- Priory’s median gender pay gap falls to 0.3% from 1.7% last year
- Average hourly earnings for men and women across Priory now close to complete parity
- Progress follows initiatives to strengthen pay equity, career progression and leadership development
Priory has announced a further reduction in its gender pay gap, with the organisation’s median gap reducing to 0.3%, bringing typical hourly pay for men and women across Priory close to complete parity.
The gender pay gap is the difference between the average hourly rates of pay made to men and women. Priory’s 0.3% median gender pay gap is a reduction on last year’s 1.7% figure.
Legislation requires companies with more than 250 employees to publish their gender pay gap every year. The average gender pay gap in the UK in 2026 is approximately 6.9% for full-time workers, with the overall median gap for all workers around 12.8%.
Priory is the largest independent provider of mental health, addiction and working-age adult social care services in the UK, with over 12,000 colleagues supporting more than 24,000 people annually across 270 locations.
The new figures are published in the organisation’s Gender Pay Gap Report covering 2025.
“I am pleased to report that Priory’s gender pay gap has continued to improve again this year. Our median gender pay gap has reduced to 0.3%, compared to 1.7% last year, meaning the typical hourly pay for men and women across Priory is now almost equal.
“Our mean gender pay gap has also reduced to 7.2%, down from 9.2% last year, reflecting further progress in balancing representation across different roles and pay levels.”
Priory attributes the improvement to a number of organisational initiatives designed to strengthen pay equity, career progression and colleague development.
Since 2022, Priory has paid the minimum equivalent of the Real Living Wage across its services – and last week announced minimum hourly pay will increase to £13.45 from 1 April 2026, benefitting more than 8,200 colleagues.
Cresswell said: “We have achieved progress through our continued commitment to paying the equivalent of the Real Living Wage which has significantly increased the pay of frontline and support colleagues – roles which are traditionally lower paid and, in our sector, predominantly carried out by women.”
Priory continues to invest in helping frontline colleagues build long-term careers and progress into specialist roles.
Jayne Stutt, Priory Chief People Officer, said: “We also continue to invest in care as a career, supporting our frontline colleagues to progress laterally into specialist roles, and we prioritise internal leadership development including through our REACH (Race, Ethnicity and Cultural Heritage) development programme.”
Stutt also highlighted Priory’s commitment to making the organisation an employer of choice: “To support our goal of providing outstanding career development and learning opportunities so that we are the employer of choice in the health and social care sector, we have embedded coaching, performance development, succession planning and talent mapping across the organisation.
“We also offer over 49 different apprenticeships and a wide range of qualifications, including our award-winning nursing apprenticeship degree programme.”
Cresswell added: “We recently launched the next iteration of our Priory Plan to take us to 2030 and have developed our people strategy to align with our strategic goals for the next five years.
“We have seen positive improvements in reducing the gender pay gap over the life of our 2023 to 2025 strategy and intend to build on those foundations in the coming years.
“I am proud of the progress we have made, and grateful to our Priory teams who continue to contribute to a culture where colleagues feel supported, valued and able to build their careers.”