Gender Pay Gap Report 2025
FOREWORD
At Vergo Pest Management Ltd, we remain committed to building a fair, inclusive, and diverse workplace where every individual has equal opportunity to succeed. Gender equality continues to be a key priority for our organisation, and we consistently review our practices to reduce and ultimately eliminate the gender pay gap.
This report sets out our gender pay gap figures for the snapshot date of 5 April 2025, alongside insights into the gender distribution of our workforce and updates on our ongoing initiatives to promote gender representation across all levels of the business.
METHODOLOGY
Our figures have been calculated in line with statutory gender pay gap reporting requirements. They include:
- All employees (full‑time and part‑time)
- Gross hourly earnings (excluding overtime, including qualifying pay and bonuses)
- Bonus pay received in the 12 months preceding the snapshot date
The gender pay gap is not a measure of equal pay for equal work. Rather, it reflects the distribution of men and women across different roles and pay levels within the organisation.
PAY QUARTILES BY GENDER
This section shows the proportion of men and women across four equal groups based on hourly pay.
Hourly Pay Quartiles (2025) (based on total employees = 517)
As in previous reporting periods, men continue to make up the majority across all quartiles, though the proportion of women in the Lower quartile has grown.
This reflects the continued challenge of attracting women to operational roles within the pest control industry.
OUR GENDER PAY GAP
This is our annual gender pay gap report for the snapshot date of 5 April 2025.
- Our mean gender pay gap is 1.16%.
This means that for every £1 a man earns at Vergo, a woman earns approximately 98.8 pence. This represents a continued improvement on previous years.
In 2024, our mean gender pay gap was 3.9%, meaning women earned 96.1 pence for every £1 earned by men. This was already a significant reduction from 2023, when the mean gender pay gap stood at 10.38%.
The shift from 10.38% (2023) to 3.9% (2024) and now down to 1.16% (2025) demonstrates three consecutive years of meaningful progress, reflecting our ongoing commitment to improving gender representation and equity across the organisation.
- Our median gender pay gap is 9.32%.
The median gender pay gap compares the middle‑earning man with the middle‑earning woman and is less influenced by unusually high or low salaries. Based on median hourly pay of £14.92 for men and £13.53 for women, this means that for every £1 earned by a typical male employee at Vergo, a typical female employee earns approximately 90.7 pence.
This represents a widening of the median gap compared with 2024, when the median gender pay gap stood at 3.1%, and women earned 96.9 pence for every £1 earned by men. The change reflects shifts in workforce distribution during the year, with fewer women represented in upper‑middle pay quartiles compared with 2024.
While our median pay gap has increased this year, median measures are particularly sensitive to changes in workforce positioning within pay quartiles. This will remain a key area of focus as we continue to work toward balanced gender representation across all levels of the organisation.
- Our mean gender pay gap in bonus pay is 74.1%.
On average, women’s bonuses are 74.1% lower than those awarded to men, meaning women receive approximately 25.9 pence for every £1 of bonus pay given to a male employee. This represents a widening of the gap compared with 2024, when the mean bonus gap was 68.1%.
The increase in the mean bonus gap reflects the continued underrepresentation of women in senior, commercial, and other bonus‑eligible roles where bonus values tend to be significantly higher. As a result, although many employees receive a bonus, the average value remains substantially higher for men than for women.
Addressing this disparity remains a key priority for the business, and progress will depend on improving gender balance, particularly in leadership and higher‑paid operational positions that attract larger performance‑related bonuses.
- Our median gender pay gap in bonus pay is 11.9%.
This means that the median bonus received by women is 11.9% lower than that received by men. For every £1 of median bonus pay awarded to a male employee, a female employee now receives around 88 pence.
This represents a significant improvement compared with 2024, when the median bonus gap was 79.5%, and women received just over 20 pence for every £1 awarded to men. The reduction from 79.5% to 11.9% marks the largest single area of progress in our 2025 gender pay gap results, indicating that typical bonus values for women are now much closer to those received by their male colleagues.
While this improvement is encouraging, we remain focused on ensuring that bonus opportunities and progression pathways continue to support greater gender balance in bonus‑eligible roles across the organisation.
The proportion of employees receiving a bonus was 83.1% for men and 80.0% for women.
This shows a slight increase in bonus eligibility for both genders compared to 2023, where the figures were 71.35% for men and 70.9% for women.
In 2025, the proportion of employees receiving a bonus shows a clear imbalance between men and women. 70.9% of men received a bonus compared with 44.3% of women, indicating a considerably wider eligibility gap than in 2024. This means women were significantly less likely to receive a bonus during the reporting period.
Although our median bonus gap has improved substantially this year, the difference in bonus eligibility and the mean bonus gap indicate that men continue to receive higher overall bonus rewards than women. This disparity is driven by the continued underrepresentation of women in senior, commercial, and other higher‑paid roles where bonuses tend to be more substantial. Expanding female representation in these roles remains essential to improving bonus outcomes over time.
WHY DO WE HAVE A GENDER PAY GAP?
The gender pay gap at Vergo continues to reflect structural patterns within the pest control industry and within our organisation:
- Industry gender imbalance: Pest control remains a male‑dominated field, particularly in technical and field-based roles.
- Representation in senior roles: Bonus‑eligible and higher-paid roles remain disproportionately held by men.
- Part-time and flexible roles: Women continue to be overrepresented in part‑time roles, which generally offer lower earning potential and limited bonus eligibility.
- Occupational pathways: Fewer women currently progress into operational leadership positions where bonuses and higher pay are more prevalent.
We remain confident that our gender pay gap is not the result of unequal pay for equal work, but rather a reflection of workforce composition.
HOW DOES OUR GENDER PAY GAP COMPARE WITH OTHERS?
While 2025 national data is not yet published, the UK’s most recent ONS-reported median gender pay gap (2024) was 13.1%. Compared to this:
- Vergo’s median gender pay gap (2025): 9.32% — below the national average
- Vergo’s mean gender pay gap (2025): 1.16% — significantly lower than the national landscape
This continues Vergo’s strong performance in national context.
OUR ACTIONS TO REDUCE THE GENDER PAY GAP
We remain committed to sustained long‑term action to improve gender representation and pay equity. Our focus areas for 2025–26 include:
- Expanding recruitment of women into operational roles
Actively targeting career changers, apprentices, and women entering technical fields to broaden representation in entry-level pest control roles.
- Strengthening pathways for progression
Offering transparent development routes into middle and senior management, with targeted support for female employees.
- Continued review of pay and bonus structures
Ensuring fairness, transparency, and consistency in reward frameworks.
- Addressing bias in recruitment and promotion
Through training, review mechanisms, and inclusive recruitment practices.
- Building internal leadership pipelines
Increasing representation of women in roles that attract bonus pay and higher pay grades.
We are committed to doing everything we can to continue narrowing the gender pay gap. We know that progress is particularly challenging in a male-dominated industry, where attracting women into operational roles, especially those in the lower and lower middle pay quartiles, remains a barrier to broader gender equity.
We believe closing the gender pay gap requires a multifaceted approach. Our ongoing actions include:
- Conducting regular pay audits to identify and address disparities and eliminate gender bias;
- Implementing transparent pay frameworks to support fairness in progression and reward;
- Providing career development support to create pathways for women into middle and senior roles;
- Actively recruiting more women into front-line pest control roles to build representation at entry and operational levels;
- Continuing to address bias in recruitment, progression, and workplace practices, ensuring inclusive hiring and promotion processes.
MD STATEMENT
At Vergo, we recognise that closing the gender pay gap is an ongoing commitment, requiring sustained focus and measurable action. While we are encouraged by our continued improvement in mean pay equity, we also recognise the widening in median pay and bonus eligibility gaps. These insights reinforce the importance of continuing to address representation across all levels of the organisation.
We remain committed to creating a fair, inclusive, and supportive workplace where everyone, regardless of gender, can thrive and progress.
Henry Mott
Managing Director
View our previous Gender Pay Gap Reports: