Who are we?
Catch22 is a not-for-profit business with a social mission. We exist to deliver public services that change people’s lives. We are made up of over 850 people from all over the country, brought together by common values. We reflect the communities we work in. We believe that diversity makes us stronger.
We’re a diverse bunch, and all the better for it. But there’s one thing that runs through us all, a belief that people can thrive if they have; a good place to live, good people around them and a clear purpose in life.
What we do
We design and deliver services that build resilience and aspiration in people of all ages and within communities across the UK. We operate in 3 main hubs: Justice and Education, Employability and skills, and Young People, Families and Communities building these skills in the people we support.
In the last year:
- 59,643 people were supported across our community, custodial and victim services within Justice.
- In Employability 3,566 people with barriers to work were supported to progress.
- Our Alternative Provision schools supported 249 students, with 89% going onto a positive destination.
- 12,942 people were supported across our Young People and Families hub, with 94% leaving with a positive outcome.
- We reached more than 84,850 people through our bowel, cervical and breast cancer screening project.
- 86% of staff said they have a safe place to work.
In line with government regulations, Catch22 publishes its gender pay report annually. As well as setting out the data, the report also provides an opportunity for us to confirm our commitment to improving the gender balance of our workforce and explaining the actions we are taking to achieve this. We value our people and want them all to be confident that they have a great place to work, where they are able to fulfil their potential.
Definitions
What is the gender pay gap and why is it important?: The gender pay gap is defined as the relative difference in the average earnings of women and men. This is reported by looking at the mean and the median pay gap between males and females.
What is the mean pay gap?: The mean is calculated by adding the salaries of all the relevant employees and dividing the figure by the number of employees.
What is the median pay gap?: The median figure falls in the middle of a range when the salaries of all relevant employees are lined up from smallest to largest.
Gender pay is different to equal pay. At Catch22, women and men receive equal pay for equal work. This is an absolute minimum standard for a forward-thinking social business such as ours and we continually review our hiring and compensation practices to ensure this remains the case.
We hold ourselves accountable because this matters to us. At Catch22 our aim is to eradicate the median gender pay gap within the next five years. We are committed to ensuring that every one of our colleagues has an equal opportunity within the workplace regardless of their gender.
For our 2025/2026 gender pay report we had a total of 881 employees included in the report. 664 employees identify as female, and 217 identify as male.
- In Catch22, our mean gender pay gap is 11.32%.
- In Catch22, our median gender pay gap is 3.97%.
In Catch22 we have a 11.32% mean gender pay gap. This is a 0.29% reduction from last year. We are making progress to reduce our gender pay gap, by providing a welcoming and flexible environment for our people and actively working to increase the percentage of females who work in senior roles across the organisation.
Our Data & Metrics
We are proud to have a diverse workforce and will look to ensure that in each quartile our workforce demographic is representative of the people we support. We believe by achieving this we will reduce our gender pay gap and demonstrate our commitment to building an inclusive and diverse community.
Progress
Since 2017 we have made progress with increasing the number of women in our top two pay quartiles, to make these more reflective of our overall demographic. We have continued to make progress in increasing the number of females in our upper quartile. Over the last 4 years it has increased from 62.1% to 68.5%.
Pay distribution |
% female |
% male |
| Lower Quartile (lowest paid) | 81% | 19% |
| Lower Middle Quartile | 76% | 24% |
| Upper Middle Quartile | 74% | 26% |
| Upper Quartile (highest paid) | 68.5% | 31.5% |
Hourly Pay
In Catch22, women earn 96p for every £1 that men earn when comparing median hourly pay, which has remained the same since 2024. Their median hourly pay is 3.97% lower than men’s.
Bonus Pay
Women’s mean bonus pay this year is 0.84% more than men’s. Women’s median bonus pay this year is 14.29% more than men’s.
We have enhanced our family friendly offer for employees by launching a new Family Friendly policy to make our arrangements more inclusive of all employees, to ensure they can be present for the moments that matter at home.
Of 27 promotions in the last year, 24 of these were females.
Moving forward, more focus will be given to the following initiatives:
- Review and analyse the data to identify specific jobs with wide median pay gap differentials.
- Review of our pay and grading structure, specifically looking at progression.
- We will continue to make a conscious effort to improve our gender balance by broadening our attraction strategy and ensuring we have diverse candidate short lists for all leadership roles.
- Continue to utilise a non-judgemental job evaluation to evaluate all roles.
- Review the way we recruit to ensure hiring managers are skilled in non-gender bias.
- Review the gender pay gap data, on a bi-annual basis to analyse and monitor trends.
- Continue to promote flexible working practices across all roles within the organisation.