Transparency data

Defra gender pay gap report 2022 to 2023

Published 30 November 2023

Executive summary

Defra is the UK government department responsible for safeguarding our natural environment, supporting our food and farming industry and sustaining a thriving rural economy. Our broad remit means we play a major role in people’s day-to-day lives, developing policies and services that impact people across the UK and beyond.

Defra are committed to being an equitable, diverse, and inclusive organisation, where every individual has equality of opportunity to progress and can thrive in a supportive environment. Our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy 2020 to 2024 reaffirms this commitment. Our gender pay gap reporting considers how well we achieve gender equality in our pay structures. This report provides gender pay gap information for the year ending 31 March 2023, with comparable information since 2017.

It is disappointing to report that there has been an increase in both the mean (6.6%) and median (11%) gender pay gaps of 1% and 4.4% respectively since 2022, particularly given the previous year on year decrease since gender pay gap reporting began in 2017. The median gender pay gap is now comparable to that of 2018 when the median pay gap was 11.7%. Analysis of Defra’s workforce shows that although the percentage of women has increased from 56% to 57%, the number of women in the upper quartile has fallen from 51% to 50%. In addition, more women are starting Defra as new entrants to the Civil Service and typically start at the lowest end of the pay grade.

Defra will continue to uphold our commitment to developing and driving forward practices and policies, which we know make a difference in closing the gender pay gap. The cross-Defra Group Gender Board works collaboratively across Defra organisations to address gender equality by developing actions to improve equality, promote collaborative working and remove barriers to progression. We have reviewed our inclusive recruitment and performance bonus processes, built line manager capability in conscious inclusion, and continued conversations on women’s health. We are confident that continuing to break down barriers to inclusion will positively impact the everyday lived experiences of women in Defra.

Our commitment to close the gender pay gap speaks to a broader agenda of inclusion and we look forward to further progressing this goal as part of an ambitious strategy to achieve equality in the workplace.

Sarah Homer - Defra Group Gender Champion

Introduction

The Gender Pay Gap legislation was introduced in April 2017, requiring all employers of 250 or more employees to publish their gender pay gap annually for workers in scope as of 31st March.

The gender pay gap is the difference in the average pay between all men and all women in the organisation. It is different to equal pay, which is about the difference in the actual earnings of men and women doing equal work (or work of equal value).

The mean gender pay gap is the difference between the mean hourly rate of male full-pay relevant employees and that of female full-pay relevant employees.

The median gender pay gap is the difference between the median hourly rate of pay of male full-pay relevant employees and that of female full-pay relevant employees.

The bonus pay gap measures payments to reward performance that are as part of the annual pay award (as a proportion of basic pay) or throughout the year as either cash or gift vouchers. The mean bonus value is found by adding all bonus values together and dividing the total by how many people were paid. The median is the middle value if all bonuses were stacked from lowest to highest. It’s important to note some bonus payments such as end of year performance awards are pro-rated for part time workers which can influence bonus pay gaps.

Defra gender pay gap summary

• 6.6% mean gender pay gap

• 11% median gender pay gap

• 57% of Defra’s workforce are women
• 49% of Defra’s senior civil servants are women

Proportions of men and women receiving bonuses

• 78% female

• 76% male

• 5.9% mean gender bonus gap
• -12.8% median gender bonus gap

Pay by quartiles

Lower quartile

• 60% women
• 40% men

Lower middle

• 58% women
• 42% men

Upper middle

• 56% women
• 44% men

Upper quartile

• 50% women
• 50% men

Defra’s gender profile

Our percentage of female staff (gender profile), at 57%, has remained stable when compared to previous years. It also continues to be higher than the Civil Service average of 54.6% female. The percentage of women within Defra’s Senior Civil Service is 49%, the overall Civil Service female SCS representation is 47.9%.

Overall, there are more women than men at all grades in Defra with the exception of Grade 6 and SCS levels where men outnumber women in terms of headcount. Female representation at SCS has increased from 46% in the previous reporting period to 49% in this reporting period. Last year there were 96 women in SCS positions in 2022, this year there are 117 women in SCS positions as of 31 March 2023.

Defra uses Civil Service grades ranging from Administrative Assistants (administrative level grade) to Senior Civil Servant (executive level grade).  Grades vary according to the level of responsibility and each grade has a set pay range.

The following table shows the distribution of female and male staff by grade from junior to senior roles in Defra.

Table 1: Defra’s workforce split by grade and gender

Grade (Increasing in seniority)	Number of women	Women as % of workforce at this grade	Number of men	Men as % of workforce at this grade
AA/AO	1523	60%	1008	40%
EO	1348	60%	893	40%
HEO	1376	57%	1025	43%
SEO	1470	56%	1161	44%
G7	1166	52%	1059	48%
G6	370	48%	396	52%
SCS	117	49%	120	51%
Grand Total*	7388	57%	5677	43%

*Figures include unknown grades and rounding applied

In comparison, the following table shows the overall representation of women at each grade in the Civil Service taken from the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Dashboard, 2023.

Table 2: Representation of women in the Civil Service

Women at each grade in the Civil Service	Representation (%)
AA/AO	55.9%
EO	56.9%
HEO/SEO	52.1%
G6 & G7	49.5%
SCS	47.9%
Women in the Civil Service overall	54.6% (2023)

Table 3: Defra Civil Service mean and median pay gaps (2017 to 2023)

Defra Civil Service	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	% Difference from 2022
Mean Gender Pay Gap	11.5	9.8	8.4	7.2	6.7	5.6	6.6	1
Median Gender Pay Gap	12.1	11.7	9.4	7.4	6.8	6.6	11	4.4

Table 4: Defra Civil Service Bonus Pay Gaps (2017-23)

Bonus Pay Gap	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022		2023	% Difference from 2022
Mean Gender Pay Gap – Bonus pay in 12 months ending 31 March.	20.6	10	11.6	12.3	10.6	7.6		5.9	1.7
Median Gender Pay Gap - Bonus pay in 12 months ending 31 March.	16.7	19	14.2	20	0	1.4		-12.8	14.2
Percentage of male employees paid a bonus in 12 months ending 31 March.	47	39	49	57	67	70.8	76.3		5.5
Percentage of female employees paid a bonus in 12 months ending 31 March.	45	35	47	58	67	70.3	78.2		7.9

Analysis of gender pay gap data

Ordinary pay gender pay gap analysis

Between 2017 and 2022, Defra’s mean, and median gender pay gaps decreased year-on-year from 11.5% and 12.1% respectively. However, this year there has been a change in this trend, with a 1% increase in the mean gender pay gap from 5.6% to 6.6%. The Defra mean gender pay gap is still lower than that of the overall Civil Service mean of 8.1%. Additionally, the median pay gap has increased by 4.4% from 6.6% in 2022 to 11% in 2023, which is comparable to 2018 when the median gender pay gap was 11.7%. The Defra median gender pay gap is currently higher than that of the overall Civil Service of 9.6%.

Since 2022, the percentage of women in the Defra workforce has increased from 56% to 57%. Analysis shows that a greater number of women than men were new entrants into Defra, who typically start at the lowest end of the pay scale. In addition, the percentage of women in the upper quartile has decreased from 51% to 50%. Both the change in the workforce composition and the increased numbers of new entrants who are women, have contributed to the increases in both the mean and median the gender pay gaps in 2023.

Bonus gender gap analysis

The mean bonus pay gap has decreased by 1.7% to 5.9% and the median bonus gap has widened from 1.4% to -12.8% in favour of women. 

Bonus pay gap calculations are based on individual employee bonuses and do not differentiate between the bonuses of employees working full-time or part-time. The number of women in part time employment is 14%, but the number of men in part time employment is 2%. In Defra bonuses are pro-rated for staff who worked part-time which lowers the average bonus pay for part time women.

In comparison to the previous years, there has been an increase in bonus payments with 76.3% of male staff getting bonuses and 78.2% of female staff getting bonuses, which is reflected in the widening of the median bonus pay gap in favour of women.

Table 5: Percentage of men and women in each pay quartile 2017-2023

Pay by Quartiles	2017%		2018 (%)		2019 (%)		2020 (%)		2021 (%)		2022 (%)		2023 (%)
	M	F	M	F	M	F	M	F	M	F	M	F	M	F
Lower quartile	36	64	36	64	37	63	38	62	37	63	39	61	40	60
Lower middle	43	57	43	57	43	57	43	57	44	56	42	58	42	58
Upper middle	50	50	47	53	46	54	45	55	45	55	45	55	44	56
Upper quartile	57	43	55	45	52	48	51	49	50	50	49	51	50	50

Taking action to close the gender pay gap

Defra aspires alongside other Civil Service organisations to be the most inclusive employer in the UK. We are working to close our gender pay gap by delivering a number of initiatives through our Defra group Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy 2020 - 2024 and through the cross Defra Group Gender Board.

We recognise that we must further develop and progress our actions to achieve equitable gender representation at all grades and close the gender pay gap. In Defra, this is overseen by the Gender Board, which is a working group chaired by an Executive committee champion. The board develops targeted actions to address the pay gap by improving equality, promoting collaborative working and removing barriers to progression.

Actions which are being undertaken to close the gender pay gap include:

• embedding inclusive practices in our attraction, recruitment, and selection processes, including diverse panels, name-blind external applications, use of success profiles and promoting job sharing opportunities
• supporting career development through targeted learning opportunities, including mentoring and talent schemes (for example, the Senior Leader Scheme) and through conferences (for example, Women into leadership) to remove barriers to progression and achieve equitable gender representation across all grades
• our diversity staff networks offer networking and peer-support opportunities. We actively listen and amplify employee voices through diversity networks by providing listening circle experiences
• ensuring transparent and consistent workplace policies focusing on workplace equality, including blended working, shared parental leave, menopause, breastfeeding, fertility treatment and pregnancy loss
• demonstrating our commitment to fair treatment and inclusive cultures in the workplace by becoming a Disability Confident (Level 3) Leader and achieving Carer Confident (Level 2) status
• building capability and awareness of workplace equality, diversity, and inclusion, for all line managers through conscious inclusion training
• normalising conversations on women’s health and making reasonable workplace adjustments where requested
• reviewing our approach to reward and recognition to ensure fairness and consistency, moving away from end-year performance decisions to goal-based performance recognition, rewarding high performance throughout the year
• using targeted pay strategies such as tapering yearly pay awards to those at the lower end of the pay scale

Declaration

We confirm that data reported by Defra 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.

Tamara Finkelstein

Defra Group Permanent Secretary