Defra’s gender pay gap report 2020 to 2021
Published 27 January 2022
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Foreword
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.
We are committed to being an equitable, diverse, and inclusive organisation, where every individual has equality of opportunity to progress and is able to thrive. Our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy 2020 to 2024 reaffirms this commitment.
As an organisation, we are accountable and open to challenge and scrutiny. 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 2021, with comparable information since 2017.
Whilst navigating the challenges of the global pandemic, it is encouraging that both our mean (6.7%) and median (6.8%) gender pay gaps have reduced this year (reduction of 0.5% mean, 0.6% median). The continuous reduction in our gender pay gap over the last five years demonstrates a consistent commitment to improving the experience of people within Defra group and wider Civil Service. We are proud that half of our SCS community is female and equal proportions of men and women are awarded bonus payments.
To build on our progress in closing the gap, we will pay particular attention to how we are recruiting, developing, and retaining staff and creating clear pathways for people to progress in their career.
To lead this work, our cross-Defra Group Gender Board works collaboratively across Defra organisations to address gender equality.
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.
David Hill
Defra Group Gender Champion, Director General Environment, Rural and Marine
Introduction
Gender pay gap legislation introduced in April 2017, requires all employers of 250 or more employees to publish their gender pay gap annually for workers in scope as of 31 March. Our report is in line with recommendations made from the Inclusive Data Taskforce report (published September 2021).
The gender pay gap is measured using a few different calculations including:
- the mean and median gender pay gap in hourly pay
- the mean and median gender bonus pay gaps
- the proportions of men and women receiving bonuses
- the proportions of men and women in each pay quartile
The gender pay gap is the difference in the average pay between all men and 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.
Full-pay relevant employee means a relevant employee who is not, during the relevant pay period, being paid at a reduced rate or nil as a result of the employee being on leave, The Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2017. Throughout this report, references to employees or gender profile includes full-pay relevant employees only.
The ‘relevant pay period’, in relation to the relevant employee, means (a) the period in respect of which the relevant employer pays the employee basic pay, whether weekly, fortnightly, or monthly or any other period, or (b) if the relevant employer does not pay the employee basic pay, the period in respect of which the employer most frequently pays the employee one of the elements of ordinary pay mentioned in regulation 3(1) (b) to (e), The Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2017.
Defra Civil Service pay gap reporting includes the core government department and its executive agencies; Rural Payments Agency (RPA), Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA), Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) and Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS). All references to Defra in this paper refer to Defra and its executive agencies.
Defra gender pay gap summary
Hourly gender pay gaps
- mean gender pay gap: 6.7%
- median gender pay gap: 6.8%
Bonus pay gaps
- mean gender bonus pay gap: 10.6%
- median gender bonus pay gap: 0%
Proportions of men and women receiving bonuses
- men: 67%
- women: 67%
Pay by quartiles
| Quartile | Men | Women |
|---|---|---|
| Lower quartile | 37% | 63% |
| Lower middle | 44% | 56% |
| Upper middle | 45% | 55% |
| Lower quartile | 50% | 50% |
- 56% of Defra’s workforce are women
- 50% of Defra’s Senior Civil Service are women
Defra’s gender profile
Our overall percentage of female staff (gender profile), at 56%, has remained stable when compared to previous years. It also continues to be higher than the Civil Service average of 54% female. The percentage of women within Defra’s Senior Civil Service is at 50%, this is greater than the overall Civil Service female SCS representation at 46%.
Overall, there are more women than men at all grades with the exception of Grade 6. 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. In general staff move through the pay range for their grade, therefore the longer someone has been in a grade the more likely they are to earn more, irrespective of their gender.
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 | 1378 | (65%) | 756 | (35%) |
| EO | 1256 | (58%) | 892 | (42%) |
| HEO | 1205 | (53%) | 1049 | (47%) |
| SEO | 1196 | (56%) | 921 | (44%) |
| G7 | 818 | (50%) | 831 | (50%) |
| G6 | 267 | (48%) | 286 | (52%) |
| SCS | 99 | (50%) | 102 | (50%) |
| Grand Total | 6243 | (56%) | 4864 | (44%) |
*(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, 2021.
Table 2: Representation of women in the Civil Service
| Women at each grade in the Civil Service | % representation |
|---|---|
| AA/AO | 56.8% |
| EO | 56.3% |
| HEO/SEO | 50.2% |
| G7 | 48.1% |
| G6 | 46.0% |
| SCS | 46.7% |
| Women in the Civil Service overall | 54.2% (2021) |
Defra’s gender pay gap over time
Table 3: Defra Civil Service mean and median pay gaps (2017 to 2021)
| Defra Civil Service | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | % Difference from 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mean gender pay gap | 11.5% | 9.8% | 8.4% | 7.2% | 6.7% | -0.5% |
| Median gender pay gap | 12.1% | 11.7% | 9.4% | 7.4% | 6.8% | -0.6% |
Table 4: Defra Civil Service bonus pay gaps (2017 to 2021)
| Bonus pay gap | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | % Difference from 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mean gender pay gap - bonus pay in 12 months ending 31 March | 20.6% | 10% | 11.6% | 12.3% | 10.6% | -1.7% |
| Median gender pay gap - bonus pay in 12 months ending 31 March | 16.7% | 19% | 14.2% | 20.0% | 0% | -20% |
| Proportion of male employees paid a bonus in 12 months ending 31 March | 47% | 39% | 49% | 57% | 67% | 10% |
| Proportion of female employees paid a bonus in 12 months ending 31 March | 45% | 35% | 47% | 58% | 67% | 9% |
Analysis of gender pay gap data
Defra’s mean (6.7%) and median (6.8%) gender pay gaps have decreased since last year, with a 4.8% and 5.3% reduction when viewed over the last five years. Although our pay gaps show that men continue to be paid more than women, our pay gaps have considerably narrowed.
Defra’s performance awards are paid as a set value depending on grade and performance level, irrespective of gender. In comparison to the previous year, the same proportions of men and women have received bonuses, in 2020 to 2021 this has increased 67% for both men and women.
Our mean bonus gap decreased by 1.7%. There is no difference between the median bonus pay for men and women (0%) an improvement of 20% from the previous year. The decrease in the median bonus pay figure has partly been due to an increase in the number of employees in the Rural Payments Agency (RPA), a Defra Executive Agency, who received a bonus. As the RPA is a predominantly female organisation (57%), this had the effect of reducing the median bonus pay gap value across Defra Civil Service organisations included within this report.
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. This is important because overall women are more likely to work part-time, leading to pro-rata bonuses. Women make up 56% of the workforce with 28% of women working part-time. In contrast only 7% of men work part-time. Bonuses were pro-rated for staff who worked part-time which lowers the average bonus pay for part time women. As a greater proportion of women work part-time, more women received pro-rated bonuses thus impacting the bonus pay gap.
Analysis shows that the main reason for the remaining pay gap continues to be the proportion of male and female employees in different grades.
Table 5: Proportions of men and women in each pay quartile 2017 to 2021
| Year | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| M | F | M | F | M | F | M | F | M | F | |
| Lower quartile | 36% | 64% | 36% | 64% | 37% | 63% | 38% | 62% | 37% | 63% |
| Lower middle | 43% | 57% | 43% | 57% | 43% | 57% | 43% | 57% | 44% | 56% |
| Upper middle | 50% | 50% | 47% | 53% | 46% | 54% | 45% | 55% | 45% | 55% |
| Upper quartile | 57% | 43% | 55% | 45% | 53% | 47% | 51% | 49% | 50% | 50% |
Taking actions 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 and through the cross Defra Group Gender Board. The Gender Board includes a specific working group developing targeted actions to address the gap.
The Gender Board is chaired by an Executive Committee Champion and feeds into an overall Inclusion Leadership Group of senior leaders which has oversight of ongoing work to improve equality, promote collaborative working and remove barriers to progress.
We work in collaboration with our employee diversity networks, our Pay, Reward and Equality, Diversity and Inclusion teams to ensure we have the right focus on this work. We continue with programmes and initiatives that are already making a difference:
- providing active support for women returning to work following maternity or adoption leave. We offer shared parental leave, job share, part-time working opportunities, and flexible working
- we support a range of employee led networks championed by Defra’s senior management. In addition to Women’s networks, Defra also has a Job Share Network, Solo Parents Network and a Work Life Balance Network
- Defra’s women’s networks aim to help women reach their full potential by providing advice and support, contributing to policy development and establishing good practices. Key issues are escalated through the gender board
- we have established a Male Allyship network that seeks to raise awareness of the importance and influence of effective male allyship in the workplace in reaching greater gender parity
- we monitor pay to identify any pay differences and take targeted action to ensure our processes are fair and transparent
- we continue to review and refresh our approach to resourcing to ensure the recruitment of women and men at all levels is inclusive. We anonymise our application processes and use diverse interview panels for selection
- we monitor recruitment data throughout the attraction, recruitment and selection processes to identify areas for further improvement in achieving greater diversity in our workforce
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