Gender Pay Gap Report

Background

As an employer with more than 250 employees it is a legal requirement for the University to publish statutory calculations on its gender pay gap every year, based on the “snapshot date” of 5th April.

Introduction

The gender pay gap differs from equal pay: equal pay observes the pay differences between men and women who carry the same jobs, similar jobs, or work of equal value in the same employment, and it is unlawful to pay people so employed unequally because of gender. The gender pay gap, by contrast, shows the differences in the average pay between all men and women across the entire organisation, regardless of the level/grade at which they work; the gender ay gap therefore represents the distribution of men and women in different role at different pay grades.

The University reports for a sixth year and our latest report covers 802 employees, 500 women (62.34%) and 302 men (37.66%) employed during the period ending 5th April 2023. This compares to 792 employees in 2022, 471 women (60%) and 321 men (40%).

Summary of Data

The Gender Pay Gap figures are at the snapshot date of 5th April 2023, and it shows the difference between the average (both the mean and median) earnings of men and women. This is expressed as a percentage of men’s earnings over women’s earnings. The date includes Visiting Lecturers rates.

Gender Pay Gap – snapshot date 5 April 2023

As a comparison the 2022 data is shown in the table below.

As the tables demonstrate there has been a significant change in both the mean and median hourly rates of pay, with a 5% improvement in the mean and 12% improvement in the median, however the University recognises that there is still a need to focus on the gender pay gap to try to align with sector benchmarks of 15.4% mean and 12.2% median.*

*Source: UCEA (2021/2022)

The above table illustrates the gender distribution across the four quartiles. Our lower quartiles represent the operational roles including Domestic Services, some administrative roles, part-time roles, and Casual workers, which attract female candidates.

Bonus payments paid during the reporting period

There were no bonus payments paid during the reporting period.

Comparison to previous years

Gender pay gap

Proportion of males and females in each pay quartile

Analysis of Data

The Lower Quartile

• Many of the employees within this quartile are part-time Casual staff with flexible hours and is typically fulfilled by females. However, part-time roles are distributed across all pay quartiles.
• The Lower Quartile has 150 female employees, of which 140 (93.33%) are part-time staff and 64 male employees, of which 58 (90.63% are part time staff).
• Casual employees are employed on a zero-hour contract where the University is under no obligation to offer work and the Casual employee is under no obligation to accept any offer of work.
• The Lower Quartile consists of 108 females and 57 males who are Casual staff.

The Lower Middle Quartile

• The Lower Middle Quartile has 147 female employees, of which 48 (32.65%) are part-time staff and 50 male employees, of which 11 (22%) are part-time staff.
• Roles in the Lower Middle Quartile are Administrative and Secretarial roles, which are typically fulfilled by females.

The Upper Middle Quartile

• The Upper Middle Quartile has 118 female employees, of which 49 (41.53%) are part-time staff and 74 male employees, of which 26 (35.14%) are part-time staff.
• Roles in the Upper Middle Quartile are predominately Academic and Middle Management roles.

The Top Quartile

• The Top Quartile has 85 female employees, of which 70 (82.35%) are part-time staff and 114 male employees, of which 79 (69.3%) are part-time staff.
• Roles in the Top Quartile are predominately Senior Management, Heads of Department, Deans, Pro Vice-Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor and some Visiting Lecturers.

Visiting Lecturers

• Visiting Lecturers who are contracted for specific tasks on termly, but annual contracts have a typically higher rate of pay due to their specialist expertise are distorting the Top Quartile. Their higher pay and part-time nature distort the Top Quartile in terms of part-time status.
• There are 64 female and 61 male Visiting Lecturers in the Top Quartile.

Comparison of Data

• Comparing the 2022 and 2023 data, we can see that the mean gender pay gap has reduced by 5% whilst there has been a larger reduction in the median pay gap of 12%, which is encouraging.
• The mean pay gap is in line with reporting data back in 2018.
• The median pay gap is the lowest since the University started reporting.
• The proportionate gap between 2022 and 2023, has slightly reduced by 2% in the Top Quartile, whiles a bigger shift of 8% is seen in the Upper Middle Quartile.
• The proportion of females remains higher than males in the three lower quartiles.
• We have increased the number of apprentices across the University in the reporting period, they are included in the lower quartile data.

Key findings

• The University employs more female staff than male staff and this may distort our Gender Pay Gap data. It is noted that there is a large number of female staff in roles which are graded within the three lowest quartiles.
• The mean hourly rate for females has increased by £2.55 from £19.49 to £22.04, compared to males which has increased by £1.29 from £28.44 to £29.73.
• Female staff occupy 42% of the highest paid roles and 68% of the lowest paid roles.
• Male staff occupy 58% of the highest paid roles and 32% of the lowest paid roles.
• There are more male staff in the most senior roles than female staff.
• There are more female than male Visiting Lecturers in the Top Quartile.
• With the exception of Visiting Lecturers in the Top Quartile, part-time roles tend to be less senior roles and are more prevalent in lower paid roles.
• Given some job types seem to attract females, the greatest challenge for the University remains with the distribution of male and female staff across different levels and roles.
• The University employs their own Domestic Services and Maintenance Departments, which are often outsourced at other institutions, this will have an impact on the lower quartiles, as the majority of these roles sit in the lower quartile.

Steps Taken to Address the Gap

Job Evaluation

A formal job evaluation exercise was conducted, and a new pay structure was introduced in January 2023, to objectively measure the different elements of a job against the same criteria using a consistent set of factors. This measurement, based on the job description, allows all jobs to be equitably placed in a rank order according to their size, thereby producing a hierarchy of jobs that provides a basis for a fair pay and grading structure. The Pay & Grading review with clearly defined pay bands and spine points in each band, brings a consistent, equitable and clear structure for all staff and may attribute to the reduction in the mean and median pay rate percentages.

The job evaluation tool that the University uses is HERA. HERA helps ensure:

• A fair, equitable and transparent process for comparing relative size of all in-scope jobs within the University.
• A clear demonstration of the principle of equal pay for work of equal value.
• The promotion of fairness and equality more generally.

Pay Grade Transparency

Pay scales are made available to all University staff via the University’s internal SharePoint following the Pay & Grading review. This allows staff easy access to view the structure of each pay band and each spine point.

Regardless of gender, all staff have the facility to progress through the grading structure. The University acknowledges that some roles have the ability to be awarded outside of the grade scales, regardless of gender.

Vacant roles are advertised with pay scale included, so that all applicants (internal and external) can know what to expect when applying for a role.

Recruitment

The University reviewed and implemented new ways to improve recruitment processes to ensure a more diverse pool of applicants. These included:

• Review of the Recruitment Policy
• Wider external promotion of job opportunities to include better use of social media, LinkedIn, Facebook, Indeed etc.
• Diverse interview panels required for all posts
• Gender-neutral language used in job descriptions and job adverts.

Flexible Working

The University continues to adapt a more flexible way of working. The needs and preferences of individual employees are balanced with the requirements of individual jobs, team working and maintaining a vibrant University community.

Management Development

The University launched a new Management Development Programme and a series of line manager workshops as from September 2022 to upskill line managers, in conducting Performance Development Reviews and managing Flexible Working requests to ensure fairness and equality.

Academic and Corporate and Professional Services Promotions

The Academic and Corporate and Professional Services promotions process was implemented in 2022, which allowed a fair opportunity for all staff to apply for promotion.

Staff Survey

A Pulse survey was conducted to capture staff feedback in the first quarter of 2023 in relation to new the pay structure introduced. This gave our staff the opportunity to voice their opinion about the new pay structure and their pay and benefits overall.

Actions which should narrow the gaps in the future

Inclusive Recruitment

Actions focused on inclusive recruitment and equitable career progression are being taken forward in line with positive action under the Equality Act 2010, namely carrying out analysis to identify any groups with low representation in certain roles.

We plan to support participation in positive action recruitment, by providing training to all recruiting managers in unconscious bias and how to recruit in line with positive action under the Equality Act 2010.

Revisiting our recruitment adverts to ensure neutral language is being used across all written materials, continuing building diversity into our interview panels.

Bite size sessions and workshops will be planned for line managers to raise awareness in terms of writing and editing job descriptions that provide consistency and gender-neutral language.

Learning and Development

The University plans to implement a suite of training courses aimed at all levels of staff to improve key skills to support career progression.

The University is planning for a new Learning Management System, to provide a wider range of courses, including unconscious bias training, which may support a reduction of unconscious bias in the workplace.

The University will further support the delivery of “Accelerate People Leadership Program” which is aimed at developing current and future line managers.

In line with changes in legislation, design and deliver training courses to promote equality of opportunity and emphasise a zero-tolerance policy on sexism and any other forms of discrimination or harassment.

Improve HR policies, procedures, and systems

The University Equal Opportunities Statement will be reviewed to ensure that the University’s message is in line with legislation and is clear to all staff.

A Secondment process will be implemented to help meet short and long-term work demands and offer valuable opportunities for development by giving colleagues the chance to gain new skills, knowledge, and experience, aiding career progression.
Introduce procedures to monitor and evaluate the return-to-work rate for all employees on maternity and adoption leave. Line managers will be provided with guidance to help team members settle back into the University after this period of extended leave.

Update the Dignity at Work Policy and Procedure and publish it on the HR SharePoint site. The policy will also be used to underpin workshops on this topic.

Currently we do not capture data in relation to ethnicity, disability and sexual orientation pay gaps. The introduction of a new HR system with better data capture and reporting facilities will support future reporting in line with legislation.

Promotions/Regrading and Progression Processes

The University plans to review these processes on an annual basis and communicate to all staff, ensuring that the process is fair, consistent, and transparent, providing an opportunity for both career and salary progression.

Where there are special circumstances around an application, the process for advising of this will be made clearer so as not to hinder any applications.

Conclusion

There has been some good progress made with the actions taken so far, as we can see an encouraging reduction in the mean and median differences compared to 2022. However, the University recognises that there is still a need to focus on the gender pay gap to try to align with sector benchmarks of 15.4% mean and 12.2% median (2021/2022).

There has been a general reduction in almost all pay gaps since reporting commenced, with some annual variations. This is primarily due to above average sector increases for lowest paid staff and work within the University to improve pay for staff on the lowest pay bands.

The gap still remains because of the uneven distribution of men and women across the pay structure, in particular under representation of men in more junior roles and women in more senior roles.

Efforts are being taken forward to increase the representation of women at senior levels, which will continue to emerge over time.

We aim to achieve a greater gender balance across all quartiles through focus on our working practices, which are demonstrated above.

Previous reports

• 2023 report
• 2022 report
• 2021 report
• 2020 report
• 2019 report
• 2018 report