The gender pay gap measures the difference in average pay between all males and all females across an organization, regardless of role or seniority. It is not a measure of equal pay; equal pay is whether males and females receive the same salary for the same job. These are different questions with different answers.
UK employers with 250 or more employees are required by law to report their gender pay gap annually. This is Cleo’s first published report.
Our report covers all UK employees in the snapshot report period.1 Our total UK headcount on the snapshot date was 286 relevant employees, of whom 277 were full-pay relevant employees included in hourly pay calculations. For the purposes of statutory reporting, employees are categorized by gender.2
Cleo’s gender pay gap
Our mean gender pay gap is 17.8%, and our median gender pay gap is 16.8%. We want to be direct about what this number means and what it does not.
The mean pay gap is reflective of a representation distribution gap: Our highest-paid roles (senior roles and technical roles) are disproportionately held by men.3
Across all roles at Cleo, pay is structured within defined salary bands tied to role and seniority level. Individuals may sit at different points within their band; however, band placement is not determined by gender. The gap is therefore largely a function of who occupies which role.
Engineering and data science command the highest market salaries, and these functions currently have the lowest female representation at Cleo (33% and 37%, respectively).
Senior roles skew male for the same reason most tech companies report a gap: The pipeline of females entering technical careers is historically smaller and takes time to correct.
The hourly pay distribution chart below makes this visible. The female curve peaks around £28–30 per hour, reflecting strong representation in mid-level and non-technical roles. The male curve peaks around £38–40 per hour, reflecting relatively higher concentration in senior and technical positions. The curves overlap substantially between £20–35 per hour, showing that pay is consistent across gender at equivalent seniority levels.
Pay quartiles
Dividing our workforce into four equal pay bands clearly reveals the structure behind the gap. Seventy-five percent of employees in our lowest pay quartile are females, reflecting strong female representation in junior and non-technical roles. The upper three quartiles average approximately 35% female, consistent with the function and seniority distribution described above.
Bonus pay gap
Cleo does not operate a discretionary annual bonus scheme. The bonuses reported here are cash payments classified as bonus pay under the statutory reporting regulations,4 not company-wide rewards.
Only 22% of employees (24.2% females, 20.3% males) received any such payment in the 12-month reporting period.
Our mean bonus pay gap is -18.9%, meaning females received higher average bonus payments than males in the 12-month period.5 The median bonus gap of 0.0% is the more representative figure. It shows that the typical bonus payment was identical for males and females, reflecting the fixed-rate nature of our incentive schemes.
To provide a more holistic view of performance-based and company-wide pay increases during the snapshot period, we voluntarily report on pay progression below.
Pay progression
Between April 2024 and April 2025, females at Cleo received a mean salary increase of 8.5% compared to 8.0% for males. This is reflective of hourly pay increases from April 2024 to April 2025.
Pay progression figures cover employees active in both the April 2024 and April 2025 pay periods. 158 employees are included in this analysis.
We see similar pay increases for both males and females, with females making slightly more. The compensation review framework is working to promote equality.
What we are doing about it
We are not satisfied with a 17.8% gap, regardless of its cause. Understanding the root is the starting point, not the finish line.
Since our snapshot date of April 5, 2025, Cleo has taken the following initiatives:
Compensation framework change. Our twice-yearly pay increases now take into account employees’ placement within their pay bands. Employees at the bottom of their pay band receive higher increases than employees at the middle or top of their bands.
Improved maternity leave policy. Our maternity leave policy was enhanced during this period to reward tenure. Previously, employees with more than 26 weeks of service received 18 weeks of fully paid leave, followed by 21 weeks at lower statutory maternity pay (SMP).
The enhanced policy introduced two additional tenure-based tiers. Employees with 2 or more years of service now receive 22 weeks of fully paid leave, followed by 17 weeks at lower SMP, and employees with 3 or more years of service receive 26 weeks of fully paid leave, followed by 13 weeks at lower SMP.
The policy also introduced a provision for employees with between 12 and 26 weeks of service, who now receive 9 weeks of fully paid leave. This change directly benefits females who have built careers at Cleo and reduces the financial impact of taking maternity leave.
Across all maternity leave types, we also initiated payments of employer pension contributions for the entirety of the leave period at the employee’s full pension rate. Continuing employer pension contributions at full salary during maternity leave helps promote long-term financial equality, ensuring employees are not financially disadvantaged for taking time out for childcare.
In 2026, Cleo is committing to the following targeted interventions, each focused on further enhancing gender equality at Cleo:
Promoting before hiring. Before any senior technical role is opened externally, a documented review of internal female candidates is required. Through this initiative, we aim to increase female representation at the senior levels.
Making the next level visible. To ensure females at Cleo see a path to leadership, we are getting leaders across the company to write criteria for progression and growth. A concrete picture of what employees need to demonstrate to move to the next level is being documented and will be shared with all employees.
Regular career conversations for females in tech. Females at L3 and L4 in tech will have structured career conversations every 8 to 9 months. The agenda will be to discuss progression clarity, blockers, and development plans.
A note on transparency
This is our first published gender pay gap report. All statutory figures have been calculated in accordance with the Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2017. Pay progression data is a voluntary supplementary disclosure not required by the regulations. As a disclosure, this report includes only our UK-based employees; therefore, all data and analysis is denominated in GBP. We will publish this report annually and track progress against the commitments described above.
1 Employees employed on the statutory snapshot date of April 5, 2025.
2 For statutory reporting purposes, self-identified gender as recorded in our human resources information system (HRIS) is used as the primary basis for classification. Where self-identified gender data was unavailable or incomplete, legal sex from our HRIS was used as a fallback. Employees who could not be classified under either basis were excluded from calculations. Note: The government’s guidance on recording employees’ gender is currently under review following the Supreme Court’s ruling on the definition of sex in the Equality Act 2010. We will update our methodology for future reporting periods if guidance changes.
3 “Other” includes growth; operations and partnerships; marketing; strategy and operations; customer service; and legal and compliance. All of these functions had fewer than 12 employees as of the Snapshot pay period. Note: Experience as a function includes designers (product and content).
4 Bonus pay, under the statutory reporting regulations, consists of payments classified as incentive payments for employee referrals, sign-on payments, one-off awards, and bonuses for people already at top of their pay band and therefore ineligible for a pay raise during that cycle.
5 Bonuses paid to female employees totaled approximately £145,000 during the 12-month period, compared to approximately £126,000 for male employees.
