’s commitment to being an inclusive and sustainable business.

Businesses with over 250 employees are legally required to publish gender pay reports but Irwin Mitchell also goes further than its statutory requirements by voluntarily disclosing its ethnicity pay gap, based on the data provided by colleagues, as well as its Partner pay gap.

In 2023, Irwin Mitchell’s mean gender pay gap stood at 12.38%. This is an increase of 2.7 percentage points from the prior year primarily due to a one-off £900 cost-of-living payment to most colleagues. Excluding this payment, the pay gaps for 2022 and 2021 would align more closely.

The firm’s colleague demographics are the main factor in its gender pay gap. Certain roles—such as paralegals, document production, and contact centre positions—have a higher proportion of women and 93.5% of colleagues who work part-time are women.

Irwin Mitchell’s mean ethnicity pay gap for 2023 was broadly similar to last year at -5.5%, just 0.2 percentage points higher. It’s based on the ethnicity data that 71% of colleagues have voluntarily provided.

Irwin Mitchell has been a leader in gender diversity in the legal sector for a number of years and is the only top 50 UK law firm where more than half the Partnership is female. The law firm has also been ranked as one of the UK’s Best Workplaces for Women by the Great Place to Work Institute.

Expert Opinion

“Our executive board are aligned and committed to reducing the gender pay gap further. We’re committed to leading responsibly and dedicated to being a positive influence in both the lives of our colleagues and the communities in which we operate.

“As a people-focused business, our pay gap report is testament to our inclusive policies, processes, our vision for an equitable organisation and the culture that our leaders and colleagues have built at Irwin Mitchell.

“Reducing our pay gap is part of a wider aim to foster an environment where individuals are given the tools they need to thrive, regardless of their background, so that everyone is enabled to contribute to the collective success of the firm.” Craig Marshall, Group Chief Executive at Irwin Mitchell

Diversity and inclusion are key areas of Irwin Mitchell’s Responsible Business strategy with the firm taking positive action to improve such as:

Recruitment:

• The firm uses gender-neutral language and considers the images and branding used in its recruitment adverts
• It partners with other organisations to provide opportunities and access to people with disabilities and of lower socio-economic backgrounds respectively, so that they are recruiting people from a range of diverse backgrounds
• Hiring Manager guidance supports inclusive recruitment to give every candidate a level platform to showcase their potential and reduce unconscious bias

   

  Internal Policies:

• The Family Leave policy includes Adoption, Fostering, Surrogacy, and Shared Parental Leave, as we recognise that everyone’s situation is personal
• Diversity network groups play a vital role in shaping initiatives by harnessing the lived experiences of colleagues
• Irwin Mitchell uses D&I data to monitor the outcomes of colleagues from different backgrounds and uses this to inform strategy and initiatives