Curtis Holt Ltd Gender Pay Gap Report 2024 (Snap Shot Date 5th April 2024)

Curtis Holt Ltd is committed to being an equal opportunities employer. We always seek to ensure that our remuneration policy considers only the responsibilities, skillsets, experience, performance, and commitment of those undertaking work on our behalf.

The Gender Pay Gap

The Gender Pay Gap represents the difference in the average pay between men and women within the workforce across the UK.  Organisations with 250 or more employees are required to calculate and publish an annual pay gap report each year. 

The figures for the Hourly Pay Gap (salary plus bonus and other allowances) are for employees employed, as at the ‘snapshot date’ of 5th April 2024 and paid their usual full basic pay during the period that includes the snapshot date.  These are referred to as Full Pay Relevant Employees.   The Bonus Pay Gap calculations are based on information for the twelve months preceding that date and include all employees as of the snapshot date and this group is referred to as Relevant Employees.

Gender Pay Gap Results 2024

The Office of National Statistics provisionally reports the median gender pay gap across both full time and part time employees in the UK as 13.1% for 2024.  This shows a further reduction on the 2023 results of 14.3%. The Equality Act 2010 sets out clear mechanics by which the Gender Pay Gap should be measured by organisations and the figures for Curtis Holt shown below have been calculated in accordance with those guidelines.

Pay Quartiles

In line with the gender pay gap regulations, we are also required to identify the percentage of male and female employees within each of the pay level quartiles within our workforce. These calculations are based on all employees who were in receipt of full usual basic pay during the pay period that includes the snapshot date.  The percentage of male and female employees within each of the pay level quartiles in our workforce, as of 5th April 2024, is shown below.

Gender Pay Gap Results Insights
The median (mid-point) hourly rate paid to male employees is 3.9% more than the median hourly rate paid to female employees as at the snapshot date revealing a slight closure in the pay gap when compared to the 2023 pay gap reported as 5.2%.  According to Government data, the median hourly pay gap results across similar sized wholesale organisations was, on average, 5% in 2023.  (Results for 2024 have not yet been reported by all organisations, therefore including these would have been misleading).

A closure in the pay gap has also been witnessed in the mean (average) hourly rate in 2024 with male employees being paid 9.5% more than female employees as at the snapshot date compared to 11.4% in 2023.  Further Government data reveals that the average mean hourly pay gap across similar sized wholesale organisations was 11.4% in 2023.  (Results for 2024 have not yet been reported by all organisations, therefore including these would have been misleading).

As we continue to receive fewer applications from females than we had hoped, the proportion of female employees has reduced this year with 17.1% of all Full Pay Relevant Employees being female. This is a reduction of 1.6 percentage points compared to the percentage in 2023.  

Factors influencing these results

• Historically the wholesale tool trade has been a male dominated industry and over the years we have received relatively few female applications for senior management and sales positions. We also employ many long-serving members of staff with over 40% of Curtis Holt Ltd employees having more than fifteen years’ service, which means that new promotion opportunities emerge less frequently than might be the case in some other businesses.

• Over 90% of employees in the upper pay quartile are male which creates an imbalance primarily due to long service which leads to fewer opportunities for promotion or entry into this upper quartile.

• The decrease in the number of female Full Pay Relevant Employees is partly attributable to female employees taking maternity leave, resulting in a reduction of pay due in the pay period covering the snapshot date. 

Bonus Pay Gap Results

1. The mean total bonuses paid to male employees was 53.6% higher than those paid to female employees which reveals a widening of the mean bonus pay gap compared to 39.9% reported in 2023.

2. Additionally, the median total bonuses paid to male employees was 18.7% higher than those paid to female employees.  This gap has also widened from 8.9% in 2023.

3. At the time of the data collection, the sales team largely consisted of male employees.  This significantly impacts the figures as sales commissions is included within this data.

4. Calculations reveal a reduction in the number of bonuses being paid to both male and female employees with 93.1% (98.2% in 2023) of male employees and 90.9% (98.9% in 2023) of female employees having been paid a bonus in the 12 months preceding the snapshot date.

5. Overall, the total amount of bonuses paid to employees in 2024 reduced compared to 2023, with total female bonuses reducing by 50% compared to 33% for male bonuses.  A significant proportion of this reduction is attributable to the additional bonus paid to all colleagues during 2023 in relation to the 50-year anniversary of the company.

When studying the bonus gap information, the following points should be noted:

• For reasons covered earlier, most of our senior management positions are held by men where such positions attract a higher level of bonus.

• 100% of our sales force as at the snapshot date are male, a large percentage of their remuneration is commission based which, under the regulations, is recorded as bonus hence inflating the overall bonus amounts paid to male employees.

Action Plan

As covered earlier, the requirement to produce this information has helped us to focus on making sure that there are no gender related issues at work within our pay structures. The Company is continuously committed to its training programmes, ensuring our female colleagues have equal opportunities and access to development training.

The information gained from initiatives such as the Equality Act has helped us ensure that any anomalies are identified and addressed through our salary review process.

Following the roll out of the self-service e-recruitment system in July 2023, we continue to advertise vacancies internally, so all employees are aware of opportunities when they arise. We are also continuing to utilise the e-recruitment system to monitor female applications and their progression through the recruitment process by continuing to survey and gain feedback from all candidates whether successful or not.

We have and will continue to review our Company policies and benefits that may help support female employees when deciding whether to stay with the Company and/or whether to apply for new roles, in addition to attracting more female employees into the organisation.  As a result, in April 2024, we launched a significantly enhanced family friendly leave policy which will see female employees being entitled to 20 weeks maternity pay at 100% of average weekly earnings and 20 weeks at 50% of average weekly earnings at one year’s service.

In addition to the above, in 2024 the Company undertook its first employee engagement survey to obtain a better understanding of the views of our female employees. Following this survey, we conducted female only face to face focus groups to obtain feedback on possible issues preventing career progression. The Company is in the process of analysing this data to establish whether adjustments need to be made to job roles to remove potential barriers for female applicants. 

In 2025, aligned to our new coaching programme, we will be introducing a mentoring initiative aimed specifically at our female employees with the aim of encouraging their personal development and their aspirations for career advancement internally within what is still a male dominated organisation and industry.

It is my belief that the information contained within this report is correct, and that the data has been accurately calculated, in accordance with The Equality Act 2010 reporting guidelines.

Wayne Flory

Director