Our 2025 gender pay gap report
All organisations with 250 or more employees must publish data on their gender pay gap each year. This is the difference in hourly pay between male and female employees.
The gender pay gap is different to equal pay which refers to paying men and women equally for the same or equivalent work. Equal pay is a legal requirement.
Our median and mean pay gaps
We calculated the figures below using the standard methodologies used in the Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2017.
On 31 March 2025, there were 796 employees at The National Lottery Community Fund.
Our median pay gap is 2.1%. This has decreased from 2.2% in 2024.
We measure median pay by:
- arranging all the hourly pay rates for men in order from lowest to highest
- selecting the middle value
- arranging all the hourly pay rates for women in order from lowest to highest
- selecting the middle value
- comparing the 2 results
This gives us the median gender pay gap in hourly pay as a percentage of men’s pay.
The median pay gap tells us that women were earning 98p for every £1 that men earned in March 2025.
Our mean pay gap is 7.0%. This has increased from 6.4% in 2024.
We measure mean pay by:
- adding together all the hourly pay rates for men
- dividing the figure by the number of men
- adding together all the hourly pay rates for women
- dividing the figure by the number of women
- comparing the 2 results
This gives us the mean gender pay gap in hourly pay as a percentage of men’s pay.
In terms of overall benchmarking, we are below the 2025 Civil Service median gender pay gap of 6.4% and above the mean pay gap of 6.9%.
We remain committed to driving the gender pay gap down within our organisation.
Bonus gender pay gap
In 2024, 93% of all women and 93% of all men in The National Lottery Community Fund received a bonus payment.
The median gender bonus gap remains at 0%. This means that women earned the same as men when comparing median bonus pay.
The mean gender bonus gap is 31.3%. This means that women earned 69p for every £1 men earned when comparing mean bonus pay.
Gender distribution by salary quarter at The National Lottery Community Fund
The following table shows the gender distribution across The National Lottery Community Fund. The top quarter includes employees on the highest pay rates, and the lower quarter includes employees on the lowest pay rates.
| Salary quarter | Women | Men |
| Top quarter (highest paid) | 66% | 34% |
| Upper middle quarter | 72% | 28% |
| Lower middle quarter | 71% | 29% |
| Lower quarter (lowest paid) | 76% | 24% |
In total, women make up 71% of the organisation. The table above shows a lower proportion of women in the highest paid positions (top quarter), and a higher proportion in the lowest paid (lower quarter).
Our organisational commitment
Our organisational commitment to pay equity for everyone is an important part of our People & Culture Strategy and Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Statement of Intent.
We remain focused on:
- monitoring and closing any gaps on pay and reward for women colleagues
- responding to staff experiences and feedback
Our commitments include:
- working closely with our employee-led Women’s Network, to improve our people policies and guidance and raise awareness of the issues women face at work. Actions include the creation of a Menstruation Working Group and seeking accreditation for our support for colleagues who menstruate
- continually reviewing our recruitment needs and approach, so that The National Lottery Community Fund is more reflective of the communities we serve
- mapping career progression pathways and identifying specific barriers faced by different demographic groups
- investigating and addressing the ratio of women to men at each of our five role levels across all our directorates
- promoting our flexible working, wellbeing and leave policies with colleagues, as well as equitable access to training and professional development opportunities
- understanding the broader societal and economic issues affecting women, such as the cost-of-living crisis, patterns of working and balancing caring responsibilities