We care passionately for our waterways and, as importantly, for those who look after and use them.
At Canal & River Trust we care passionately for our waterways and, just as importantly, for the people who look after and use them. We believe that a diverse workforce brings a diversity of ideas, thinking, and ways of working that strengthens what we do. We’re committed to building the most inclusive environment we can, where colleagues and volunteers feel valued, respected, and heard.
This commitment is central to our vision of living waterways that transform places and enrich lives. It helps us earn the confidence, trust, and advocacy of those who use the waterways—whether boaters, anglers, canoeists, paddle‑boarders, walkers, or cyclists—and supports our role as a responsible and trusted custodian of the waterways in our care.
This is why we continue to publish both our gender and ethnicity pay gaps.
The gender pay gap data is published in line with the requirements of the Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2017. We publish our ethnicity pay gap voluntarily, as we believe transparency is essential to understanding fairness and building inclusion.
The data published is certified as accurate as at the snapshot date of 5 April 2025.
Supporting narrative
Gender pay gap explained:
- The mean pay gap compares the average hourly earnings of men and women.
- The median pay gap compares the middle‑earning man and the middle‑earning woman when earnings are ranked in order.
A positive figure means men are paid more on average. A negative figure means women are paid more on average. Pay gap reporting is distinct from equal pay. It does not relate to pay differences for the same or similar roles but instead reflects the overall distribution of colleagues across roles and pay levels.
Pay gap figures:
2024/25 Gender pay gap
- Mean hourly pay gap: -4.39%
(Women are paid slightly more on average than men)
- Median hourly pay gap: -9.77%
- Mean bonus pay gap: 79.97%
(Men are paid higher bonuses on average than women)
- Median bonus pay gap: 0%
- 2.78% of men and 3.17% of women received bonus pay
Gender representation across pay quartiles:
| Quartile | Women | Men |
| Upper (highest paid jobs) | 33.1% | 66.9% |
| Upper middle | 34.4% | 65.6% |
| Lower middle | 25.9% | 74.1% |
| Lower (lowest paid jobs) | 28.2% | 71.8% |
Our mean gender pay gap remains in favour of women, though the gap has narrowed slightly compared with last year. This continues to reflect our workforce profile, including a smaller cohort of women in more highly paid roles, compared with a much larger male population overall. Changes in role distribution, rather than changes to individual pay rates, have the greatest influence on year‑on‑year movement.
2024/25 Ethnicity pay gap
(Excludes colleagues with unknown ethnicity)
- Mean hourly pay gap: –0.63%
(Colleagues of colour earn slightly more on average than white colleagues)
- Median hourly pay gap: -11.91%
- Mean bonus pay gap: 98.06%
- Median bonus pay gap: 0%
- 3.16% of white colleagues and 0.99% of colleagues of colour received bonus pay
Ethnicity representation across pay quartiles:
| Quartile | Colleagues of colour | White colleagues |
| Upper (highest paid jobs) | 6.1% | 93.9% |
| Upper middle | 7.8% | 92.2% |
| Lower middle | 4.9% | 95.1% |
| Lower (lowest paid jobs) | 4.4% | 95.6% |
Our mean ethnicity pay gap has moved to a small negative value, meaning colleagues of colour earn slightly more on average than white colleagues. This figure should be interpreted with care, given the small proportion of colleagues of colour within our workforce and the sensitivity of the calculations to relatively small changes.
Bonus pay gaps
Mean bonus pay gaps for both gender and ethnicity remain highly volatile. This reflects the Trust’s approach to performance‑related pay, where eligibility is limited to a small cohort of colleagues, the majority of whom are men. Changes to our Trust-wide recognition arrangements, including a move away from cash awards, have further reduced the number of colleagues counted as bonus‑eligible. As a result, individual payments can significantly influence the average from one year to the next.
Overall, these movements reinforce the importance of continuing to look beyond headline figures to understand progression, representation, and opportunity across the Trust.
Next steps
In our previous statement, we set out an action plan focused on strengthening our understanding of pay gaps and the factors that sit behind them, including progression, recruitment, and representation.
With our Dayforce HR system now live, we are in a stronger position to deliver this work. We are therefore carrying forward our action plan from last year, shifting from data limitations towards practical implementation and deeper analysis.
Over the coming year, we will focus on:
- Improving the completeness and quality of our diversity data.
- Monitoring starting salaries, promotions, and internal moves by gender and ethnicity.
- Reviewing recruitment and selection processes to support diverse talent pipelines.
- Analysing flexible working uptake, progression patterns, and leaver data.
- Increasing transparency around pay, reward, and progression.
Publishing our pay gap data helps us hold ourselves accountable and supports our commitment to building a Trust where everyone feels valued and able to thrive.
