Gender Pay Gap / March 2026 Report

The Cohens Group – Gender Pay Gap Report – March 2026

The Cohens Group is one of the largest independent Pharmacy chains in the UK with 209 stores nationwide and over 2000 employees. We are committed to creating a fair and inclusive workplace where everyone has equal opportunities to succeed.

Our recruitment policy is designed to result in the selection of the most suitable person for the job in terms of relevant experience, abilities and qualities and we are proud to offer training and further development to employees across the network. We are committed to promoting fairness, inclusion and equal opportunity for all.

Below shows our gender pay gap report for 2025/2026 in line with our statutory requirement , which the Cohens Group supports as part of our genuine effort to create a fair and inclusive workplace.

This report represents 1506 employees as of 25th April 2025, of which 28% were male and 72% were female.

Our analysis shows a median gender pay gap of 0.81%. This reflects the current distribution of men and women across the organisation. This is influenced by the distribution of genders across the organisation. Females are generally well represented in roles within pharmacy related roles i.e. dispensers but are underrepresented in driver and warehouse roles.

The distribution of male employees shows 67% of all male employees to be in both the ‘Lower’ quartile and ‘Upper quartile’. This reflects the type of role that males generally undertake in the lower quartile i.e. Warehouse Operatives or Delivery Drivers. In the upper quartile this represents skilled/office-based roles i.e. Finance, IT and trade.

In comparison to this, the female distribution is more evenly spread across the quartiles.

The mean pay shows a skewed position in favour of the male employees due to an underrepresentation of male employees in the middle quartiles.

Our workforce is predominantly made up by females; roughly 2.5 times that of men. However, whilst analysing how this is reflected in more senior roles, there is a 46:54 male/female representation for roles such as Pharmacy Managers and Head Office Managers; this is a reasonable split.

Our analysis shows that the mean female hourly pay is lower than that of males, due to the fact that the vast majority of lower paid work is performed by females within the network of community pharmacies i.e. trainee dispensers.

Each quartile is comprised of 377 employees. In the ‘Upper’ quartile the Pharmacists and Head Office Managers make up approximately 203 employees with 54% of this population being female.

The remainder of the ‘Upper’ quartile is predominantly senior branch employees, with 91% of those employees being female, who will typically be on a lower rate than that of a Pharmacist or Head Office Manager.

The retail pharmacy industry is an industry where the majority of employees at branch level are female as a result of the flexibility for part time working hours, in addition our warehouse operation offers a range of shifts which lend itself to female workers, as such roughly 81% of the ‘Lower Middle’ and ‘Upper Middle’ quartiles are female employees.

The employees in the ‘Lower’ quartile are roughly 39:61 male/female. The majority of the male employees in the lower quartile work in driver or warehousing roles, whereas the majority of female in the lower quartile work with the retail branches.

As a business in the healthcare sector, we naturally attract a greater proportion of female employees in our dispensing roles within community pharmacies. Branch hours can accommodate more flexible working patterns and hours, whereas our Line Managers and Head Office employees are more evenly split between male and female doing more fixed working patterns.

Bonuses

• Of the male population 74% received a bonus whilst 82% of the female population received a bonus. A point of note is that bonuses are at set amounts based upon job roles and are performance based, if certain targets are hit then the bonus is achieved.
• Female employees are evenly spread across all earning quartiles and are eligible for a bonus. There is a large number of female branch employees who receive lower bonuses than the managers, which is bringing the female mean down.

Approach to Improve the Gender Pay Gap

To promote equal opportunities and to ensure fair pay for all employees, pay structures are adopted across the majority of the business including community pharmacy and warehouse roles. This ensures that individuals receive remuneration for the role that they carry out and the skillset and experience that they are able to offer. For example, all dispensers are required to complete mandatory training and their remuneration increases upon successful completion.

Our recruitment policy remains an integral part of ensuring equal opportunities across the network and our managers are required to adopt this when recruiting and selecting candidates. We also carry out an annual pay review where staff are benchmarked based on the role that they undertake and in some cases, performance based targets are applicable. Flexible working arrangements are in place across the network and we actively support return to work programmes to support our staff to ensure an inclusive environment for everyone.

• Action being taken:
  • Our recruitment policy remains an integral part of ensuring equal opportunities across the network and our managers are required to adopt this when recruiting and selecting candidates  
  • Our provision of training & development programmes supports all genders to develop their skills and knowledge based on the job role that they undertake
  • Our annual pay review where staff are benchmarked based on the role that they undertake and in some cases, performance based targets are applicable
  • We have a pay structure where each position has a set rate
  • Our flexible working policies and procedures allow staff to request flexible working arrangements; we endeavour to accommodate these requests where operationally feasible
  • We continue to ensure all our procedures are inclusive and drive equality in the workplace

The Cohens Group is committed to equal pay and equal opportunities, and we are proud to maintain a diverse and inclusive workforce. We are pleased that the pay gap reporting has reduced in both Median and Mean Hourly Rates, along with the Median and Mean Bonus Gap.

I confirm that the gender pay gap data contained in this report is accurate and has been calculated in accordance with the requirements of UK legislation.

Andrew Caunce
Director