Grant Thornton expands pay gap reporting to class and disability

Grant Thornton has announced the publication of its class and disability pay gap data for the first time. The firm adds the demographics to its public monitoring of gender and ethnicity across its UK company, in marking a step in the firm’s long-term commitment to improving equity, transparency and representation.

Over the last decade, continued discourse around a perceived talent shortage in the UK workforce has repeatedly made recruitment efforts difficult across the economy. This has led to firms looking to support traditionally marginalised demographics in the workplace, as a means of attracting and retaining top talent from all corners of society.

Around 22% of people in the UK – and 19% of working age adults – have previously been estimated to have a disability, according to the country’s Family Resources Survey. And this previously led 500 companies to make a public commitment to disability inclusion via The Valuable 500 – including consultancies like Accenture, Deloitte, PwC and KPMG.

Meanwhile, people from working class or low-income backgrounds often find themselves frozen out of the upper ranks of their organisation – while intake also remains a problem. Social Mobility Foundation research has shown that the number of employers offering apprenticeships – often seen as a keystone of social mobility, by enabling individuals from lower income backgrounds to learn on the job – declined from 85% in 2020 to 79% after the pandemic. However, Grant Thornton has consistently recognised as leading on this issue – ranking highest of any consultancy in the UK for social mobility.

Now, the firm has built on this leadership position, with the release of data (from a snapshot taken in April 2025) pertaining to its disability and class gaps in its workplaces across Britain – as well as for ethnicity and gender. Overall, the firm claims that all its pay gaps continue to narrow, and like-for-like analysis confirms that people are paid comparably for equivalent roles. While the firm recognises that further progress is needed, particularly in senior-level representation, it adds that the data demonstrates that “targeted action is driving long-term, sustainable change.”

Key findings 

The gender pay gap across employees has reduced from 22% in 2022 to 11% in 2025. Increased female representation at senior levels, particularly at director level, which rose from 22% in 2022 to 37% in 2025, has contributed to this improvement. Meanwhile, the ethnicity pay gap across employees has fallen from 14% in 2022 to 10% in 2025, again, driven by increased ethnic minority representation across all grades creating a stronger pipeline of future senior leaders. 

In the first reporting period for which Grant Thornton has published its class pay gap, the firm also shows similar progress. At 6.55%, the 2024/25 class pay gap is the lowest recorded since monitoring began in 2022, decreasing by 1.85% compared with the previous year. Meanwhile, the class bonus gap has halved year-on-year, falling from 21% in 2024 to 10% in 2025. 
The firm did not release upward or downward trends relating to its first disability pay gap publication. However, the gap stands at 3%, supported by balanced representation of disabled colleagues at junior (15%) and senior levels (14%). 

Abigail Fisher, chief people officer at Grant Thornton UK, commented, “Pay gap reporting is a vital part of how we hold ourselves accountable for creating a truly inclusive firm. Transparency enables us to understand where inequities exist, challenge ourselves on where progress is too slow and ensure that everyone has access to meaningful opportunities to succeed. We chose to publish our class and disability pay gap data because socioeconomic background and disability shape people’s experiences at work just as powerfully as gender or ethnicity. By shining a light on these areas, we can take more targeted action, focus our investment where it matters most and continue building a firm where everyone feels they belong.”