Wessex Garages Holdings Ltd

Gender Pay Gap Report 2025

On 5 April 2025, our total workforce comprised of 329 employees with the following gender split:

This is our annual gender pay gap report for the snapshot date of 5 April 2025.

· Our mean gender pay gap is 8.58%.

· Our median gender pay gap is 11.10%.

· Our mean gender bonus gap is 15.12%

· Our median gender bonus gap is 17.40%

· The proportion of male employees receiving a bonus is 86.19% and the proportion of female employees receiving a bonus is 77.78%.

Table 1: Pay quartiles by gender.

This table shows our workforce divided into four equal-sized groups based on hourly pay rate. Band A includes the lowest-paid 25% of employees (the lower quartile) and band D covers the highest-paid 25% (the upper quartile).

Why do we have a gender pay gap?

Legally, men and women must receive equal pay for:

· the same or broadly similar work;

· work rated as equivalent under a job evaluation scheme; or

· work of equal value.

We are committed to equal opportunities and equal treatment for all employees, regardless of sex, race, religion or belief, age, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy/maternity, sexual orientation, gender reassignment or disability. We have a clear policy of paying employees equally for the same or equivalent work, regardless of their sex (or anything else listed above). We:

· carry out regular pay and benefits audits;

· provide regular equal pay guidance training for all staff members who are involved in pay reviews; and

· evaluate job roles and pay grades to ensure fairness.

We are confident that our gender pay gap is not because we pay men and women differently for the same or equivalent work. Instead, our gender pay gap is because men and women work in different roles and those roles have different salaries.

Across the UK economy, men are more likely than women to be in senior roles (especially very senior roles at the top of organisations). Men are more likely to be in technical and IT-related roles, which are paid more highly than other roles at similar levels of seniority. Women are also more likely than men to have had breaks from work that have affected their career progression, for example to bring up children. They are also more likely to work part time, and many of the jobs that are available across the UK on a part-time basis are relatively low paid.

This pattern from the UK economy as a whole is reflected in the make-up of our organisation. Most line managers and senior managers are men.

How does our gender pay gap compare with that of others?

The mean gender pay gap for the United Kingdom (according to the April 2025 Office for National Statistics (ONS) Gender pay gap in the UK figures) is 6.9%. In a comparison (using the gov.uk Employer comparison Gender pay gap service) with other motor, wholesale and retail trade companies, whose average mean difference in hourly pay is 12.21%, by comparison, our mean gender pay gap is 8.58% below the average in our industry comparison.

The median gender pay gap for the UK (according to the April 2025 ONS ASHE figures) is 6.9%, while in a comparison with other motor, wholesale, and retail trade companies it is 10.76%. At 11.10% our median gender pay gap is slightly above the average in our sector.

Table 2: Comparison with other organisations

Our mean and median gender bonus gaps are: 15.12% and 17.4%

86.19% of men at our organisation received a bonus in the 12 months up to 5 April 2025. For women this was 77.78%.

What are we doing to address our gender pay gap?

We are not happy with our gender pay gap even though it compares favourably with others in our sector. We are committed to doing everything we can to reduce the gap.

Over the next year, we will review our recruitment and remuneration policies to ensure fairness and equality. Our analysis shows that our gender pay gap is influenced primarily by the distribution of men and women across sales, service and leadership and our current leadership team has a 50/50 split. We are creating an environment where our employees can progress and thrive, regardless of gender. We intend to review our gender pay data quarterly going forwards to increase our awareness.

I, Tim Bagnall, Chief Financial Officer, confirm that the information in this statement is accurate.