The gender pay gap across the insurance sector has narrowed by a small margin in the last 12 months, according to analysis by the Chartered Insurance Institute. Analysing data from insurers, intermediaries, loss adjusters, financial advisers and other third part insurance providers, the organisation says that, on the whole, there has been a slight improvement in the median pay gap from 24% recorded in April 2018 to 23.2% one year later, with the most significant improvements found among financial advice firms and loss adjusters.

There were 23 financial advice firms identified by the CII as reporting pay data this year, with a median gender pay gap of 25.5%. This was a significant drop from last year’s 28%.

According to the CII’s analysis, the data published by the government on pay quartiles illustrates the root cause of the gap. Much of the disparity in pay and bonus, it says, was a reflection of the proportion of men and women represented at different levels and in different roles within the financial services industry.

People engagement director of the Chartered Insurance Institute, Tali Shlomo, says the data offers the profession the opportunity to explore the impact of diversity management strategies.

“While there are some marginal improvements in the overall gender pay gap, our profession needs to continue to tackle the root cause of both gender and ethnicity pay discrepancies.

“We need to build a profession that is relevant and reflective of the communities that we serve. These figures show that there is still much more we can do as organisations and as individuals but by working together and sharing best practice, I am confident our profession can narrow the gender pay gap in the years ahead.”

The CII drew these conclusions by taking gender pay gap data the government reported in April 2018 for 199 insurance and personal finance sector companies in April 2018 and comparing it with data the government reported in April 2019 for 197 from the same types of businesses.

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