33% Less: Oxfam Pays White Staff a Third Below Ethnic-Minority Colleagues
October 23, 2026 · Frisian News
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Oxfam's own annual report shows it paid white staff 33% less than ethnic-minority colleagues in 2025, up from 10.4% the year before. Cancer Research UK and the British Red Cross reported similar gaps running in the same direction.
Oxfam paid its white staff 33% less on average than employees who described themselves as black or a person of colour last year, the charity's own annual report showed. The same gap stood at 10.4% in 2024.
The pattern is not unique to Oxfam. Cancer Research UK paid white employees 7.6% less than ethnic-minority colleagues on average in 2025, data reported by the Daily Sceptic shows. The British Red Cross recorded a gap of 11.4% in favour of minority ethnic staff in the same year. All three organisations carry public commitments to equality and fairness.
Ethnicity pay-gap reporting measures the difference in median salaries across groups at an organisation, regardless of job grade or role. The figures can be affected by groups concentrated in higher or lower-paying positions, the Daily Sceptic noted. They do not prove that two people doing identical work receive different wages. What they do show is where each ethnic group sits in the pay distribution. At Oxfam, white employees now sit significantly lower than minority ethnic colleagues.
The positive action section of the Equality Act 2010 permits employers to favour candidates from under-represented groups over equally qualified candidates from other groups, to boost workforce representation. The Daily Sceptic reported that the published figures have raised concerns about whether this provision is being applied as intended. Lord Young of Acton, founder of the Free Speech Union, said the section has become "a get-out-of-jail-free card for any employer who wants to discriminate against white people." He added: "I expect we'll see much more of this once the reporting requirement becomes mandatory."
Suella Braverman, Reform UK's Equalities Spokesman, said the numbers show "the results of the Equality Act laid bare." She described what she called "rampant positive action schemes" as "actively discriminating against white, working-class Brits in favour of ethnic minorities, leading to certain groups gaining an upper hand when it comes to the jobs market."
James Wild, the Shadow Culture Minister, said individuals "should be rewarded for their talent and hard work, regardless of their background or ethnicity." He said fairness means "ensuring everyone has an equal opportunity to succeed, not preferential treatment or discrimination that puts others at an unfair disadvantage," and that pay "should be based on merit, skills and performance, rather than factors beyond anyone's control."
Oxfam's gap went from 10.4% to 33% in a year. That is the arithmetic of an organisation committed to equality and fairness. The gap runs against white staff.
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Published October 23, 2026 · Frisian News