Atom’s gender pay gap report
UK Companies with 250+ employees must produce a gender pay gap report.
Gender pay gap report 2025
The data below provides a snapshot of the organisation taken on 5th April 2025. This is a statutory date on which the data must be captured, and the analysis carried out.
If an organisation reports a gender pay gap, it does not mean women are paid less than men for doing the same job or vice versa. It is important to note that there is a fundamental difference between Gender Pay and Equal Pay. Equal Pay is men and women being paid the same for the same work. At Atom bank we are confident that men and women who occupy the same roles are paid equally, however our gender pay gap shows that, on average, men occupy higher paying roles than women.
Employers must report six different measures, based on a snapshot of pay data on a set date set out by the Government Equalities Office:
- Median gender pay gap - the difference between the median hourly rate of pay of male full-pay relevant employees and that of female full-pay relevant employees.
- Mean gender pay gap - the difference between the mean hourly rate of pay of male full- pay relevant employees and that of female full-pay relevant employees.
- Median bonus gap - the difference between the median bonus pay paid to male relevant employees and that paid to female relevant employees.
- Mean bonus gap - the difference between the mean bonus pay paid to male relevant employees and that paid to female relevant employees.
- Bonus proportions - the proportions of male and female relevant employees who were paid bonus pay during the relevant period.
- Quartile pay bands - the proportions of male and female full-pay relevant employees in the lower, lower-middle, upper-middle and upper quartile pay bands.
Our gender pay gap
We understand fully the drivers of Atom’s gender pay gap and in consequence have been focused on ensuring that we recruit more women to senior roles in the firm.
From last year, our mean Gender pay gap has increased by 0.8 percentage points whilst our median has reduced by 1 percentage point. Atom operates at the intersection between the Tech and Finance industries, both of which, and particularly the former, continues to be dominated by men. The UK average gender pay gap remains consistently and significantly lower (6.9% in 2025 across all industries) than those within the Financial and Insurance sectors (22.3% in 2025).
Mean
| 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27.5% | 31.1% | 27.6% | 28.6% | 28.4% | 29.2% |
Median
| 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 33.9% | 32.5% | 35.5% | 37.5% | 32.4% | 31.4% |
Our pay quartiles
At Atom bank, 42% of our total headcount is made up of women. This has risen steadily, increasing a total 10% since April 2022. Though we have more men than women in our more senior and higher paid roles, we continue to remain focused on correcting this imbalance.
38% of our Executive Committee and Independent Board members are women, and we are continually focused on growing the proportion of women in the Upper and Upper-Middle Quartile.
We expect to see an increase in female representation within our Senior Leadership population over time, as we move to concentrate efforts on ensuring robust development opportunities are in place to support career progression and succession.
As part of our commitment to reduce our gender pay gap, we have devised an Executive Sponsored, long-term strategy focusing on four key pillars – talent acquisition, retention and internal mobility, culture and behaviour, and embedding Equality Diversity & Inclusion (ED&I).
Our bonus gap
For FY25, Atom’s bonus was awarded through share options and in accordance with the Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2017, our bonus gap calculations include the taxable value of share options only at the point of exercise.
We don’t include share options that have been granted or vested but remain unexercised. This is because, until an employee chooses to exercise their options, no "Bonus Pay" has been realised or received, and including unexercised grants would result in speculative data, as the ultimate value of these shares depends on future market performance and the employee’s decision to act. This approach ensures our report reflects actual income received by our workforce during the reporting period but as exercising options is a personal choice made by each individual employee, our bonus gap will fluctuate year on year.
A very small proportion of relevant employees elected to exercise their share options during this reporting period, and we did note that a higher percentage of men chose to do this in comparison to women.
Based on this limited data, our bonus gaps are as follows:
Mean: 69.2%
Median: 76.3%
There is no difference in the percentage of males versus females who receive a bonus. 100% of both populations who were eligible for a bonus, which is based on employment dates for that performance year, received a bonus.
Our goals
Our goal is to close the gender pay gap at Atom in the shortest time possible. We believe a more diverse and inclusive business leads to better outcomes and experiences for both our people and customers. To support this, we have a targeted programme of work to address the gender pay imbalance in our sector. This focuses on not only the workplace but also in encouraging more females to study STEM related subjects. In Autumn 2024, Atom announced its support for two new scholarships on Durham University’s AMI Women in Technology programme, which is aimed at prospective female Computer Science students from low-income backgrounds. Last summer, we successfully completed our second internship programme, which directly supported students based in the North-East of England.
We plan to launch further internship and graduate programmes, and we will stay connected with students throughout the duration of their studies. We know that the output of activities will take several years to materialise, however, we’re confident it will have a positive impact on our industry.
We launched our Atom Women’s Network in early 2025, an internal initiative led by six female colleagues and sponsored by Helen Wilson, our Chief Operating Officer. The Network has hosted a variety of successful events internally, including panels, fireside chats and development workshops. The aims of the Network are to:
- Develop - provide female specific support with professional and personal development and access to relevant resources.
- Connect - give women the opportunity to build lasting relationships and connections across the bank and create a safe space and community to discuss issues that matter to them openly.
- Inspire - support our junior talent to grow and inspire the next generation to consider a career in the fintech industry.
We also commit to:
- Continuing to identify and support high potential in the organisation including the promotion of women at all levels in our organisation.
- Continuing to provide development and learning opportunities to all our people at Atom. We will do this through the sharing and establishment of clear career pathways, communicating secondment opportunities, and promoting our people into permanent positions based on performance.
- Increasing the focus on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (ED&I), continuing to embed D&I through the implementation of a strategy which supports the acquisition and inclusion of talented females and those with high potential from other underrepresented groups.
- Continuing to diversify the range of tools we use across all talent acquisition activity, including assessing gender bias across all job adverts, offering flexible working patterns and ensuring our practices are set up to attract a more diverse talent pool.
- Further developing relationships with a wide range of external partners including accredited organisations which provide expert guidance and support in addressing inequality within our sectors and in the workplace.
- Conducting regular salary benchmarking exercises to ensure our people are paid fairly for the work they do.
Gender pay gap report 2024
The data below provides a snapshot of the organisation taken on 5th April 2024. This is a statutory date on which the data must be captured, and the analysis carried out.
If an organisation reports a gender pay gap, it does not mean women are paid less than men for doing the same job or vice versa. It is important to note that there is a fundamental difference between Gender Pay and Equal Pay. Equal Pay is men and women being paid the same for the same work. At Atom bank we are confident that men and women who occupy the same roles are paid equally, however our gender pay gap shows that, on average, men occupy higher paying roles than women.
Employers must report six different measures, based on a snapshot of pay data on a set date set out by the Government Equalities Office:
- Median gender pay gap - the difference between the median hourly rate of pay of male full-pay relevant employees and that of female full-pay relevant employees.
- Mean gender pay gap - the difference between the mean hourly rate of pay of male full- pay relevant employees and that of female full-pay relevant employees.
- Median bonus gap - the difference between the median bonus pay paid to male relevant employees and that paid to female relevant employees.
- Mean bonus gap - the difference between the mean bonus pay paid to male relevant employees and that paid to female relevant employees.
- Bonus proportions - the proportions of male and female relevant employees who were paid bonus pay during the relevant period.
- Quartile pay bands - the proportions of male and female full-pay relevant employees in the lower, lower-middle, upper-middle and upper quartile pay bands.
Our gender pay gap
We understand fully the drivers of Atom’s gender pay gap and in consequence have been focused on ensuring that we recruit more women to senior roles in the firm.
From last year, our mean Gender pay gap has remained stable whilst our median has reduced by 6 percentage points. Atom operates at the intersection between the Tech and Finance Industries, both of which, and particularly the former, continues to be dominated by men. The UK average gender pay gap remains consistently and significantly lower (13.1% in 2024 across all employees) than those for the Finance and Technology Industries (25.2% in 2024).
Mean
| 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28.8% | 27.5% | 31.1% | 27.6% | 28.6% | 28.4% |
Median
| 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 31.6% | 33.9% | 32.5% | 35.5% | 37.5% | 32.4% |
Our pay quartiles
At Atom bank, 42% of our total headcount is made up of women. This has risen steadily year on year, increasing a total 10% since April 2022. Though we have more men than women in our more senior and higher paid roles, we continue to remain focused on correcting this imbalance.
38% of our Executive Committee and Board members are women, and we are continually focused on growing the proportion of women in the Upper and Upper-Middle Quartile.
Since April 2023 we have appointed 25 and promoted 22 women into roles within these quartiles. In 2024, we have already begun to see the impact that this is making within our Upper and Upper-Middle Quartile Pay data and there is now greater female representation in these groups. The salary range in the Upper Quartile is wide however, as team members garner further skill and experience, we expect this to be reflected in salary.
We expect to see an increase in female representation within the Senior Leadership population over time, as we move to concentrate efforts on ensuring robust development opportunities to support career progression and succession.
As part of our commitment to reduce our gender pay gap, we have started to devise a long-term strategy focusing on four key pillars – talent acquisition, retention and internal mobility, culture and behaviour, and embedding ED&I. We anticipate that our incoming Chief People Officer will be Executive Sponsor and that this will be finalised in FY24/25.
Our bonus gap
The bonus payment percentages are intended to reflect the distribution of bonus payments made to men and women employees, who were paid bonus pay in the 12 months that ended on the snapshot date (the period of 4th April 2023-5th April 2024).
There is no difference in the percentage of males versus females who receive a bonus. 100% of both populations who were eligible for a bonus, which is based on start of employment dates for that performance year, received a bonus.
Mean: 44.17%
Median: 65.47%
At Atom, our bonus structure is calculated as a % of salary depending on the grade band of our people, therefore generally the more senior the role, the higher the salary and bonus. The bonus in this period was awarded based only on company performance.
Our goals
Our goal is to close the gender pay gap at Atom in the shortest time possible. To achieve this, we will:
- Continue to identify and support high potential in the organisation including the promotion of women at all levels in our organisation.
- Continue to provide development and learning opportunities to all our people at Atom. We will do this through the sharing and establishment of clear career pathways, communicating secondment opportunities, and promoting our people into permanent positions based on performance.
- Increase the focus on Diversity and Inclusion (D&I), continuing to embed D&I through the implementation of a strategy which supports the acquisition and inclusion of talented females and those with high potential from other underrepresented groups.
- Continue to diversify the range of tools we use across all talent acquisition activity, including assessing gender bias across all job adverts, offering flexible working patterns and ensuring our practices are set up to attract a more diverse talent pool.
- Further develop relationships with a wide range of external partners including accredited organisations which provide expert guidance and support in addressing inequality within our sectors and in the workplace.
- Conduct regular salary benchmarking exercises to ensure our people are paid fairly for the work they do.