A study was conducted with over 1000 UK pharmacists which disclosed that there is a median pay gap of over 7% based on whether employees were white or of ethnic minorities. When you apply this to an annual salary (assuming they work 37.5 hours weekly), there is a shocking variance of over £3500.

The research showed that there were two key differences when it came to hourly rate. These were gender (male or female) and ethnicity (white or ethnic minority).

“Between the white male (highest hourly rate) and ethnic minority female (lowest hourly rate) there was a difference of over 10%“

White male pharmacists earnt £25.60 per hour

white female pharmacists earnt £24.60 per hour

ethnic minority male pharmacists earnt £23.60 per hour

ethnic minority female pharmacists earnt £23.00 per hour

Between the white male (highest hourly rate) and ethnic minority female (lowest hourly rate) there was a difference of over 10%. This equates to over £5000 per year.

The median pay gap for ethnic minority pharmacists in the hospital sector was over 10% and for those in the community sector it was 7%.

Chief people officer for the NHS, Prerana Issar, said “We know from General Pharmaceutical Council data that 44% of pharmacists and 13% of pharmacy technicians are from ethnic minority backgrounds. And 62% of pharmacists and 88% of pharmacy technicians are women.”

“However, fewer than 1% of leaders in pharmacy are women of colour, so there’s enormous potential for the pharmacy profession to make sure that all of the talents, all of the skills, and all of the contributions of people within pharmacy are being tapped into and supported.”