Gender Pay Gap Reduces By 1.3% Year on Year to 9.7%

Irwin Mitchell has published its latest gender pay gap figures which show that the mean has decreased year-on-year to under 10%. The firm has also voluntarily published its ethnicity pay data which has also reduced.

The Irwin Mitchell LLP Pay Gap Report for the last financial year (2021/2022) shows that the firm has a gender pay gap of 9.7%, a decrease of 1.3% compared to last year. Irwin Mitchell has also seen a decrease of 1.1% in its ethnicity pay gap from -6.4% in 2021 to -5.3% in 2022.*

Females make up 74% of all colleagues at Irwin Mitchell which also has the highest percentage (54.8%) of female Partners out of the top 50 law firms.

Publishing gender pay data is a regulatory obligation for all businesses with more than 250 employees but while publishing ethnicity pay gap data is not a legal requirement, Irwin Mitchell has chosen to do so consistent with its aim to be a leading responsible business.

This year Irwin Mitchell has continued to introduce and develop a range of initiatives that support its commitment to inclusion such as:

• Making positive changes and enhancements to its family and flexible working policies
• Meeting its commitment to Business in the Community's (BiTC) Race At Work Charter - working to further integrate these into our supply chain processes and developing its work on active allyship
• Launching IM Respect’s (our minority ethnic diversity group) reciprocal mentoring scheme to support career progression for colleagues from minority ethnic backgrounds
• The firm also became signatories of the Halo Code, a workplace pledge championing colleagues’ right to embrace all Afro-hairstyles, and we continue to support the Black Solicitors Network.

Expert Opinion

“We’re really proud of our gender diversity at Irwin Mitchell, we have the highest percentage of female partners out of the top 50 UK law firms and a relatively low gender pay gap for the sector.

“We have an ambition to be recognised as a leading responsible business with a focus on inclusion and sustainability. While our pay gap is low relative to other businesses across the legal sector, reducing our pay gap is a key part of this aim. Its also why we choose to publish our ethnicity data.

“To help with this drive to improve inclusion across our business we have a range of networking and diversity support groups covering topics such as race, age, gender, disability sexual orientation and social mobility – and they are carrying out fantastic work to raise the profile of key topics and ensure we continue to learn and develop as a business.” Susana Berlevy - Group Chief People Officer

Irwin Mitchell has also recently launched its ESG Advisory service for clients with specific products to help other businesses improve their diversity and inclusion such as training modules and an audit of their current D&I activities.