UK Gender Pay Gap Report 2020-21
April 1 2022 | Studio | Legacy Project
Creative Assembly has been proactively working to a studio-wide diversity strategy for several years. This work continues to gain momentum as we expand its reach and deepen its impact across our studios. Our strategy focuses on three pillars:
- Being responsible games developers; working to improve the games industry for everyone, including our players, our current and future talent.
- Continuing our journey to make CA an inclusive environment that is welcoming, safe and a place that everyone’s voice is heard.
- Retaining and advancing talent; seeing diversity through all levels of CA.
To put our demographic in perspective, in 2022 18.9% of staff at CA UK identify as female and fewer than 1% identify as non-binary. Staff of ethnic minorities make up 20.5% of CA UK, 16.4% identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual, 46% of our workforce are under the age of 35 and 4.1% identify as having a disability.
15.9% of our senior management teams (Senior Leadership Team and the Extended Leadership Team) identify as female. 18.5% of our employees who are in leadership positions (‘Leads’ and above) identify as female.
While this data continues to fluctuate, we are confident that our work will have a positive long-term impact.

Snapshot employee data from March 2022
The gender pay gap
In the snapshot data taken between April 2020 and March 2021 we saw a further decrease in our mean and median gender pay gap compared to the previous year. We have also seen an increase in the number of females in the upper quartile.
The bonus pay gap shows an increase.
We recognise that our work to improve diverse representation at all levels of the business is longer term and we are far below our ambition of increasing representation at Creative Assembly. However, we are seeing positive progress.
There are several factors that have contributed to the gender pay results:
- We have seen an increase in females in the lower quartile and the topmost quartile; representing an increase in females joining Creative Assembly in entry-level roles, and an increase in those joining and/or being promoted into senior roles.
- All eligible employees receive a bonus. Bonuses go through an extensive process which includes checking for any issues of inequality. Due to the reporting period, bonuses (which are paid annually) are not shown until the following year’s gender pay data (e.g., bonuses for 2020-2021 will be represented in the 2021-2022 data). The variance in data for 2020-2021 is due to an increase in women joining Creative Assembly in entry level roles in the previous year, who are eligible for bonus in this reporting period. This leads to an increase in the bonus pay gap as more women in the lower quartile were eligible for bonuses than the previous year.
We are confident that there is not an equal pay issue, there is equal treatment for work of equal or similar value.
Mean - gender pay gap | 16.7% |
Median - gender pay gap | 17.1% |
Mean - bonus gender pay gap | 29.4% |
Median - bonus gender pay gap | 26.6% |
Proportion of males receiving a bonus payment | 71.3% |
Proportion of females receiving a bonus payment | 68.2% |
Female | Male | |
Proportion in the lower quartile pay band | 23.8% | 76.2% |
Proportion in the lower middle quartile pay band | 23.4% | 76.6% |
Proportion in the upper middle quartile pay band | 19.3% | 80.7% |
Proportion in the upper quartile pay band | 9.4% | 90.6% |
Historical gender pay data can be found below.
Progressing our strategy
Our Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging Strategy sets actionable commitments for every level of the business, from leadership to individuals. We continue to embed and evolve this work to contribute to an inclusive industry, to make CA an inclusive environment that is welcoming, safe and a place where everyone’s voice is heard, and seeing diversity represented at all levels.
The strategy covers our policies, behaviours, processes, marketing and more. As part of this work we provide extensive learning and development programmes on areas such as unconscious bias and inclusion awareness, to help individuals and teams understand how they can put inclusion into practice. Through our Diversity and Inclusion Network and our Employee Resource Groups we continually look to strengthen the role the employee voice has at Creative Assembly.
Our multi-award-winning education work sets our ambition to leave a legacy through accessible education; encouraging more people from diverse backgrounds to consider a career in games. This work includes mentorship schemes and the new Creative Assembly Legacy Scholarship with Teesside University, specifically for those from low-income families, who identify as female and/or Black or an ethnic minority.
Through our work we continue to attract more diverse people into Creative Assembly and to develop them into more senior roles. Although we expect to see fluctuations in our future gender pay gap data, we are confident that our work will lead to long-term progress.
Declaration
I confirm that the figures and content above are accurate to the best of our knowledge.

HISTORICAL GENDER PAY REPORT DATA
APRIL 2019 - APRIL 2020 DATA
Mean - gender pay gap | 20.5% |
Median - gender pay gap | 19.5% |
Mean - bonus gender pay gap | 25.5% |
Median - bonus gender pay gap | 24.8% |
Proportion of males receiving a bonus payment | 73.1% |
Proportion of females receiving a bonus payment | 62.5% |
Female | Male | |
Proportion in the lower quartile pay band | 18.9% | 81.1% |
Proportion in the lower middle quartile pay band | 30.3% | 69.7% |
Proportion in the upper middle quartile pay band | 21.1% | 78.9% |
Proportion in the upper quartile pay band | 6.3% | 93.7% |
APRIL 2018 - APRIL 2019 DATA
Mean - gender pay gap | 23.1% |
Median - gender pay gap | 22.9% |
Mean - bonus gender pay gap | 33.8% |
Median - bonus gender pay gap | 18.6% |
Proportion of males receiving a bonus payment | 81.2% |
Proportion of females receiving a bonus payment | 69.8% |
Female | Male | |
Proportion in the lower quartile pay band | 16.8% | 83.2% |
Proportion in the lower middle quartile pay band | 29.4% | 70.6% |
Proportion in the upper middle quartile pay band | 14.3% | 85.7% |
Proportion in the upper quartile pay band | 6.7% | 93.3% |
APRIL 2017 - APRIL 2018 DATA
Mean - gender pay gap | 19.7% |
Median - gender pay gap | 23.5% |
Mean - bonus gender pay gap | 37.5% |
Median - bonus gender pay gap | 19.5% |
Proportion of males receiving a bonus payment | 88.4% |
Proportion of females receiving a bonus payment | 82.9% |
Female | Male | |
Proportion in the lower quartile pay band | 16.5% | 83.5% |
Proportion in the lower middle quartile pay band | 28.2% | 71.8% |
Proportion in the upper middle quartile pay band | 22% | 78% |
Proportion in the upper quartile pay band | 4.5% | 95.5% |
APRIL 2016 - APRIL 2017 DATA
Mean - gender pay gap | 20.3% |
Median - gender pay gap | 23.3% |
Mean - bonus gender pay gap | 38.2% |
Median - bonus gender pay gap | 25.3% |
Proportion of males receiving a bonus payment | 78.6% |
Proportion of females receiving a bonus payment | 71.6% |
Female | Male | |
Proportion in the lower quartile pay band | 14.7% | 85.3% |
Proportion in the lower middle quartile pay band | 24.8% | 75.2% |
Proportion in the upper middle quartile pay band | 18.8% | 81.2% |
Proportion in the upper quartile pay band | 3.5% | 96.5% |