Transparency data

DWP: gender pay gap report for 2024

Published 17 December 2024

Executive Summary

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has prepared this report as part of the legal requirement for public authorities to publish their Gender Pay Gap (GPG) on an annual basis.

In March 2024:

• DWP’s mean ordinary GPG: 4.8% (decreased by 0.7 percentage points (ppt) since 2023)
• DWP’s median ordinary GPG: 0.0% (unchanged since 2023)
• DWP’s mean bonus GPG: 8.8% (decreased by 3.1 ppt since 2023)
• DWP’s median bonus GPG: 12.5% (increased by 2.4 ppt since 2023)

DWP is one of the largest government departments with a total headcount of 91,745 as of 31 March 2024. In this year’s report, 90,306 individuals are included in the ordinary pay gap figures and 91,745 individuals are included in the bonus gap figures, as per the government guidance on scope.

There is a positive story for DWP this year, with many of the headline figures improving:

• DWP continues to perform favourably when compared to the wider Civil Service, where the overall ordinary mean GPG is 7.4%.
• DWP also compare favourably with the mean bonus GPG for the Civil Service of 25.7%, and the median bonus GPG of 22.4%.

Women represent 63% of the DWP workforce and we have continued to make positive progress in female representation at the most senior grades. At SCS, female representation has continued to increase to 55.6%.

Mean ordinary GPG (decreased by 0.7 ppt)

Our mean gender pay gap has decreased due to changes in our grade distribution, women represented within each grade and changes to mean salaries due to pay awards, as well as joiners and leavers.

Median ordinary GPG (unchanged)

The median pay gap remains at 0.0%. This is primarily due to the existence of an Executive Officer (EO) grade spot rate (rather than a pay scale with a minimum and maximum rate of pay per grade and pay zone, a spot rate means that everyone within the same grade and pay zone is on the same rate of pay).  As of March 2024, 50.4% of all males were EO grade and 53.8% of females were at EO grade and most were on the spot rate. As a result, the median employee fell within the EO range for both genders.

Mean bonus GPG (decreased by 3.1 ppt)

There has been a notable decrease in the mean bonus pay gap, mainly due to an improvement to our end of year only bonus gap in delegated grades where there is a greater proportion of women.

Median bonus GPG (increased by 2.4 ppt)

The median bonus gap is heavily influenced by end of year bonuses, which vary by grade and are pro-rated for part time employees. The median end-year bonus for men was the full time EO rate, for women this was below full time EO due to more women working part time. This resulted in an increase in the bonus gap in favour of men.

Overall, we are confident that our pay strategy is non-discriminatory in its design. Our analysis demonstrates the pay gap to be largely attributed to the grade distribution of the workforce, specifically lower representation of women in higher grades. The GPG will continue to be a key consideration as we develop our future reward strategy.

1. Introduction

Organisations with 250 or more employees are required to report annually on their gender pay gap. Government departments are 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 annually.

This includes:

• the mean and median ordinary gender pay gaps
• the mean and median gender bonus gaps
• the proportion of men and women who received bonuses
• the proportions of men and women employees in each pay quartile

For 2023 to 2024, the Gender Pay Gap figures were published in the Annual Civil Service Employment Survey (ACSES) on 31 July 2024. These figures provide an overall picture across government for the reporting period 1st April 2023 to 31st March 2024. This report fulfils DWP’s reporting requirements and sets out the actions we are taking in relation to addressing the gender pay gap and improving gender parity. This information is published on gov.uk and the Government Equality Office (GEO) portal. Where any percentage figures in this report do not add to 100%, this is due to rounding.

DWP is committed to the fair treatment and reward of all staff irrespective of gender, and ensuring the department is an inclusive place where people can be at their best. Our goal is to ensure that these commitments, reinforced by our Values, are embedded in day to day working practices with all of our customers, colleagues and partners. As an employer, DWP is committed to the Civil Service ambition to have a truly diverse workforce which is representative of the communities that we serve. Our Diversity and Inclusion objectives are aligned with the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy: 2022 to 2025. We continue to set ourselves challenging objectives designed to ensure that we have a diverse workforce. In relation to gender, these include:

• growing and supporting our internal pipeline of women progressing through the grades
• monitoring recruitment outcomes at each grade and each stage of the recruitment process
• maintaining gender parity in our Senior Civil Service (SCS) workforce

DWP’s total headcount (staff in post) on the 31 March 2024 was 90,779 employees. This represents all paid employees. For the bonus gap, 91,745 employees were identified as ‘full pay relevant employees’, as set out in the regulations, and included in the GPG calculations for the mean and median ordinary pay gap.

DWP uses the Civil Service grading system. DWP’s Delegated Grades are Administrative Assistant (AA), Administrative Officer (AO), Executive Officer (EO), Higher Executive Officer (HEO), Senior Executive Officer (SEO), Grade 7, Grade 6. DWP’s Senior Civil Service (SCS) grades are SCS1, SCS2, SCS3, and Permanent Secretary. Grades are determined by the level of responsibility that employees have in their job roles. Except for SCS, each grade has a set national, and two London pay ranges (with some other location-based pay differences), with higher grades receiving higher salaries.

2. Gender pay gap report

The ordinary mean and median GPG shows the difference between the average hourly pay for all men and women in a workforce. If a workforce has a particularly large gender pay gap, this can be an indication of issues to address, and the individual GPG calculations (mean and median ordinary and bonus pay gaps) may help to identify what those issues are. GPG is different from equal pay. Equal pay deals with the pay differences between men and women who conduct 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.

To ensure a consistent methodology over time and across government, each full-pay relevant employee’s hourly rate of pay has been determined using full-time equivalent salaries and contracted weekly hours. Permanent and pensionable allowances, non-consolidated performance payments, and salary sacrifice deductions are all incorporated.

2.1 DWP’s 2024 GPG figures – pay and bonus gaps (calculated as per statutory guidance)

The overall mean and median hourly difference in pay is £0.82 and £0.00 respectively.

Ordinary Pay gap

Mean, 4.8%

Median, 0.0%

Bonus Gap

Mean, 8.8%

Median, 12.5%

2.2 Percentage of males and females receiving a bonus in 2024

Percentage of individuals receiving a bonus

Men, 86.2%

Women, 89.8%

The DWP awards both ‘in year’ and ‘end of year’ non-consolidated bonuses. In the financial year 2023 to 2024, to be eligible for DWP’s end of year non-consolidated award, employees had to:

• be in post on both 31 March 2023 and 1 July 2023
• not be undergoing formal poor performance action
• have 60 days of actual performance within the performance year (exceptions to this are where the absence is due to maternity, paternity, adoption or sickness absence)

Note: The following gender pay gap statistics have not included the additional non-consolidated one-off payments made to civil servants in 2023. The payments were not considered to fall within the scope of pay for the purpose of calculations and in any event were made outside the relevant pay period of March 2024 for the main pay gap statistics and are therefore excluded from those calculations. The payment has also been excluded from the bonus pay gap statistics as the payment was not by way of a bonus for these purposes and to treat it as such would serve to mask the true underlying bonus pay gap figures for 2023 to 2024.

2.3 Gender distribution within each pay quartile

Percentage of DWP Males and Females (AA to SCS) in each Pay Quartile, 2024	Women %	Men %
Lower quartile	64.8%	35.2%
Lower middle quartile	66.5%	33.5%
Upper middle quartile	62.4%	37.6%
Upper quartile	58.3%	41.7%
All	63%	37%

The lower and upper middle quartiles approximately map with the gender composition of the department (63% women and 37% men). Women, however, are over-represented in the lower and lower middle quartiles and underrepresented in the upper quartile where they make up less than 60% of individuals in that quartile.  

2.4 Workforce analysis

DWP still has proportionally more men than women at Grade 6 and 7, there is further work to be done in reaching gender parity (50:50) or equality (63:37). In March 2023, 48% of Grade 6s and 7s were women, compared to 49% in March 2024, broadly stable from year to year.

The graph below shows how the representation of men and women differs at each grade and how this compares with parity (50:50) and equality (63:37).

DWP’s workforce is constituted of significantly more women (63%) than men (37%).  At Grades 7 and 6, and SCS2, women account for less than 50%.  Women are more likely than men to fulfil roles in grades AO, EO, HEO and SEO, whilst men are more likely to be in positions at grades 7, 6 and SCS2.

Grade (decreasing seniority)	Number of men	(% of men workforce)	Number of women	(% of women workforce)	% of women in the grade
Senior Civil Servant (SCS)	131	(0.4%)	164	(0.3%)	55.6%
Grade 6/7	2,195	(6.6%)	2,090	(3.7%)	48.8%
SEO/HEO	5,722	(17.1%)	8,130	(14.3%)	58.7%
EO	16,827	(50.4%)	30,616	(53.8%)	64.5%
AA/AO	8,523	(25.5%)	15,902	(27.9%)	65.1%
Total	33,403	(100.0%)	56,902	(100.0%)	66.0%

Women are under-represented at higher grades, and slightly over-represented at lower grades. Over 80% of all women in the workforce occupy grades AA to EO, compared to just below 76% of men. Men are almost twice as likely to fulfil Grade 6 and 7 positions than women, this plays a significant role in driving the ordinary mean gender pay gap.

3. Analysis of pay gap

Ordinary mean pay gap

2019, 5.2%

2020, 5.4%

2021, 4.2%

2022, 5.9%

2023, 5.5%

2024, 4.8%

The primary reason for the existence of DWP’s mean pay gap is as a result of the different proportions of men and women in different grades.

With regards to the change in our gap this year, aside from joiners and leavers this mainly is a result of:

• changes to mean salaries due to pay awards, and changes to grade distribution and workforce structure changes having a positive impact
• changes in SCS quartiles having a negative impact

3.1 Delegated pay award 2023 impact

The 2023 delegated pay award provided above-average increases to our lowest-paid colleagues on Employee Deal terms and conditions in grades AA to EO. We also raised the band minima and awarded those on the band minima a higher percentage.  This likely had a positive effect on reducing the mean pay gap as 80% of staff are in these lower grades, which also have a higher proportion of women. The band minima increase has an effect on reducing the mean pay gap by benefitting those particularly in bands SEO to G6, where there is a much greater proportion of women on band minima in those grades with a longer pay band.

3.2 Senior civil servants

Of the 9 individuals that make up DWP’s Executive Team (SCS3), 7 are women including a job-share. Compared to 2022/23 there has been a greater proportion of women in the lower quartile of the SCS1 and SCS2 pay band, which has negatively impacted the ordinary mean gap. The SCS only mean ordinary pay gap has increased by 3.9 ppt. This increase is partly due to a larger proportion of new entrants to SCS1 in DWP being women (28 of 42 of those new to this grade in DWP), meaning 17% of all women in SCS were new SCS1 as opposed to 11% of men). Since those new to SCS1 are paid less than the average for all SCS, this will tend to reduce SCS women’s mean pay in the short term, but the increase in the proportion of women at higher grades will reduce the overall DWP pay gap. We would expect SCS averages to fluctuate more than overall figures due to the low numbers of SCS staff.

3.3 Workforce structure changes

The mean GPG is affected by changes to the proportion of men and women staff in higher grades.

Last year, the percentage of males in grades SEO to SCS increased by 1.5ppt, and the proportion of females in these grades increased by only 1.3ppt (a difference of 0.2ppt between gender proportion changes).  

This year, the proportion of females in grades SEO to SCS increased by 0.6ppt from 7.5% at 2023 to 8.1% at 2024, and proportion of males in these grades increased by 0.1ppt, from 12.8% to 12.9%. This is a difference of 0.5 ppt between gender proportion changes, in favour of female representation in those grades.  

While the increase for males and females in grades SEO to SCS is smaller than in the previous year, men are still more likely than women to be in these grades, the bigger increase for female representation in these grades has had a positive impact in the narrowing of the ordinary mean GPG for 2024.

Proportion of DWP males and females grades HEO and below

	% of all DWP females in grades HEO and below	% of all DWP males in grades HEO and below
2024	91.9% (decreased by 0.6 ppt)	87.1% (decreased by 0.1 ppt)
2023	92.5%	87.2%
2022	93.8%	78.7%

Proportion of DWP women and men in grades SEO and above

	% of all DWP women in grades SEO and above	% of all DWP men in grades SEO and above
2024	8.1% (increased by 0.6 ppt)	12.9% (increased by 0.1 ppt)
2023	7.5%	12.8%
2022	6.2%	11.3%

The next graph represents the table of ‘the proportion of DWP males and females grades HEO and below’, to show DWP gradually increasing the proportion of the workforce at higher grades for both genders.

Proportion of total DWP workforce at grades SEO or above split by gender, 2020 to 2024

3.4 Gender Pay Gap by Grade Grouping

As the proportion of staff at higher grades increases, they move into grades with longer pay ranges (rather than spot rates). This means that there is a greater potential difference in the rates of pay paid to men and women, which in turn can increase the mean GPG. However, the decreasing gap between the proportion of women and men in higher grades would work in the opposite direction to reduce the GPG.

This is reflected in the table below, where our grades with longer pay bands (SEO to G6) have a wider gap. The increase in the mean pay gap at SCS grades is partly due to a higher proportion of newly recruited or promoted SCS1 being women, and therefore being on lower than average SCS salaries - see section 3.2.

Grade	AA to SCS	AA to HEO	SEO to Grade 6	SCS
2024 Mean Pay Gap	4.8%	0.5%	4.9%	7.9%
2023 Mean Pay Gap	5.5%	0.7%	5.2%	4.0%
% Change in ppt	-0.7	-0.2	-0.3	3.9

In isolation, the increasing gap between the proportion of women and men in higher grades would likely lead to an increase in the GPG.

3.5 Impact of different terms and conditions

Previously, differences in DWP Terms and Conditions have affected our gender pay gap, particularly where employees voluntarily remained on legacy terms and conditions (and rates of pay), following the introduction of the Employee Deal (ED) Collective Agreement (and rates of pay) in 2016. The pay element of ED covered a contractual period of four years ending in July 2019 and offered higher rates of pay to operational grades (AA to HEO). Some of the main reward aims of ED were to reduce the length of our pay scales and move towards spot rates. Those who opted out remained on legacy terms and conditions and are not covered by these ED spot rates. We have analysed the mean GPG for colleagues on DWP’s ED terms and conditions (T&Cs), compared with the mean GPG for employees that remain on DWP’s legacy T&Cs, this has a very limited impact on the overall gap.

AA to HEO Grades	All	Employee Deal T&Cs	DWP Legacy T&Cs
2024	0.5%	0.0%	-0.5%
2023	0.7%	0.0%	-0.5%

We have also considered the impact of including employees on protected T&Cs retained from their previous organisations, to understand how this impacts the overall picture. The TUPE only pay gap is significantly higher than the DWP T&C only pay gap.

Whilst some employees remaining on DWP’s legacy pay agreements does not substantially affect the department’s GPG, employees retaining pay agreements from previous departments does materially negatively impact the GPG.

Ordinary median pay gap

3.6 Median ordinary GPG (unchanged)

The median pay gap remains at 0%. This is primarily due to the existence of an EO spot rate. Of the whole DWP population as of March 2024, 50.4% of men and 53.8% of women were at EO grade and most were on the spot rate. This means the median for both genders fell within the EO range, resulting in a zero gap.

4. Analysis of the bonus gap

DWP continues to make both in-year and end-of-year performance awards. The significant majority of DWP’s performance bonus awards were paid as end-of-year awards and were pro-rated for part-time employees. Unlike the ordinary pay gap, in the calculation of the bonus pay gap, these pro-rated payments are not converted into full-time equivalents, in line with calculation requirements. End-of-year awards are paid at set values by grade.

Mean and median bonus pay gap

	2024	2023	2022
Mean	8.8%	11.9%	14.6%
Median	12.5%	10.1%	14.7%

4.1 End of Year – delegated

In the July DWP 2023 pay award, whilst colleagues at HEO and above received £80, EO colleagues received £150, and AA and AO colleagues received £210. This had a positive impact on the mean bonus gaps, as a higher proportion of staff in grades AO to EO are women. The mean end of year only bonus gap as a result is now 7.2% compared to 9.9% last year. 

In 2024, the median end-of-year bonus gap for colleagues in delegated grades was 4% compared to 0% the year before. This is a feature of how the bonus was distributed in each year. In 2022/23, all AA-HEO grades received at least £145 (with a large proportion of AO and all AA receiving an extra £65), while colleagues in grades SEO to Grade 6 received £200. As a result, the median amount fell at the full time EO and HEO level for both genders. In 2023/24, awards were highest for AA and AO colleagues and lower for those in the grades HEO and above meaning the median fell at the full time EO level for men but slightly below the full time EO level for women, since there are higher proportions of women than men working part-time.

4.2 In Year – delegated

The use of cash and voucher bonuses varies each year, both in terms of the number of awards given and the value of those awards. This can lead to large variations when comparing one year’s bonus gap to another.

The mean in-year gap in 2024 for delegated grades was 7.4% which closely aligns to the gap of 7.3% for all payments in the same year. 63.5% of delegated staff receiving an in-year bonus were women, but those same women only received 61.7% of the bonus pot.

In-year recognition payments include both cash payments and vouchers (which are not pro-rated). The gap in the mean value of cash awards for men and women has fallen, from 5.8% to 3.5% in the previous year, a change of 2.2ppt.

In 2024, The mean amount of in-year awards for men was £221 and for women, was £214 (compared to £224 for men and £211 for women in 2023).

4.3 Senior civil servants

Both in year and end of year non-consolidated award payments for SCS employees have an impact on the bonus gaps. Between March 2022 and March 2023, the average non-consolidated award for men was higher than the average award for women. This is still the case, but the gap has reduced slightly in the latest reporting period.

Whilst SCS males continue to receive higher bonus payments when compared to females, there has been an improvement this year, with the mean bonus gap for SCS falling by 7.7ppt to 11.5% in 2024. This change is mainly due to changes in proportion of male and female SCS employees receiving end of year and in-year bonus payments.

In 2024 the proportion of SCS employees who received an end of year bonus payment increased. The increase was larger amongst women than men, while the proportion of those who received an in-year bonus payment decrease but the decrease was greater for males.

5. Targeted action to reduce and close the gender pay gap

5.1. Recruitment, retention and developing a diverse workforce

DWP recognises the importance of our recruitment and retention practices to reducing the GPG and enabling us to ensure we have a strong and diverse talent pipeline within our organisation. Our recruitment policies and selection guidance maintain the following as standard:

• All recruitment is external by default and with all working patterns, unless there is a strong rationale for not doing so. From 1 April 23 to 31 March 24, just over 96% of all campaigns were advertised externally (an increase of 3ppt on last year), 3% were advertised cross Government only (a decrease of 3%) and less than 1% were advertised internally only in DWP.

• Targeted work on addressing the gender balance during attraction and recruitment is also being undertaken. This includes use of inclusive language in job adverts and attraction materials.

• Recruitment is name anonymised. This supports diversity in the workforce by helping to create a more level playing field in the assessment process.

• All selection panels must have diverse representation.

• DWP have embedded a ‘Questions in Advance’ interview approach to reduce barriers that could benefit candidates who have had time out of the workplace or have lower confidence levels in a traditional interview situation.​

• Quarterly monitoring of recruitment campaigns across delegated grades and SCS to understand where under-represented groups fall out of the process.

• DWP use diverse jobs boards such as Women in Data, Women in Tech and Vercida to promote opportunities to under-represented groups and develop DWP’s employee brand as an inclusive employer.

5.2 Progression and building a diverse talent pipeline

Colleagues at all grades have access to a range of staff networks to support their career and progression, including:

• The introduction of ‘shadow board’ opportunities for colleagues to inform and influence senior decision-making and increase individual’s exposure and experience.

• Active sponsorship and mentoring to increase visibility and advocacy and support development needs.​
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• A Director General Gender Diversity Champion, who chairs bi-monthly Gender Insight Group meetings to identify and address gender representation and inclusion barriers. There are a range of ongoing actions and initiatives in place, which includes:​
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  • Reviewing and updating of the Gender Strategy and Action Plan.

  • Crossing Thresholds 12-month sponsorship scheme. A total of 64 women across DWP participated in the programme between 2022 and 2024. Since 2022, 11 participants have successfully been promoted or secured roles on Temporary Duties Addition (TDA).

  • Delivery of several L&D development and career progression events by the Women’s Network. DWP Gender networks continue to work collaboratively to support all colleagues ​in DWP.

  • 1039 Women (since July 2021) who have registered and participated in at least one of the DOD’s Leadership events, Women into Leadership, Ethnic Minorities into Leadership and Unlocking SCS.

  • The launch of the “Cultivating Your Leadership Journey” pilot workshop which was sponsored by the Gender Champion. Sessions were delivered in December 2023 and August 2024. This is part of ongoing commitment to colleagues on completion of development programmes.

  • Actively promoting participation in DWP and cross-government talent and leadership development programmes including Beyond Boundaries Programme, Future Leaders Scheme (FLS); Leaders Like You and Senior Leaders Scheme (SLS). We also monitor the diversity of all applicants throughout each stage of the application process.

  • A fully inclusive Emerging Talent Strategy and promoting a toolkit to encourage identification, and development of individual potential to deliver a strong and diverse talent pipeline.

  • Data capture and evaluation of programmes using feedback from participants.

5.3 Reward strategy

DWP is committed to a reward strategy that is inclusive, and to take steps to reduce pay disparity within our organisation.

• The DWP consolidated pay award for 2023, applied from 1 July 23, provided an increase of at least 4.5% to all eligible colleagues on DWP terms and conditions; with greater increases for our lowest paid colleagues on Employee Deal terms and conditions in grades AA-EO.  The non-consolidated award also reflected this emphasis by providing proportionally greater amounts to the lowest paid. This had a positive effect on reducing the mean pay gap as 80% of staff are in these lower grades, which also have a higher proportion of women. The band minima increase has had an effect on reducing the mean pay gap by benefitting those particularly in bands SEO to G6, where there is a much greater proportion of women on band minima in those grades with a longer pay band.

• Individuals on protected terms and conditions did not receive a pay award if their salary was already above the new DWP band minimum. As individuals on higher protected salaries does impact on our mean ordinary GPG, the decision not to further increase the existing differences in pay limited the increase to our pay gap.

• Going forward, we will continue to review our reward strategy and the findings from this report will feed into that review.

5.4. Career paths

We have a range of ongoing actions and initiatives in place, which includes:

• colleagues at all grades having access to staff networks to support them throughout their careers and progression

• shadow Board opportunities for colleagues to inform and influence senior decision-making and increase individuals’ exposure and experience

• active sponsorship and mentoring to increase visibility and advocacy and support development needs

5.5 Promoting a family friendly DWP

We at DWP will continue to actively promote:

• flexible, hybrid working, job-sharing, and part-time working to support employees with caring responsibilities and encourage a good work-life balance. Awareness and support of those with caring responsibilities is embedded into all our HR policies and our commitment to this is strengthened by DWP’s membership to the Employers for Carers forum

• Shared Parental Leave (SPL), to provide parents with more flexibility in how to share time off work after their child is born or placed for adoption, we encourage and support a shared parental leave policy that exceeds statutory provisions throughout the department.

6. Declaration           

We confirm that data reported by DWP 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.

People and Capability Director-General: Julie Blomley
DWP Permanent Secretary: Peter Schofield