Coal Authority gender pay gap report 2022
Published 14 December 2022
© Crown copyright 2022
This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gov.uk.
Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned.
This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coal-authority-gender-pay-gap-report-2022/coal-authority-gender-pay-gap-report-2022
1. Foreword
This is the Coal Authority’s fourth gender pay gap report and covers the period April 2021 to March 2022. Our board remains committed to addressing this important issue and reporting openly and clearly on our progress and remaining challenges.
We are now able to compare data for gender across these 4 years. The comparison with the previous year is included in this report along with some overall changes over the past 4 years. For more detail you can see our previous gender pay gap reports here;
- Coal Authority gender pay gap report 2021
- Coal Authority gender pay gap report 2020
- Coal Authority gender pay gap report 2019
I am pleased that over the past year we have made continued progress across almost every aspect of our gender pay gap reporting. The mean gender pay gap has reduced by 12.31% and the median by 14.20% since we began collecting the data in 2018. Our gender pay gap for 2022 is a mean of 15.97% and a median of 17.43%.
I am also pleased to see a continued movement of women through our pipelines and into more management and senior roles with an increase of 3.14% women in the upper and upper middle quartiles. This is alongside an increase in the percentage of women in the organisation – up 1.26% since 2021 (and up 3.44% since 2018) and shows that our recruitment and development approaches are working. These will continue to be areas of focus for us in the years ahead.
Our mean performance related pay gap (described as bonus pay in this report) has reduced by 0.66% since the 2021 report, whilst the median has increased by 2.36%. This has been impacted by turnover and growth over the last year as new starters serve a probationary period before they are eligible for performance related pay (bonus). Overall our bonus pay gaps have reduced by 13.93% mean and 23.78% median since we began collecting the data in 2018 so I believe that this is a small bump in the overall journey which I have discussed before. That said we will continue to monitor our progress in this area and take further action as needed.
We are making positive progress but are not complacent and will continue to take further steps to reduce our gender pay gap over the months and years ahead.
This is the second year that we have included information on pay gaps for ethnicity, disability and sexual orientation in the organisation. These calculations continue to be impacted by current low representation in the organisation and by low self-reporting and disclosure rates. We don’t want to hide behind excuses though and believe transparency will help us to achieve greater progress.
For ethnicity our mean pay gap is -0.09% (very marginally in favour of ethnic minority colleagues) and our median 4.19%. Both have narrowed since last year. We have increased the number of colleagues declaring as being from ethnic minority backgrounds by 0.78% to 2.25%. The mean performance related pay (bonus) pay gap is 31.60% mean and 22.85% median and fewer ethnically diverse people received performance related pay (bonus) than white colleagues (42.86% compared with 85.05%). We know that these figures are impacted by low declaration rates and that over the last year they have been impacted by turnover and growth as new starters serve a probationary period before they are eligible for performance related pay (bonus) but we also know that there is more work to do to understand and reduce these gaps.
We are continuing work to attract, recruit and retain more ethnically diverse staff at all levels and to develop them through the organisation. We continue to encourage everyone to feel comfortable to confidentially self-disclose diversity data to improve the accuracy of our reporting and enable us to put clear actions in place. Our race equality network continues to support and challenge thinking and action across the organisation to help us improve.
For disability our mean pay gap is 6.00% and our median 6.86%. Both have increased since last year. We have increased the number of colleagues declaring as being disabled by 2.71% to 6.75%. The mean performance related pay (bonus) pay gap is 21.61% mean and 5.56% median and fewer disabled people received performance related pay (bonus) than non-disabled colleagues (71.73% compared with 84.83%). We know that these figures are impacted by low declaration rates and that over the last year they have been impacted by turnover and growth as new starters serve a probationary period before they are eligible for performance related pay (bonus) but we also know that there is more work to do to understand and reduce these gaps. We will continue to remove barriers for our disabled and neuro-diverse colleagues and are working actively with our accessibility network to make further progress in this area.
For sexual orientation our mean pay gap is negative -23.64% while our median pay gap is 11.71%. This reflects low numbers of staff identifying as lesbian, gay or bisexual and relatively high representation (across the numbers of lesbian, gay and bisexual+ staff overall) in senior roles in the organisation. This is also reflected in the performance related pay (bonus) figures of mean -59.78% and median 15.58%. A higher percentage of heterosexual colleagues (82.84%) received performance related pay (bonus) compared with 70.00% of lesbian, gay and bisexual+ colleagues. We are not complacent and recognise that representation and self-reporting data in this area is low. We will continue to remove barriers for our lesbian, gay and bisexual+ colleagues and work with our Rainbow Network to make further, sustainable progress in this area.
These results are within a year of organisational growth as we have increased our service provision and seen an increase in our emergency response work. I am pleased that as part of this we have continued to make progress whilst recognising that there is more to do and continuing to take action.
We know that we can only achieve our mission of making a better future for people and the environment in mining areas and meet the ambitions of our new business plan and vision by being inclusive. As always I invite you to help, to share best practice, to hold us to account and to challenge where you think we can do better.
Lisa Pinney MBE, chief executive and diversity champion
2. Introduction
A pay gap shows the difference in average pay between one group of employees compared to another. Pay gaps are different to equal pay, which relates to pay differences between employees who carry out the same job, similar jobs or work of equal value. Employees must legally receive equal pay, unless any differences in pay can be justified.
We support the fair treatment of all our colleagues and are committed to removing inequality for all groups. This is the second year we have included pay gap reporting for ethnicity, disability and sexual orientation, in addition to our gender pay gap. This report analyses our findings in more detail and sets out what we are doing to close our pay gaps for these groups.
3. Understanding the key definitions of a pay gap
Our pay gap analysis for all diversity characteristics has been calculated in accordance with government regulations for calculating gender pay gaps. We have used the following definitions and calculations within our report.
3.1 Ordinary hourly rate
The calculation for ordinary hourly rate includes:
- basic pay
- allowances
It does not include:
- employees on maternity leave, long-term sick leave, or other types of reduced pay
- overtime pay
The calculation for ordinary hourly rate uses contractual weekly hours. This compares employees’ hourly pay, regardless of whether they work full-time or part-time.
3.2 Mean and median hourly pay gaps
We use 2 calculations to analyse our ordinary hourly pay gap:
- mean (average) pay gap is the difference between the mean hourly rate of full-pay relevant employees from a select diversity characteristic
- median pay gap is the middle value if all hourly rates were stacked up from lowest to highest
3.3 Mean and median bonus gaps
The Coal Authority does not pay bonuses. Instead, we operate a performance related pay system that is designed to grow and develop our organisation and our people. The system is designed to minimise bias and is calculated on a percentage of pay, which is linked to an individual’s annual performance development review score. We regularly analyse performance scores and related payments to assess and remove bias in all our processes.
Within this report we use 2 calculations to analyse our bonus (performance related pay) gap:
- mean bonus pay gap is calculated by adding all the bonus values together and dividing the total by how many people were paid
- median bonus pay gap is the middle value if all the bonuses were stacked up from lowest to highest
The median pay gap is less affected by outliers – a few individuals at the top or bottom of the range.
You will notice that where we have relatively low numbers of staff who have declared a particular protected characteristic (such as ethnicity, disability or sexual orientation) there can be a significant difference between the two different pay gaps and that pay gaps can move around significantly from year to year. We look at the trends and underlying data to understand this and make recommendations for next steps. We have explained this in the narrative for each section.
This year the percentage split of colleagues receiving a bonus payment for some protected characteristics is, in some cases, disproportionately impacted by a high number of colleagues from underrepresented groups being new to the organisation. This means that they are in their probationary period and therefore not eligible or only partly eligible for performance related pay (bonus) in that year.
We have used the approaches stated in the UK government regulations for calculating gender pay gaps to report the ethnicity, disability and sexual orientation pay gaps and hope that more bespoke guidance will be available in future. We will continue to work with partners to share best practice and improve our reporting over time and to take clear action to attract, retain and develop more staff across all under-represented areas to ensure that we truly are a ‘great place to work for everyone’.
We have published all our data for transparency and to ensure that we are focused on improving the representation, development and reward for underrepresented groups. We will continue work to improve self-reporting declaration rates and our data quality, as well as focusing on recruitment, development and decision making to improve the information in our pay gap reports and to drive continuous improvement.
3.4 Pay by quartiles
For each of the diversity characteristics we arrange employees by their ordinary hourly pay and then divide the employees into 4 quartile groups, which tell us what level of the organisation colleagues are at.
4. Gender pay gap data
This is the fourth year that we have published our gender pay gap, which is the average difference in hourly rates of pay between our male and female colleagues. For the purposes of this report, we will be reporting on only male and female genders, as set out in government regulations for calculating gender pay gaps. We recognise that gender is not binary and that some of our colleagues may not identify with a set gender. We support the fair treatment and reward of all colleagues, irrespective of gender and we continue to promote inclusivity for our non-binary, Trans and intersex colleagues.
As at 31 March 2022, 42.44% of the Coal Authority’s employees are women. This is a proportional increase of 1.26% since 2021.
Our gender split at 31 March 2022 was:
179 (57.56%) male
132 (42.44%) female
Our gender split at 31 March 2021 was:
160 (58.82%) male
112 (41.18%) female
4.1 Ordinary pay
The comparison of mean and median pay within the organisation continues to show a gap in favour of men, although we are pleased to report that the gap has continued to close year on year. This gap is driven overall by proportionally having more men than women within the organisation and a larger proportion of women working within lower grade administrative and support roles, in comparison to higher paid technical roles. We’re pleased to report that we are making progress in both of these areas.
Our mean gender pay gap is 15.97%, which is a reduction of 3.96% from the previous year.
Our mean gender pay gap had reduced by 12.31% since we began collecting data in 2018.
Our median gender pay gap is 17.43%, which is a reduction of 8.78% from the previous year.
Our median gender pay gap had reduced by 14.20% since we began collecting data in 2018.
| Mean hourly rate | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|
| Male | £22.54 | £22.68 |
| Female | £18.94 | £18.16 |
| Mean gender pay gap | 15.97% | 19.93% |
| Median hourly rate | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|
| Male | £22.15 | £21.86 |
| Female | £18.29 | £16.13 |
| Median gender pay gap | 17.43% | 26.21% |
4.2 Bonus pay
While we do have a rigorous oversight process in order to check and balance decisions to minimise bias with our pay and reward processes, a high proportion of our female colleagues are in roles at lower pay grades, which increases our mean and median gender bonus pay gap, in the same way it drives our mean and medium gender ordinary pay gap.
We have seen continued progress in reducing our mean bonus pay (performance related pay) gap year on year, however our median bonus pay gap has increased slightly since our 2021 report.
A higher proportion of men than women received a bonus payment in the tax year 2021 to 2022, which is reported in this 2022 report. 83.80% of all male colleagues received a bonus payment and 72.97% of all female colleagues received a bonus payment. We will continue to carry out further analysis on the distribution of bonus payments to investigate any trends and put additional measures in place as needed.
We can see that over the past year bonus payments for women are disproportionately impacted by a number of our female colleagues being new joiners to the organisation and in their probationary period which means that they were not eligible or only partly eligible for performance related pay during the past year.
| Percentage of staff receiving a bonus | 2021 to 2022 | 2020 to 2021 |
|---|---|---|
| Male | 83.80% | 88.75% |
| Female | 71.97% | 80.36% |
Our mean bonus pay gap has reduced by 0.66% since 2020 to 2021.
Our mean bonus pay gap had reduced by 13.93% since we began collecting the data in 2018.
Our median bonus pay gap has increased by 2.36% since 2020 to 2021.
Our median bonus pay gap had reduced by 23.78% since we began collecting the data in 2018.
| Gender bonus pay gap | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|
| Mean gender pay gap | 19.68% | 20.34% |
| Median gender pay gap | 22.94% | 20.58% |
4.3 Pay by quartiles
We are committed to increasing the diversity of our workforce and improving the proportion of men and women at all levels of the organisation. Our hourly rate quartile distribution shows that we still have a high proportion of women within the lower quartile, however we have seen a proportional increase of 8.37% male colleagues in the lower quartile this year and an increase in women in all other quartiles.
It is encouraging to see an increase of 9.94% of women in the lower middle quartile, 1.22% in the upper middle quartile and 1.92% in the upper quartile, which reflects our progress in increasing opportunities to recruit and develop women into technical and senior roles, which is an ongoing priority for us.
| Representation by quartiles at 31 March 2022 | Male | Female |
|---|---|---|
| Lower quartile | 37.78% | 62.82% |
| Lower middle quartiles | 52.56% | 47.44% |
| Upper middle quartile | 67.53% | 32.47% |
| Upper quartile | 73.08% | 26.92% |
| Representation by quartiles at 31 March 2021 | Male | Female |
|---|---|---|
| Lower quartile | 29.41% | 70.59% |
| Lower middle quartiles | 62.50% | 37.50% |
| Upper middle quartile | 68.75% | 31.25% |
| Upper quartile | 75.00% | 25.00% |
5. Ethnicity pay gap data
This is the second year we have voluntarily published our ethnicity pay gap, which is the average difference in hourly rates of pay between our white and minority ethnic colleagues. Reporting on our ethnicity pay gap will help us to take direct action on improving racial equality and diversity at the Coal Authority and monitoring our progress.
As at 31 March 2022, 2.25% of our colleagues declared being from a minority ethnic background. This is a 0.78% increase from 31 March 2021. We recognise that this is a very low representation and we are committed to better understanding and addressing inequalities and barriers faced by colleagues and candidates from ethnically diverse backgrounds, to ensure our employment and development opportunities are unbiased and inclusive for everyone.
We are taking steps to improve how we capture diversity data and increase self-reporting and disclosure rates for ethnicity, which will help us improve the quality of our data and accuracy of our analysis. At 31 March 2022 76.85% of colleagues had made an ethnicity declaration but this includes 12.22% who stated ‘prefer not to say’. 23.15% of all colleagues have not yet made an ethnicity declaration.
| Our ethnicity profile on 31 March 2022 | Employees | % |
|---|---|---|
| White combined | 194 | 62.38% |
| Minority ethnic | 7 | 2.25% |
| Prefer not to say | 38 | 12.22% |
| Not stated | 72 | 23.15% |
| Our ethnicity profile on 31 March 2021 | Employees | % |
|---|---|---|
| White combined | 169 | 62.13% |
| Minority ethnic | 4 | 1.47% |
| Prefer not to say | 47 | 17.28% |
| Not stated | 52 | 19.12% |
5.1 Ordinary pay
The comparison of mean and median pay within the organisation shows a small gap in favour of minority ethnic colleagues. Whilst we are pleased to report on this progress from the previous year we recognise that minority ethnic colleagues are significantly underrepresented within the Coal Authority and the impact that this has on our pay gap analysis.
We remain committed to increasing the ethnic diversity of the Coal Authority employees and addressing racial inequalities through the delivery of our equality, diversity and inclusion aspirations to become an actively antiracist organisation.
Our mean ethnicity pay gap is -0.09% (in favour of minority ethnic colleagues), which is a reduction of 6.83% from the previous year.
Our median pay gap is 4.19%, which is a reduction of 9.61% from the previous year.
| Mean hourly rate | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|
| White combined | £21.32 | £21.06 |
| Minority ethnic | £21.34 | £19.64 |
| Mean ethnicity pay gap | -0.09% | 6.74% |
| Median hourly rate | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|
| White combined | £20.99 | £20.65 |
| Minority ethnic | £20.11 | £17.80 |
| Mean ethnicity pay gap | 4.19% | 13.80% |
5.2 Bonus pay
Although the ethnic diversity of our organisation has increased, we still have an underrepresentation of colleagues from ethnically diverse backgrounds at all levels of the organisation. This impacts our mean and medium ethnicity bonus pay (performance related pay) gaps, in the same way it impacts our mean and medium ethnicity ordinary pay gaps.
Of those who have made an ethnicity declaration 85.05% of all white colleagues received a bonus payment and 42.86% of all minority ethnic colleagues received a bonus payment.
We can see that over the last year bonus payments for minority ethnic colleagues are disproportionately impacted by a number of our minority ethnic colleagues being new joiners to the organisation and in their probationary period which means that they were not eligible or only partly eligible for performance related pay during the last year.
We will continue to carry out further analysis on the distribution of bonus payments to investigate any trends and put additional measures in place as needed to reduce bias.
| Percentage of staff receiving a bonus | 2021 to 2022 | 2020 to 2021 |
|---|---|---|
| White combined | 85.05% | 89.35% |
| Minority ethnic | 42.86% | 50.00% |
Our mean bonus pay gap has increased by 0.27% since 2020 to 2021.
Our median bonus pay gap has increased by 14.25% since 2020 to 2021.
| Ethnicity bonus pay gap | 2021 to 2022 | 2020 to 2021 |
|---|---|---|
| Mean ethnicity pay gap | 31.60% | 31.33% |
| Median ethnicity pay gap | 22.85% | 8.60% |
5.3 Pay by quartiles
The hourly rate quartile distribution shows a low representation of colleagues from minority ethnic backgrounds across all levels of the organisation, however we have seen an increase of 4.08% in the lower quartile and 1.59% in the upper quartiles since 2020 to 2021.
| Representation by quartiles at 31 March 2022 | White combined | Minority ethnic |
|---|---|---|
| Lower quartile | 95.92% | 4.08% |
| Lower middle quartiles | 94.12% | 5.88% |
| Upper middle quartile | 100.00% | 0.00% |
| Upper quartile | 96.08% | 3.92% |
| Representation by quartiles at 31 March 2021 | White combined | Minority ethnic |
|---|---|---|
| Lower quartile | 100.00% | 0.00% |
| Lower middle quartiles | 93.02% | 6.98% |
| Upper middle quartile | 100.00% | 0.00% |
| Upper quartile | 97.67% | 2.33% |
6. Disability pay gap data
This is the second year we have voluntarily published our disability pay gap, which is the average difference in hourly rates of pay between our disabled and non-disabled colleagues. Reporting on our disability pay gap helps us to continue to prioritise positive change and make a meaningful progress on disability equality at all levels of our organisation.
As at 31 March 2022, 64.00% of colleagues have made a disability declaration, with 6.75% declaring that they have a disability or a long-term health condition. This is an increase of 2.71% since our 2021 report. 36.00% of colleagues have not made a disability declaration or have selected ‘prefer not to say’. We are taking steps to improve the self-reporting and disclosure rates across all of the protected characteristics and improve accuracy of our data and analysis.
Our disability profile
| Disability status 31 March 2022 | Employees | % |
|---|---|---|
| Disabled | 21 | 6.75% |
| Not Disabled | 178 | 57.23% |
| Not known or not stated | 112 | 36.01% |
| Disability status 31 March 2021 | Employees | % |
|---|---|---|
| Disabled | 11 | 4.04% |
| Not Disabled | 168 | 61.76% |
| Not known or not stated | 93 | 34.20% |
6.1 Ordinary pay
The comparison of mean and median pay within the organisation both show a gap in favour of non-disabled colleagues. We recognise that the underrepresentation of disabled colleagues at all levels of our organisation and the increase in disability disclosure rates this year will impact our mean and median pay gaps.
Our mean disability pay gap is 6.00%, which is an increase of 6.10% since 2020 to 2021. Our median disability pay gap is 6.86%, which is an increase of 5.89% since 2020 to 2021.
| Mean hourly rate | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|
| Disabled | £20.07 | £20.85 |
| Not Disabled | £21.35 | £20.83 |
| Mean disability pay gap | 6.00% | -0.10% |
| Median hourly rate | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|
| Disabled | £21.13 | £20.51 |
| Not Disabled | £19.68 | £20.71 |
| Mean disability pay gap | 6.86% | 0.97% |
6.2 Bonus pay
Although the number of colleagues who have declared a disability within the organisation has increased, we still have an underrepresentation of disabled colleagues at all levels of the organisation. This impacts our mean and median disability bonus pay (performance related pay) gaps, in the same way it impacts our mean and median disability ordinary pay gaps.
Overall, a higher proportion of non-disabled employees received a bonus payment than disabled colleagues. Of those who have made a disability declaration, 71.73% of disabled colleagues received a bonus payment and 84.83% of non-disabled colleagues received a bonus payment.
We can see that over the past year bonus (performance related pay) payments for colleagues who have declared a disability are disproportionately impacted by a number being new joiners to the organisation and in their probationary period which means that they were not eligible or only partly eligible for performance related pay during the past year.
| Staff receiving a bonus | 2021 to 2022 | 2020 to 2021 |
|---|---|---|
| Disabled | 71.43% | 90.91% |
| Not Disabled | 84.83% | 88.69% |
Our mean bonus pay gap has increased by 8.78% since our 2021 report.
Our median bonus pay gap has decreased by 1.50% since our 2021 report.
| Our disability bonus pay gap | 2021 to 2022 | 2020 to 2021 |
|---|---|---|
| Mean disability pay gap | 21.61% | 12.83% |
| Median disability pay | 5.56% | 7.06% |
6.3 Pay by quartiles
Although overall we have a low proportion of colleagues who have declared a disability at the Coal Authority, we are pleased to report that the hourly rate quartile distribution shows that the proportion of disabled people has increased in all quartiles this year.
We will continue to progress our equality, diversity and inclusion priorities which aim to ensure we are actively promoting equality for disabled people, removing barriers to employment and progression and improving accessibility in everything we do.
| Representation by quartiles at 31 March 2022 | Not disabled | Disabled |
|---|---|---|
| Lower quartile | 85.42% | 14.58% |
| Lower middle quartiles | 89.58% | 10.42% |
| Upper middle quartile | 92.59% | 7.41% |
| Upper quartile | 89.80% | 10.20% |
| Representation by quartiles at 31 March 2022 | Not disabled | Disabled |
|---|---|---|
| Lower quartile | 93.33% | 6.67% |
| Lower middle quartiles | 93.62% | 6.38% |
| Upper middle quartile | 95.24% | 4.76% |
| Upper quartile | 93.33% | 6.67% |
7. Sexual orientation pay gap
This is our second year of voluntarily publishing our sexual orientation pay gap, which is the average difference in hourly rates of pay between heterosexual colleagues and lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB+) colleagues. We are using the + (plus) symbol to reflect inclusion of other sexual orientation identities, such as pansexual and asexual.
As of 31 March 2022, 3.22% of our colleagues declared being LGB+, which is a 0.65% proportional increase since 2020-21. 75.24% of our colleagues had made a sexual orientation declaration as of 31 March 2022 but 42.44% have stated ‘prefer not to say’ or have not stated their sexual orientation. We are taking steps to improve the disclosure rates for sexual orientation, to improve accuracy of our data analysis and understanding of sexual orientation equality at the Coal Authority.
| Our sexual orientation profile 31 March 2022 | Employees | % |
|---|---|---|
| Heterosexual | 169 | 54.34% |
| LGB+ | 10 | 3.22% |
| Prefer not to say | 55 | 17.68% |
| Not stated | 77 | 24.76% |
| Our sexual orientation profile 31 March 2021 | Employees | % |
|---|---|---|
| Heterosexual | 152 | 55.88% |
| LGB+ | 7 | 2.57% |
| Prefer not to say | 59 | 21.69% |
| Not stated | 54 | 19.85% |
7.1 Ordinary pay
The comparison of mean and median pay within the organisation shows a mean pay gap in favour of LGB+ colleagues.
While we recognise overall we have an underrepresentation of LGB+ colleagues within the organisation, our mean sexual orientation pay gap positively reflects that we have high representation of LGB+ colleagues in senior leadership positions.
Our mean sexual orientation pay gap is -23.64% (in favour of LGB+ colleagues), which is a reduction of 15.36% since our 2021 report.
Our median pay gap is 11.71% in favour of heterosexual colleagues, which is an increase of 6.83% since our 2021 report.
| Mean hourly rate | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|
| Heterosexual | £21.28 | £21.00 |
| LGB+ | £26.31 | £29.19 |
| Mean sexual orientation pay gap | -23.64% | -39.00% |
| Median hourly rate | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|
| Heterosexual | £21.09 | £20.68 |
| LGB+ | £18.62 | £19.67 |
| Mean sexual orientation pay gap | 11.71% | 4.88% |
7.2 Bonus pay
Although the number of colleagues who have declared being LGB+ within the organisation has increased, we still have an underrepresentation of LGB+ colleagues at all levels of the organisation, which impacts our mean and medium ethnicity bonus pay gaps, in the same way it impacts our mean and medium sexual orientation ordinary pay gaps.
Overall, a higher proportion of heterosexual colleagues received a bonus payment (performance related pay) than LGB+ colleagues. Of those who have made a sexual orientation declaration, 82.74% of heterosexual colleagues received a bonus payment and 70% LGB+ colleagues received a bonus payment.
We will continue to carry out further analysis on the distribution of bonus payments to investigate any trends and put additional measures in place as needed.
| Percentage of staff receiving a bonus | 2021 to 2022 | 2020 to 2021 |
|---|---|---|
| Heterosexual | 82.84% | 88.16% |
| LGB+ | 70.00% | 85.71% |
Our mean sexual orientation (bonus pay) gap is -59.78% (in favour of LGB+ colleagues), which is increase of 1.31% since 2020 to 2021.
Our median pay gap is 15.58% in favour of heterosexual colleagues, which is a decrease of 26.39% since 2020 to 2021.
| Our sexual orientation bonus pay gap | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|
| Mean sexual orientation pay gap | -59.78% | -58.47% |
| Median sexual orientation pay gap | 15.58% | 41.97% |
7.3 Pay by quartiles
The hourly rate quartile distribution shows that LGB+ colleagues are represented at all levels of the organisation, although overall we have a relatively low representation. We have seen a proportional increase in of LGB+ colleagues in the lower middle quartile and upper quartile and a slight decrease in the lower quartile and upper middle quartile.
We will continue to actively promote equality for our LGB+ colleagues and create a psychologically safe and inclusive workplace, where everyone can bring their full selves to work and flourish.
| Representation by quartiles at 31 March 2022 | Heterosexual | LGB+ |
|---|---|---|
| Lower quartile | 95.25% | 4.76% |
| Lower middle quartiles | 91.30% | 8.70% |
| Upper middle quartile | 97.83% | 2.17% |
| Upper quartile | 93.33% | 6.67% |
| Representation by quartiles at 31 March 2021 | Heterosexual | LGB+ |
|---|---|---|
| Lower quartile | 95.00% | 5.00% |
| Lower middle quartiles | 95.00% | 5.00% |
| Upper middle quartile | 97.50% | 2.50% |
| Upper quartile | 94.87% | 5.13% |
8. Our progress
Our people are essential to our mission of making a better future for people and the environment in mining areas and ensuring that we can deliver for the communities we serve across England, Scotland and Wales. We need to ensure that we can attract, recruit and retain great talent who can help us be an effective 24/7/365 emergency responder, solve the complex challenges we face from mining legacy and maximise opportunity and environmental, social and economic value.
We want to be a great place to work for everyone, creating an inclusive and supportive environment where people want to work and where colleagues from all backgrounds and identities can bring their full selves to work, feel valued and fulfil their potential.
This year we have continued to focus on tackling our pay gap and making progress on our equality, diversity and inclusion journey. This includes building on the steps we reported on in our 2021 report (which covers the financial year 2020 to 2021) and the commitments that we made for the financial year 2021 to 2022 which we are reporting on here in our 2022 report. We have:
- published a dedicated Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy, which underpins our commitments to being ‘a great place to work for everyone’ and is supported by additional diversity and inclusion skills with our People and Organisational Development Team
- delivered a rolling campaign to increase disclosure rates across the protected characteristics to improve quality of our data analysis and pay gap reporting
- created a diversity dashboard to help us monitor and measure our progress
- developed a recruitment and talent attraction plan, which aims to help us attract diverse talent, bring new skills, perspectives and identities into our organisation and address areas where groups are underrepresented
- continued to progress our work to become an antiracist organisation, including providing opportunities for colleagues to build confidence in having conversations about race and tackling racial inequality
- introduced menopause cafes, which aim to provide support for colleagues impacted by the menopause and help us create an inclusive working environment
- begun a review of all our people-related polices to ensure they are consistently and actively promoting inclusivity and respect, and specifically focusing on our family-friendly practices to ensure we are supportive of all our colleagues, irrespective of background or identity
- enhanced our leave and associated pay for maternity, paternity, shared parental and adoption leave to further support our colleagues and commitment to being a family friendly employer
- provided training and development opportunities for our diversity network leads and members to further enhance the impact and voice of our networks and ensure there is a diverse set of perspectives at the forefront of our organisation
- continued to implement our diversity calendar and rolling programme of activities, events and celebrations to create learning and engagement opportunities for all our colleagues
9. Next steps
We are pleased to continue to make progress on our gender pay gap and to have improved the understanding of our other pay gaps and been able to attract more talent from wider backgrounds into our organisation. We recognise that there is still more to be done to ensure we better reflect the range of communities we serve across Great Britain. During 2022 to 2023 we will:
- make progress against the ‘great place to work’ commitments in our Coal Authority business plan 2022 to 2025 – this includes continuing to deliver against the commitments of our a great place to work for everyone plan and publishing our anti-racism plan
- undertake our next people survey to better understand our colleagues’ experience at work and identify further areas for action and improvement
- continue to develop the pipeline of female talent through the organisation
- hold optional listening circles and develop a training programme to support colleagues and managers on inclusion and to tackle areas of focus from our staff surveys and pulse surveys, including bullying and harassment
- further review our attraction and recruitment approaches to ensure we are able to attract the widest pool of talent and retain people in a challenging market – this will include an applicant tracking system to help improve our employee experience and better track the applicant journey to identify areas for future focus
- introduce a reflection room at our Mansfield head office to provide an inclusive and multifunctional space for colleagues to carry out religious, spiritual or wellbeing practices
- develop a menopause policy to provide guidance on how to support employees impacted by the menopause at work
- review and enhance our workplace adjustment process to reduce barriers and promote equality for our disabled colleagues and candidates.
- consider how we use work placements, internships and apprenticeships to improve access and understanding to jobs and professions from under-represented backgrounds and to support improvements in social mobility
- investigate and promote mentoring and reverse mentoring opportunities for colleagues
- review our performance related pay structure to ensure it continues to be relevant for our organisation
We will report on our progress against these objectives in our 2023 pay gap report.