Gender Pay Gap Report 2025

The Higgins Group is a family run Group of Companies which was founded in 1961. We have built a reputation as one of the most forward-thinking construction companies in the UK with values which focus on both our clients' needs and the well-being of our staff. Recruiting and retaining good people has been central to Higgins’ success for the last 64 years. We continually invest in training and development initiatives for our staff because we understand the importance of career development and training for every individual at every level.

The Higgins Group strive to pay employees equally for the same, or equivalent, work because we are an Equal Opportunities employer. We believe creating an environment where people can work, grow and succeed is vital to our success, regardless of their gender.

Although more women are continually joining the construction industry, we acknowledge that it is still a heavily male dominated field, and this significantly contributes to our gender pay gap. Women in senior management roles are inadequately represented therefore we still have more women in our lower pay quartile than there are in both the upper middle and upper quartiles combined. To increase a higher percentage of female representation into management and senior management roles in the business, the Company are remaining vigilant in the attraction and selection of more women into senior roles. We are proud to now have three females at Director level.

Unfortunately, in August 2023 Higgins Group went through a restructuring programme which resulted in redundancies. Due to this, only a very small proportion of senior directors were in receipt of a bonus, which had a noteworthy effect on the mean gender ‘bonus’ gap. The Board Directors of all Group companies have a bonus structure incentivisation scheme which forms part of their remuneration package. In addition, the working shareholders, also Directors, receive bonus in lieu of dividend return on their investment. Both factors, therefore, influenced the mean gender ‘bonus’ gap. 

Employees have an opportunity to directly apply for the Management Development Programme. The programme is designed to enhance and strengthen the selected employee’s leadership capabilities and create a pathway into senior management roles within the business.

Within the construction industry there is a higher proportion of males attracted into site-based construction roles, spanning from a wide range of weekly paid skilled and non-skilled operatives to site management. Higgins are committed to addressing the gender representation across roles by supporting women into the workplace and promoting gender equality across the business. The Higgins Group are proud to be silver members of “Women into Construction”, an organisation helping to recruit highly motivated, trained women, wishing to work in this industry who provide bespoke support to women. 

We continue to welcome Management Trainees onto our successful ‘Building your Future’ Scheme, where they spend time in every department across the business over an 18-month period. Following this, the Management Trainees then choose one area of the business they wish to specialise in. This programme means they can gain ‘hands on’ experience in all areas of the business whilst working towards either a RICS or CIOB accredited degree at University. This year a third of our intake was female. We aim to continue receiving interest from both males and females of school leaving age who would like to consider a long-term career in the construction industry. 

Furthermore, the Company are reviewing the maternity policy to enhance assistance for working women. 

Higgins Group PLC has calculated its gender pay gap report at April 2024 and the results are as follows:

We confirm that the gender pay gap data for Higgins Group PLC is accurate and has been produced in accordance with the Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2017.

Mark Francis - Group Finance Director