Transparency data

BPDTS Ltd: gender pay gap report and data 2018

Published 20 March 2019

Background

At BPDTS we value diversity and are committed to creating a culture where everyone is valued, respected, treated fairly and with dignity. We want all of our people to feel included and for everyone to feel they have a voice that they are able to use, and that is heard. We are therefore welcoming of the Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties and Public Authorities) legislation, which was introduced in April 2017 by the Government Equalities Office requiring UK organisations with 250 or more employees annually to publish their gender pay gap. These figures are calculated using the salary data of all employees in scope of the calculations set out in the legislation on the snapshot date of 31 March 2018.

The gender pay gap shows a measure of the difference between men’s and women’s average pay across an organisation irrespective of their role or seniority. This is different from equal pay which is about ensuring that men and women in the same employment performing equal work must be paid equally.

BPDTS Ltd promotes the fair treatment of all employees in its pay and reward strategy. We have also published these mandatory figures on the Government Equality Office’s designated gender pay gap reporting website.

Organisational context

Over the past 12 months BPDTS has evolved, growing in its size, changing its shape and becoming clearer of our identity and vision for the future. One of the key elements for us now and going forward, is the focus we are placing on putting our people at the heart of what we do. We are committed to supporting, developing and engaging with our people to ensure that we are not only able to attract and retain top digital talent within the industry, but we are known as an employer who creates an environment where people can be accepted, included and be at their best by being themselves.

This year, we have invested not only in creating professional communities for our people but also by further reinforcing the behaviours and values that we want to see and encourage.

Working within digital and technology we are aware of the challenges that face the sector in increasing the number of female employees, due to the male dominancy of the industry. We have however worked hard to establish and invest in a ‘Women in Digital Network’ aimed at encouraging more women to consider careers within the industry, celebrating the role models we have within the organisation and proactively considering how we can refine our approach to recruitment, selection and day-to-day running of the company to make BPDTS an employer of choice for female digital professionals.

Organisation structure

Unlike the majority of the public sector, BPDTS does not operate within a grade structure. For our external recruitment, we use market-based intelligence to set salaries based on the wider labour market values for the digital and technology sector. As a public sector organisation, we are governed by HM Treasury’s pay remit, therefore, we are subject to current public sector pay policy and pay restrictions.

As a service provider to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), we are committed to ensuring that we attract, retain and grow expert, digital professionals who are able to provide the most effective, efficient and outstanding services to our customer, and the end user, the citizen. As part of our aim to deliver outstanding levels of service, we have introduced Communities of Practice within the organisation, organised by service area. These are groups of employees with similar or closely-related skills, experience and job responsibilities which help them to collaborate more easily and share ideas, so they can become more expert in their roles.

Each of our Communities of Practice is led by a by a Digital Service Practice Lead, who is an expert in their profession and responsible for setting career pathways, identifying suitable learning interventions and development opportunities for those within their community. As thought leaders, they will bring the latest industry thinking, technological developments and best practice learning into the practice. They will encourage members to share their knowledge and skills, whilst investing in the learning and development opportunities around them. They will also attract new talent into the organisation, through their communities, inspiring other digital professionals to join BPDTS and their community of experts.

The launch of our Communities of Practice has been successful, with all of our technical experts aligned to a practice and part of a community. Cutting across communities are groups in which all of our people can be involved and which benefit the whole organisation.

Groups such as the ‘Women in Digital Group’, ‘Diversity and Inclusion’, ‘Engagement’ and ‘Mental Health Awareness’ encourage individuals to invest in one another, to ensure that we continue to embed our values and make BPDTS an inclusive, respectful, inspiring and diverse place to work.

Gender pay gap data

DWP gender composition

The gender composition of BPDTS’s workforce, that was in scope of the calculation, shows significantly more male (82.5%) than female (17.5%) employees. This trend reflects the technical industry in which BPDTS are operating, however it does not lessen our commitment to encouraging more talented women into our organisation in the future. We actively track the percentage each month of female applicants to our roles, to help us monitor how attractive we are as an employer for women. Currently our monthly figures show that the percentage of applications we receive is above the industry standard.

Gender pay gap

At 8.1%, the mean gender pay gap of BPDTS is significantly smaller, in comparison with other digital and technology companies.

BPDTS has a median gender pay gap of 1.7%.

This represents a worsening of the position since publication last year. However, last year’s report was based on only a few weeks’ worth of data, as the company was newly established. We therefore view this year’s report as a far more representative view of the organisation, which will provide for a more reliable benchmark for next year, to allow us to track the progress we make in reducing the gap further over the next 12 months.

Bonus pay gap

The significant majority of our people received an end of year pay award. The award was calculated based upon their position on our pay scales to help to address any pay anomalies inherited from the TUPE transfer that had taken place in 2016 to 2017 and upon performance, to recognise the hard work and individuals’ contributions over the period. The pay award was made irrespective of gender or any other protected characteristic, which were not taken into account when agreeing our aims, the awards algorithm or the eligibility criteria.

Analysis shows that within BPDTS, 77.3% of men received a bonus payment, whereas 88.3% of women were in receipt of a pay award.

Pay by quartiles and gender composition of BPDTS

The table below shows that the greatest percentage of our female employees are sitting in the upper middle quartile. We are however mindful that the upper quartile has the strongest male dominancy amongst all of the quartiles.

Quartiles	% of female	% of male
Lower quartile	18.4	81.6
Lower middle quartile	15.1	84.9
Upper middle quartile	21.4	78.6
Upper quartile	10.1	90.9

As we have grown in size over the past 12 months, we have strived to increase our gender representation to attract and retain more talented, female digital professionals to share their knowledge and skills, whilst making BPDTS even more inclusive, representative and diverse. We know that this can be a challenge within the wider digital and technology sector, which is male dominated, however our commitment to increasing gender diversity across the organisation continues, especially in our most technical roles.

Explaining the causes of BPDTS’s gender pay gap and taking action to close the gap

In comparing our gender pay gap to the average within the Digital and Technology (25%) we know that at 8.1% our mean gap it is significantly lower. Our analysis overall illustrates that BPDTS’s gender pay gap is more rooted in the representational issues at all levels within the organisation and sector.

We do, however, continue to strive to eradicate any gap between genders within BPDTS and seek to promote this by being exemplars within the industry. We know that we have more to do to reduce the gap, however over the last 12 months we have worked hard to make a difference, through a number of different strategies, approaches and initiatives.

These include but are not limited to:

1. Recruitment, retention and creating a diverse workforce

BPDTS has recruited at scale over the past 12 months and in doing so has worked hard to ensure that the attraction strategy and our recruitment process has fed into our aim to continuously improve how we attract females into the organisation.

1.1 BPDTS continue to undertake anonymous recruitment, with the aim to eliminate unconscious bias from the early stages of our recruitment process.

1.2 It is mandatory within BPDTS that selection panel members have completed training for unconscious bias and diversity and inclusion to ensure our policies and processes are adhered to. Where possible, we look to create a gender mix on panels to reflect the diversity of our workforce.

1.3 Our selection guidance promotes the importance of using gender-neutral language in job adverts and inclusive language in all communications to gain the attention and interest of diverse applicants. When launching wider marketing campaigns, we have looked to utilise female role models from our organisation, to encourage female applicants and have ensured that our candidate packs feature real women who work for us.

1.4 BPDTS has an inclusive approach to internal progression and all roles are advertised, whether permanent or temporary, and selection is based on skills relevant to the role.

1.5 Where colleagues leave BPDTS we conduct exit interviews to consider whether issues relating to gender equality have been a factor. Whilst this has not been the case, we will continue to monitor this to ensure that we are able to use this insight to reflect upon how our retention strategy and our internal policies and procedures could be reviewed to support gender diversity.

1.6 In monitoring our performance data, we know that of our top performers, 22% this year were women. We will continue actively to monitor the gender split, to ensure that our approach to assessing and recognising performance and talent, enables individuals fully to demonstrate their potential.

1.7 Through our pay award, we look to reward individual performance, regardless of gender, ensuring that those receiving financial rewards are doing so based upon their contribution to the organisation.

2. Developing career pathways for all

2.1. Through our Communities of Practice, we are developing career pathways that will allow all of our people to develop, grow and be supported as they plan their career journey. In providing career pathways, we are creating flexibility to ensure that people are able to develop their knowledge and skills in a way that meets their needs as well as the needs of the organisation. A ‘career lattice’ allows people to continue to develop and grow without looking for progression at that point in time, ensuring everyone can take control of their own career and development, without being excluded due to any external pressures or conflicts that they may be facing.

2.2. We are delighted to have recruited a number of women into some of our most senior roles over the last 12 months. We have male colleagues who promote their wider family lives and commitments openly, acting as role models to our people in demonstrating that stretching and rewarding roles, at all levels of the organisation, can be fulfilled by individuals with the right capability, skills and behaviours, whatever their domestic circumstances.

3. Creating a culture which celebrates diversity and supports all employees

3.1. We actively promote flexible, job-sharing and part-time working to support employees with caring responsibilities and encourage a good work-life balance. This year we introduced a homeworking policy to provide individuals with greater flexibility in balancing their home lives with doing a great day job.

3.2. We are championing mental health awareness within the organisation, setting up a group to promote the support, information and acceptance that those living with or supporting those living with mental health issues need, in order to find balance. By creating a more inclusive culture, we aim to provide more support to colleagues where it’s needed and look to seek the advice and support of the group to ensure that our policies and practices underpin the commitment we have to supporting those with caring responsibilities.

3.4 Our ‘Women in Digital’ group has been active in promoting the exciting opportunities available to women when considering a career in the industry. They have championed the importance of encouraging women to explore the profession and to be supported within the community. A programme of events is delivered and supported by the group, with both men and women championing this cause.

3.4 We have invested in automating more of the systems we use to gather our data and extended the diversity data we look to collect from our people, to help inform our Diversity Action plan. This will help to give us the information that we need to ensure our people strategies meet the needs of our workforce and we are aware of any issues that we need to address.

Action plan

Actions that will be taken to tackle our gender pay gap will be embedded in BPDTS’s Diversity and Inclusion action plan.

Declaration

We confirm that data reported by BPDTS is accurate and has been calculated according to the requirements and methodology set out in the Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties and Public Authorities) Regulations 2017.

BPDTS CEO: Loveday Ryder
Head of HR: Jill Moore