Transparency data

Companies House gender pay gap report 2019

Published 26 March 2020

1. Introduction

Companies House supports the fair treatment and reward of all staff, irrespective of gender or any other diversity characteristic, such as age, ethnicity and disability status. The promotion of equality and inclusivity is at the heart of everything we do, and we’re proud of the progress that we’re making.

Evidence of this includes:

• an even balance of genders at the very top of the organisation

• a reinvigorated Women’s Network

• a development programme for women

• special attention to recruiting and retaining women in our digital area

• being shortlisted for the ‘FairPlay Employer’ award at the Womenspire Awards

We recognise that there’s more work to do to close our gender pay gap and further improve diversity and inclusivity in the organisation. You’ll find an extensive series of measures that have been undertaken and more plans moving forward at section 5.

2. Definition

The gender pay gap is an equality measure that shows the difference in average earnings between women and men. It does not show the difference in pay for comparable jobs. It’s different to equal pay which deals with the pay differences between men and women who carry out the same jobs, similar jobs or work of equal value.

In line with public sector regulations, the data in this report is based on a snapshot date of 31 March 2019. For bonuses, the period used was 1 April 2018 to 31 March 2019, which was the 12 months preceding the snapshot date.

3. Gender pay gap data

The mean pay gap in Companies House is 15.5% (mean is the average in the data set), and the median pay gap is 18.5% (median is the middle number in the data set). This is in line with figures across the UK economy of 16.2% (mean) and 17.3% (median).

Our commitment to gender equality comes from the top. Three of our six most senior employees (Senior Civil Servants) are women, including the Chief Executive. These and other women in senior roles in Companies House provide visible role models for other women in the organisation, supplementing many of the initiatives in place to improve our position.

The table below shows the number of male and female employees in Companies House in each quartile.

Quartile	Female %	Male %
Lower quartile	59.09%	40.91%
Lower middle quartile	74.49%	25.51%
Upper middle quartile	48.35%	51.65%
Upper quartile	39.26%	60.74%

The table below shows that the pay gap is driven by an uneven gender split by grade, especially the significant number of women employed in the Band B (Administrative Officer) grade. This results in a higher proportion of female employees in the lower and lower middle quartile.

Grade (increasing seniority)	Percentage of grade that are women	Percentage of grade that are male
Band A: Administrative Assistant	0.31%	0.31%
Band B: Administrative Officer	31.41%	14.52%
Band C: Executive Officer	11.95%	13.49%
Band D: Higher Executive Officer	5.66%	7.83%
Band E: Senior Executive Officer	3.50%	4.84%
Band F: Grade 7	1.34%	2.27%
Band G: Grade 6	0.82%	1.13%
Senior Civil Service	0.31%	0.31%
Total	55% (537)	45% (434)

We have carried out research to find out why there’s a lack of progression to higher roles from women in Band B roles. Feedback has been that:

• there are perceptions by some Band B staff around part time work limiting opportunities for promotion

• a lack of confidence or a perceived unlikelihood of success, preventing them applying for promotion

• the potential loss of benefits incurred following promotion, acting as a deterrent to applying

Following this research, we’ll put in place an action plan focussing on demonstrating that working part time (or other flexible working patterns) should not be a barrier to progressing through the organisation.

From April 2020, we’ll adopt our new approach to performance management, focussing on continued good quality developmental conversations between staff and their managers. This will enable everyone, including part time staff, to feel supported and flourish within the organisation.

4. Bonus awards

Companies House operates reward and recognition schemes along with a Corporate Efficiency Award, which is conditional on the organisation meeting challenging efficiency targets. These awards all operate irrespective of gender.

The proportion of male and female employees receiving one of the above performance awards in the 12 months ending 31 March 2019 is:

Female: 93%

Male: 89%

The bonus awards mean pay gap is 19%, and the median pay gap is 18%. A higher proportion of females received awards than males, but males received on average higher value awards. As the size of the performance award is a percentage of their pay, the bonus pay gap, is due to higher mean/median pay of men.

5. Other measures to close the gender pay gap

We have already gone a long way in creating a family friendly organisation. We’ll continue to build on actions and initiatives to reduce the gender pay gap, including:

• assistance for women returning following a career break

• flexible working patterns to help with childcare

• shared parental leave

• a subsidised play scheme

We’re committed to continuous improvement of our recruitment processes to reduce the potential for unconscious bias. As part of our commitment to a diverse and inclusive workforce, the process is anonymous. This means the sifters are unaware of a candidate’s personal details, to protect against bias.

Companies House has been working with Chwarae Teg, the leading gender equality charity in Wales, to promote gender equality and support our Women’s Network. The following activities have taken place:

Women’s Network

Our Women’s Network has been re-invigorated this year and as a result has grown with 82 active members. It’s also much more diverse in terms of grade and professions, with more women in operational roles joining.

Development programme

A development programme, with an aim to ‘develop confidence and aspirations of women in Companies House’. This contained 4 modules ran by Chwarae Teg trainers and Women’s Network members, promoting our coaching and mentoring schemes. Modules included:

• discover and define your personal brand
• change your thinking - get results
• speak up and stand out
• own your career – plan for success

FairPlay Employer

Companies House was shortlisted for the ‘FairPlay Employer’ award at the Womenspire Awards in July 2019.

Chwarae Teg has created a case study of the work that Companies House has done as a FairPlay Employer.

Women into Leadership conference

29 women from Companies House attended the Women into Leadership conference in Cardiff in February 2020. Passionate about sharing their learning, the women who attended last year’s conference set up a series of ‘Tackling Imposter Syndrome’ workshops, followed by a cross government event hosted by Companies House.

FairPlay Employers Senior Leaders Forum

Companies House hosted Chwarae Teg’s ‘FairPlay Employers Senior Leaders Forum’ in October 2019 which talked about the subject of BAME women in the economy.

International Women’s Day

We continue to raise awareness of International Women’s Day and celebrate each year with inspirational speakers. Our CEO was featured on International Women’s day talking about her own experience as a leader in national media publications.

Retaining women in Digital, Data and Technology (DDaT)

We’re focussing on recruiting and retaining women in DDaT roles.

We’re commissioning Chwarae Teg to produce a report on our recruitment practices and how we can improve to attract women within DDaT.

Chwarae Teg has run 2 focus groups within the DDaT teams to understand the perceptions of men on gender equality and how they can become better allies.

Membership to a cross-government group, the Government Digital Careers Alliance, that looks to share best practice and work together to improve diversity, in particular with women within STEM. It works with groups like Technocamps, who look at encouraging girls into STEM.

Employer branding work including social media communications, visuals, videos featuring women and diverse groups of employees in all roles and a digital open day showcasing females in key roles. We have also published blogs and vlogs from women in roles such as digital apprenticeships.

We’re also putting in place mentorship and coaching arrangements.

6. Summary

Companies House supports the fair treatment and reward of all staff irrespective of gender or any other characteristic. This report highlights our progress made to date. We intend to continue this progress and put in place new measures that will allow all our staff to feel supported and to flourish within the organisation.

While these measures will be comprehensive, it’s worth noting that the gender pay gap is a complex societal issue that will take time to address. However while there are no quick and easy solutions that will allow us to quickly address the gender pay gap in Companies House, this does not dilute our ambition to close our gap and to be more inclusive, more diverse and an organisation that people want to work for.