Gender pay gap reporting for 2022

Gender pay gap report submitted December 2022

Hourly wages gap

• Average hourly pay gap is 9.8% (10.89% in 2021, 8.79% in 2020, 8.85% in 2019 and 7.9% in 2018).
• Median hourly pay gap is 8.7% (9.26% in 2021, 7.2% in 2020, 5.42% in 2019 and 6.9% in 2018).

Quartile representation

Explanation of our figures

The information above is the snapshot data up to 31 March 2022. This data meets national requirements for gender pay gap reporting by a public sector organisation. As previously stated, for this year and moving forward, employees who have informed the Trust that they do not self-identify as male or female are omitted from the calculations.

The information shows an hourly (average) mean pay gap of 9.8% between male and female employees. The hourly median rate of pay reveals 8.7% difference in pay. This part of the data shows a decrease in the median gap, and a decrease of the gap in pay at the mean.

It should also be noted that the actual hourly rate increased for both male and female staff over this 12-month period:

• Up 77p for men to £18.54 (in 2021 increased 96p to £17.77 and in 2020 increased 72p to £16.81 and in 2019 increased 68p to £16.09)
• Up 90p for women to £16.73 (in 2021 increased 50p to £15.83 and in 2020 increased 67p to £15.33 and in 2019 increased 46p to £14.66).

The data on the hourly rate shows a decreased pay gap, and representation in three of the four pay quartiles increasing for female (drop in the lowest quartile), continue to increase. Overall, female representation within NWAS stands at 51.59% compared with 50.41% in 2021 & 48.1% in 2020 & 46.8% in 2019 & 45.6% in 2018.

As cited in previous years, the action plan focuses on recruitment, career progression and flexible working to enable progression of women within the organisation into the higher pay quartiles. It was expected that these themes would require long-term pieces of work and therefore why these themes remain relevant.

NWAS remains satisfied that the terms and conditions of service offered to staff, alongside the continuously reviewed job evaluation system in place, fulfils the purpose of attractive and non-discriminatory conditions. It also fits with a satisfactory interpretation of equal pay for work of equal value.

Quartile information

The raw data shows an overall increase in the percentage of female staff, which is 51.59% (previously 50.41% in 2021 & 48.1% in 2020 & 46.8% in 2019). There was an increase in the percentage of women across ALL but the lowest pay quartile as a result when compared to the previous year. This means that for the second consecutive year women outnumber men within the workforce. The pay quartile information shows that female representation has also increased from 37.23% in 2021 to 37.8% in 2022 in the upper quartile of pay.  This indicates a continuing sustained level of improvement in addressing representation and progression in NWAS.

Activity during 2021-2022

As cited in previous years, the action plan focuses on three main areas of work recruitment, career progression and flexible working to enable progression of women within the organisation into the higher pay quartiles / reducing the barriers to female career progression. It was expected that these themes would require long-term pieces of work and therefore why these themes remain relevant.

Progress is reported to the Director of People and to the Board of Directors through their Committee structure routinely. Examples of the progress shown in the data this year activity are detailed below:

• The Trust continues with its three equality and diversity priorities with supporting action plans. The first two of these are focused on workforce. Priority 1 focuses on improving the fairness of recruitment, improving overall representation in the workforce & opportunities to recruit to roles in the highest paid quartile
• Targets have been set both around representation but also on improving disparity ratios which measures representation at different levels of the organisation. It will also be critical that there remains a focus on the impact of management & staff restructures over the course of the next 12 months to ensure fair application of organisational changes processes. These actions should improve the representation, gender pay and appointment from shortlisting data.
• The result of the Empowering Women positive action programme / Women in Leadership programme run in 2019/20. progress has been seen already in the form of positive qualitative feedback from candidates about confidence in progression within NWAS. Measurable progress has been seen through candidates securing promotions since starting on the course. The launch of the Women’s network will provide peer support for staff, to empower them to progress.
• The continuing embedding of the assessment centre process brought in to support selection of leadership positions. The centres are designed to reduce any potential bias in the selection process. The centres themselves remain under review to take account of feedback from candidates and invigilators involved in the process.
• Recruitment review – An assessment using the Be Think Do competencies has been developed and brought into effect for all management and leadership roles. This approach is being reviewed, taking into account feedback from participants and the outcomes.
• Large piece of work is continuing across the Trust which started as flexible/agile working and moved to hybrid working as key part of discussions. It is thought that having flexible working a key tenet of the work and discussions with staff will encourage progression within NWAS for all groups. This is part of a continued move towards an inclusive culture of supporting the needs of individuals within teams relating to career progression, and the real or perceived barriers staff may have affecting their progression.

We want to provide an environment where staff feel able to engage in discussions about menopause and ask for support and adjustments at work without fear or embarrassment. We are very pleased that we have a menopause lead and menopause policy and procedure. To help support staff, we have appointed Menopause Champions across the entire trust. The champions have been fully trained and menopause workshop sessions for managers are also now available to support this important area.

Plans for the future

There remain regular operational meetings to review the action plan in support of gender equality. Oversight of the gender equality action plan is undertaken by the Diversity and Inclusion Sub-Committee. The latest action plan is set out at the end of this report.

Gender pay gap reporting for 2021

Gender pay gap report submitted September 2021

Women’s hourly rate

Pay Quartiles

Disclaimer

The Gender Pay Gap report sets out the most recent workforce data in relation to gender pay, which the Trust is required to publish. The Trust is required by the government as from 2017 under Schedule 2 of the Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties and Public Authorities) Regulations 2017, that any employer who has a headcount of 250 or more on their ‘snapshot date’ must comply with regulations on gender pay gap reporting. This requires employers to annually report and publish specific figures about their gender pay gap. NWAS comes under the one covering most public authorities.

Please click here to read the most recent report (covering the period of 1^st April 2021 – 31^st March 2022)