As an organisation committed to equity, inclusion, and wellbeing, we are open and transparent with our pay gap information, and we work hard to address our gaps. Our public duty is to report our gender pay gap to the Government Equalities Office, but in addition we report our ethnicity and disability pay gaps too.
The Gender Pay Gap is calculated by comparing the pay of male and female employees and the distribution of gender by pay quartile. Bonus payments are included in the report as a percentage of employees receiving bonuses by gender, and the gender gap on these bonuses. Disappointingly this year we see a slight increase in both the mean and median gender pay gaps. Our mean gender pay gap is 9.4%, an increase of 1 percentage point from last year and our median gender pay gap is 15.3%, an increase of 4 percentage points since 2022.
Compression of salary points due to raised minimum wage has impacted the lowest quartile and affected the median hourly rate. Our gap remains lower than the broader national average of 14.4% and the sector average of 13.7%, but we are not complacent. Efforts to support female career progression through the Aurora Leadership programme and the Athena Swan Charter ensure that gender equity remains a high priority for the University.
In this report, the ethnicity pay gap is defined as the difference between the average pay of employees from all minority ethnic groups, and employees who are ethnically white. Bonus payments are included in the report, as a percentage of employees receiving bonuses by ethnicity, and the gap on these bonuses. Our report shows we have a negative ethnicity pay gap, telling us that we have a pay gap that favours our Black, Asian and minority ethnic staff.
Our mean ethnicity pay gap is -4.5% (consistent with 2022) and the median is -11.3%, an increase of -2 percentage points since last year. On average, the hourly pay earned by our minority ethnic people is higher and compares well with the UK’s average ethnicity pay gap of 5.6%. Efforts to support career progression through the Diversifying Leadership programme and the Race Equality Charter ensure that race equity remains a high priority for the University.
The disability pay gap is defined as the difference between the average pay of employees with a declared disability and non-declared. Bonus payments are included in the report, as a percentage of employees receiving bonuses by declared disability and no declared disability, and the gap on these bonuses.
This is the second year that we have reported our disability pay gap. Our mean disability pay gap is 4.7% (a decrease of 1.5 percentage points since 2022) and our median is 2.8% (a 2.5 percentage point increase since last year). The average pay gap for people with disabilities in the UK is 13.8%, three times that of the University’s. Our status as a Disability Confident Employer ensures that we promote equity in an accessible environment.
Pay gap reporting is an important step towards addressing imbalances within our workplace. We will continue to challenge ourselves to look for opportunities to improve our focus and attention.
Professor Kathryn Mitchell CBE, DL
Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive Officer
Definitions
The aim of gender pay gap reporting is to help organisations understand if they have a gender pay gap and the reasons for that gap, provide transparency, and help identify any actions to help close the gender pay gap in future.
To ensure that we are compliant with the statutory data requirements, the report uses several metrics:
- The mean (average) hourly gender pay gap (%) of all full pay relevant employees
- The median (midpoint) hourly gender pay gap (%) of all full pay relevant employees
- The mean gender bonus pay gap (%) of all full pay relevant employees
- The median gender bonus gap (%) of all full pay relevant employees
- The proportion (%) of men and women who receive bonus pay
- The proportion (%) of men and women on 4 equal population quartiles according to pay bands
Bonus payments
The University makes performance-related bonus payments to its employees. Bonus payments are not consolidated into basic salary.
Pay Quartiles
Quartile 1 represents the lowest pay band and Quartile 4 is the highest pay band. Each pay quartile represents the distribution of pay from the lowest to the highest.
We use the same methodology to calculate the ethnicity and disability pay gap data for this report.
Ethnicity
We refer to ethnicity by specific group, all ethnic minority groups, all ethnic minorities or ethnically white.
Disability
We refer to disability by specific group, declared disability and no declared disability.
It is important to understand that there is a difference between the gender pay gap and the issue of equal pay.
Equal pay means that men and women in the same employment performing equal work must receive equal pay (Equal Pay Act 1970).
Gender Pay Gap identifies the difference between the average earnings of men and women across the organisation or labour market.
Working to close the gap
The University welcomes and supports pay gap reporting and is committed to reducing its gaps year on year.
We take a number of steps to support this work:
- There is a negotiated pay and grading structure across the employee cohorts.
- We undertake robust job evaluation processes that underpin pay grades and reinforce equal pay.
- We recognise that our employees require time to develop expertise.
- We have an established resourcing strategy which aims to encourage diversity.
- We use the gender decoder within the recruitment process to challenge bias where it exists.
- We ensure reviews of pay and reward include consideration of bonus payments.
- We support female progression through our Athena Swan Bronze charter mark and our Race Equality Charter Bronze award.
- We prioritise race equity through our Race Equality Charter Bronze award.
- We promote disability inclusion as Disability Confident Employers.
We undertake several initiatives that support equity, inclusion and wellbeing that positively impact on the pay gap.
They include:
- Actively encourage all women to seek promotion opportunities through the professorial routes: Associate Professor and Professor.
- Centrally fund places for female employees to attend the women in leadership programme, Aurora.
- Centrally fund places for minority ethnic employees to attend the Advance HE Diversifying Leadership programme.
- Retain female experience in the workplace by offering Menopause Seminars and Cafes to support those experiencing perimenopause and menopause and raise awareness among those managing others going through these life events.
- Actively celebrate role models and allies for minority groups.
- Enable governance and oversight of all work taking place in the equity and inclusion spaces, ensuring all reports are freely available for employees to access.
- Consult with inclusion employee networks to embed best practice through active listening, consultation, and collaboration.
- Provide a varied and vibrant blended approach to employee development, including mentoring and coaching.
- Implement actions from our charter marks, Athena Swan, Race Equality Charter, Stonewall and Disability Confident Employer.
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