Target Group celebrates record gender pay gap milestone
10 March 2026
Target Group, the leading provider of digital transformation, software and business process outsourcing (BPO), has announced record progress in closing the gender pay gap.
The mean gender pay gap at Newport-based Target Group has reduced again and now sits at 18.34% - the lowest it has ever reported. This is down from 19.58% last year and down significantly from almost two years ago where the gender pay gap was around 29%.
This positive progress by Target far surpasses the broader UK finance and insurance sectors, which continues to have one of the largest gender pay gaps – averaging 27%-30%. This means that women early roughly 78p for every £1 earned by a man.
Alongside progress on gender pay parity, Target has continued to increase representation. Today, 42% of senior leaders are women – an increase from 30% in 2020. Furthermore, women accounted for 65% of all internal promotions at Target in 2025.
Work continues to support gender pay parity and equality across the business with increasing engagement in women’s networks and the continued growth of both mentoring and development programmes. The focus is on building confidence, capability and visibility in all areas of the organisation.
Target continues to make good progress in its ambition to reduce the gender pay gap year on year, with a view to close it by 2030.
Melanie Spencer, growth director at Target, said:
“Across Target, tremendous progress continues to be made in improving representation, progression and opportunity. Closing the gender pay gap to a record low is real proof of this. Our longevity and success as a business and our longstanding partnerships with major financial institutions is undoubtedly down to the skills and expertise of our talented team.
“Our ability to deliver the cutting-edge capabilities and high levels of service we are known for relies on us attracting and retaining great talent, which is why it is so important that we continue to recognise and reward all employees fairly.”
Gareth Roach, chief people officer at Target, added:
“Over the last couple of years, we’ve focused on building balanced teams at every level of the business rather than chasing quick wins. The consistent reduction in the pay gap over three reporting cycles shows this long-term approach is clearly working. While we are really proud of how far we have come, we know there’s still more we want to achieve.
“We have very clear priorities to expand development, mentoring and leadership opportunities for women, while continuing to strengthen our inclusive hiring and promotion practices. We want to continue building a supportive and flexible culture for everyone – setting clear goals and staying transparent about our progress. The success we are seeing in closing the gender pay gap is down to the effort and commitment of teams right across Target, and I thank everyone.”
Target has been operating across banking, financial services and insurance for more than four decades, specialising in mortgage and loan originations, savings and investments, payments, collections and in-life servicing. Target works with major financial institutions as a provider of business process servicing, as well as its own proprietary software solutions. With the help of its fintech platform, Target manages assets of more than £17 billion, enabling clients to automate complex critical processing, servicing, and administration of loans and investments.
For further information about Target Group, please visit www.targetgroup.com.
