This day is part of the #EthnicityPayGap Campaign that calls on the government to make Ethnicity Pay Gap reporting mandatory like with the gender pay gap.
Lola Dabiri, President of the PDA BAME Network said, “The injustice of individuals being paid less because of their ethnicity, is something that we all know happens at some employers, and pay gap reporting is the accepted way to identify such issues. The PDA BAME Network and the wider PDA have long campaigned for the introduction of compulsory ethnicity pay gap reporting for those organisations that employ 250 staff or more and highlighting #EthnicityPayGap day helps keep the profile of the campaign high. The importance of today cannot be overly emphasised.”
The PDA BAME Network has previously responded to the government’s announcement that it will not implement mandatory ethnicity pay gap reporting back in July 2023. Now in 2025, the PDA is again reiterating its call upon the new Labour government to reconsider this decision and recognise the importance of mandatory ethnicity pay gap reporting by making sure that it is enacted within the proposed Employment Rights Bill.
According to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) on average those who are Black, Asian, or of Ethnic Minority (BAME) earn 89p for every £1 that a person who is white earns.
Paul Day, PDA Director of Membership & Communities said, “The PDA is committed to tackling inequality in all forms and invites pharmacy employers with more than 250 staff to monitor and report ethnicity pay gaps in advance of it becoming compulsory to do so, just as they are already required to do for gender pay gap reporting. The very largest pharmacy employers certainly have resourced HR department that could do this activity. We stress that having a pay gap does not necessarily mean it has been deliberately created, but unless the workforce’s pay is monitored for the possibility it may exist, then any such gaps will continue unchecked. Even if these larger employers choose not to report publicly on ethnicity pay gaps before it becomes a requirement, they could still commence the necessary data collection and analysis now which would inform them about the issue and allow them to begin to fix things sooner.”
Join a PDA EDI Network today
The PDA has four Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Networks that all provide a structure through which members can work together to proactively address and campaign around all forms of discrimination and their causes and consequences. This work includes encouraging employers to pay all pharmacists a fair and equal wage.
The PDA EDI Networks consist of the PDA BAME Network, the PDA LGBT+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender pharmacists) Network, the PDA Ability (disabled pharmacists) Network, and the PDA NAWP (National Association of Women Pharmacists) Network. Membership is £10 per year for PDA members, £30 per year for non-PDA members or FREE to PDA trainee and student members. Those interested in joining can do so by clicking here.
The Ethnicity Pay Gap campaign is hosting its second summit on 7 February 2025 in association with the Fawcett Society, of which the PDA NAWP Network is a member.
Learn more
- CIPD ethnicity pay gap report
- Ethnicity Pay Gap Day: The Stark Consequences
- Ethnicity Pay Gap Summit 2025
- PDA BAME Network responds to Ethnicity Pay Reporting Consultation
- PDA EDI Networks
- Government unveils significant reforms to employment rights
Not yet a PDA member?
If you have not yet joined the PDA, we encourage you to join today and ask your colleagues to do the same.
Membership is FREE to pharmacy students, trainee pharmacists and for the first three months of being newly qualified.
Read about our key member benefits here.