2023 gender pay gap report
Published 30 November 2023
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Introduction
In 2017, the government introduced world-leading legislation that made it statutory for organisations with 250 or more employees to report annually on their gender pay gap. Government departments are also covered by the Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties and Public Authorities) Regulations 2017 which came into force on 31 March 2017. These regulations underpin the Public Sector Equality Duty and require relevant organisations to publish their gender pay gap by 30 March annually. This includes the
- mean and median gender pay gaps
- mean and median gender bonus gaps
- proportion of men and women who received bonuses
- proportions of male and female employees in each pay quartile
This report fulfils the Department of Health and Social care (DHSC) and its executive agencies reporting requirements, analyses the figures in more detail and sets out what the department and its agencies are doing to reduce the gender pay gap. The reporting period is 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023.
For the reporting period the Department of Health and Social Care was formed of the core department (DHSC) and its executive agencies, UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). The individual organisations hold the responsibility of analysing their reward mechanisms (such as pay and bonuses) to assure themselves that there is no gender bias.
DHSC and its executive agencies are committed to the fair treatment and reward of all staff, addressing inequality and ensuring equality of opportunity for all staff. DHSC and its executive agencies’ pay approach is based on the principles of consistency, fairness and transparency, supporting the fair treatment and reward of all staff irrespective of gender.
Building a diverse and inclusive workforce that reflects the people we serve is one of the Civil Service’s top workforce priorities. The Civil Service should create opportunities for all in a truly meritocratic way and reward all civil servants fairly, regardless of gender, ethnicity or any other personal characteristic.
Gender pay gap report
The gender pay gap shows the difference in the average pay between all men and women in a workforce. If a workforce has a particularly high gender pay gap, this can indicate that there may be a number of issues to deal with.
The gender pay gap is different from equal pay. Equal pay deals with the pay differences between men and women who carry out the same jobs, similar jobs or work of equal value. It is unlawful to pay people unequally because they are a man or a woman.
For this report, hourly pay is calculated using base pay, allowances, and bonuses paid in the relevant pay period as defined in the regulations.
Below are the 2023 Gender Pay Gap figures. ‘Health and social care’ refers to the overall figures from DHSC, UKHSA, and MHRA.
Pay and bonus gaps
| Reporting organisation | Mean pay gap | Median pay gap | Mean bonus gap | Median bonus gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DHSC | 4.1% | 1.3% | 2.4% | 0.0% |
| MHRA | 7.0% | 10.9% | 8.3% | 0.0% |
| UKHSA | 11.7% | 8.1% | 0.3% | 0.0% |
| Health and social care | 8.3% | 9.1% | 3.5% | -25.0% |
The overall mean and median hourly difference in pay between men and women is £1.20 and £0.10 respectively.
Percentage of men and women receiving a bonus
| Reporting organisation | Men | Women |
|---|---|---|
| DHSC | 82.4% | 82.2% |
| MHRA | 50.8% | 46.9% |
| UKHSA | 76.7% | 78.9% |
| Health and social care | 75.5% | 76.6% |
Distribution of women through each pay quartile
Percentage of women in each pay quartile
| Reporting organisation | Lower | Lower middle | Upper middle | Upper |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DHSC | 67.2% | 64.2% | 65.4% | 61.4% |
| MHRA | 63.6% | 61.8% | 61.9% | 56.0% |
| UKHSA | 69.3% | 69.9% | 62.6% | 54.7% |
| Health and social care | 69.1% | 65.8% | 62.3% | 58.4% |
Workforce analysis
| Grade (decreasing seniority) | Number of men (% of total male workforce) | Number of women (% of total female workforce) | % of women in the grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| Senior Civil Service (SCS) | 328 (9.4%) | 395 (6.3%) | 54.6% |
| Grade 6 and 7 | 1,338 (38.3%) | 2,092 (33.1%) | 61.0% |
| SEO and HEO | 1,284 (36.8%) | 2,532 (40.1%) | 66.4% |
| EO | 337 (9.6%) | 876 (13.9%) | 72.2% |
| AA and AO | 206 (5.9%) | 416 (6.6%) | 66.9% |
| Total | 3,493 | 6,311 | 64.4% |
This table shows the distribution of men and women across each grade for health and social care. While the most senior grades (SCS) are broadly balanced between men and women, women are over-represented throughout the junior grades.
The DHSC and UKHSA workforces include different sets of terms and conditions with different pay scales and arrangements. While the majority (about 75%) of the workforce fall under the standard Civil Service pay arrangements and grade framework, the remaining workforce are on the NHS (Agenda for Change and Executive and Senior Manager) pay frameworks or on medical and dental terms and conditions. While the entire workforce is included in the DHSC and DHSC gender pay gap figure, the range of different pay arrangements results in a more complex relationship impacting on the gender pay gap figure.
The pay gap
DHSC and its executive agencies are structured using Civil Service grades ranging from Administrative Assistant (AA) to the SCS. Grades reflect levels of responsibility, and each has a set pay range. Staff are subject to an annual pay review and receive pay increases upon promotion.
The health and social care mean pay gap has reduced to 8.3%. This represents a 1.2 percentage point reduction from 2022 and a 5.9 percentage point reduction from 2017 (when reporting began). The median pay gap has seen an increase to 9.1%. This represents a 0.6 percentage point increase from 2022 and a 4.2 percentage point reduction from 2017.
While there remains a gap in pay between men and women and the median pay gap has increased slightly this year, it is reassuring that both the mean and median pay gap are on positive trajectories overall. Both measures of health and social care’s gender pay gap remain below the UK average of 14.3% in 2023.[footnote 1]
The difference in hourly pay is driven by a number of factors including:
- the compounding effect of a higher proportion of men in the most highly paid Senior Civil Service grades, and a higher proportion of women in the most junior grades. This is particularly the case for the executive agencies
- the disproportionate impact on the pay gap by a number of very senior and highly paid roles held by men
Proportion of men and women in each pay quartile
In the lower quartile 69.1% of employees are female, compared to 58.4% in the upper quartile. The disproportionate distribution of men across the organisation (with men over-represented at more senior and more highly paid grades) is one of the factors driving the gender pay and bonus gaps. It has more of an impact on the bonus figure, as at the most senior levels there is more bonus opportunity and the level of bonuses are considerably higher.
The bonus gap
In DHSC and its executive agencies, end of year performance awards were paid as a set value depending on grade and performance. DHSC and its executive agencies only pays in-year awards to grades below SCS with the aim of spreading financial recognition to a wider population.
The bonus pay gap is driven by the opportunity for higher bonuses in the most senior grades where the proportion of men is not in line with the overall population.
Health and social care’s mean bonus gap saw a significant reduction in 2023 to 3.5%. This represents a 9.9 percentage point reduction from 2022, and a 13.6 percentage point reduction from 2017, when reporting began. The overall trend of the mean bonus gap remains positive.
The mean bonus gap is driven by an over-representation of men in the most senior grades where the bonus potential is highest, and over-representation of women in the junior grades.
The median bonus gap saw a significant reduction in 2023 to -25%. This represents a 25% reduction from 2022, and a 34.4% reduction from 2017. This reduction is a result of health and social care having a higher number of female employees and a higher proportion of staff receiving bonuses in 2023.
Targeted action to reduce the gender pay gap
Since the publication of the 2022 gender pay report the department and its executive agencies have taken a number of steps to reduce the gender pay gap.
DHSC and its agencies are addressing the gender pay gap through a range of actions within workstreams, including:
- ensuring the fairness and equality of recruitment, including name-blind external recruitment and use of systems data to understand outcomes for gender in our workforce, exploring organising application and interview support workshops for internal candidates in collaboration with staff networks
- talent, progression and career paths - working towards a more balanced gender representation across the grades through promoting developmental or talent opportunities and mentoring schemes, providing visibility to SCS leaders while also supporting career development
- use of effective pay strategies - targeting increases at the lower end of pay scales to drive progression and shortening pay ranges where possible to reduce equal pay risks
- policies focused on supporting equality in the workplace:
- working on providing the best offer possible, by taking actions to renew Disability Confident Leader status and obtain Carer Confidence status
- fair, consistent and inclusive working models supported by flexible working policies including the development of new hybrid working models and shared parental leave
- building an inclusive culture - ensuring that inclusion and tackling ‘disparities’ is a central part of everything we do
- a mandatory diversity and inclusion objective for SCS leadership to ensure inclusive decision making at all levels. Continuing to develop the capability of our leaders to promote a diverse and inclusive culture through support, empowerment and accountability
Declaration
We confirm that data reported by DHSC and its executive agencies 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.