Transparency data

Environment Agency: pay gap 2017

Updated 25 March 2024

A pay gap is the difference between how much people from one group is paid on average compared with people from another group. Because this compares all employees, not just those doing the same work, the pay gap represents whether on average one group occupies higher paying roles than another group.

We are providing pay gap data for our employees’:

• gender
• disability ^{[footnote 1]}
• race
• religion and belief
• sexual orientation

We collect data on these characteristics of our employees so we can understand how inclusive and diverse we are. Our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion strategy explains our commitment to creating a great place to work for all employees.

The Environment Agency employed 10,706 people at 31 March 2017. Further information about the Environment Agency workforce is published on our Equality page.

1. Summary of report

Key findings of the report:

• our gender pay gap is much lower than the overall UK gender pay gap
• our gender pay gap is relatively low because we have a higher proportion of men than women in both higher paid and lower paid roles
• our pay gap for other characteristics (disability, race, religion and belief, sexual orientation) is similar to our gender pay gap
• the diversity of our organisation is not representative of the UK - this is particularly the case in our teams involving physical roles
• we are committed to improving diversity and have a number of ongoing initiatives
• our commitment has led to an increase in the proportion of women in senior leadership by 10% over the last 5 years

2. Environment Agency pay gap data 2017

In the Environment Agency overall our minority groups such as female, employees with a disability, Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) and Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual (LGB) ^{[footnote 2]} employees occupy slightly lower paid positions. This results in a difference in the average earnings.

This is caused by a similar proportion of employees in each characteristic across the pay quartiles. For example, the bottom pay quartile is 61% men and 39% women whereas in the top pay quartile there is 63% men and 37% women.

This is also the case for sexual orientation where the bottom pay quartile is 3% LGB and the top pay quartile is 2% LGB. However, as we have a smaller number of LGB employees this 1% difference is magnified to a 6% mean ordinary hourly pay gap.

Hourly pay gap (data: 31 March 2017)	Gender	Disability	Race	Religion and belief	Sexual orientation
Mean ordinary hourly pay gap	2.6%	2.6%	3.3%	-0.2%	6.2%
Median ordinary hourly pay gap	2.5%	4.7%	6.2%	3.5%	15.0%

Most of the bonuses are awarded as a proportion of basic pay. On average basic pay is lower for minority groups and therefore results in a lower average bonus. This will also mean that the bonuses will be lower for those working part time. This particularly affects women who are more likely to work part time.

(data: 1 April 2016 to 31 March 2017)	Gender	Disability	Race	Religion and belief	Sexual orientation
Mean bonus pay gap	10.5%	7.3%	6.0%	-3.7%	-10.1%
Median bonus pay gap	8.3%	2.0%	0.0%	2.0%	0.0%

3. Environment Agency pay gap comparison with overall UK pay gap

We calculate our pay gap using a method set by The Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties and Public Authorities) Regulations 2017. The Office for National Statistics use a different method for calculating the UK wide pay gap and therefore the 2 are not comparable. However, for context, the UK-wide median pay gaps are:

• gender – 18% ^{[footnote 3]} UK wide, compared to 3% for the Environment Agency
• disability – 14% ^{[footnote 4]}, compared to 5% for the Environment Agency
• race – no comparable data available
• religion and belief – no UK-wide data available
• sexual orientation – no UK-wide data available

In this context our gender and disability pay gaps are very low compared with the UK-wide gap.

4. Understanding the pay gap information

To help you understand we have some pay gap related definitions.

4.1 Pay gap percentages

The data shows positive and negative percentages:

• the positive percentages show that the average pay is lower for the minority group
• the negative percentages show that the average pay is higher for the minority group

4.2 Ordinary hourly rate

The ordinary hourly rate includes:

• basic pay
• allowances
• shift premium pay

It does not include:

• employees on maternity leave, long term sick leave, or other types of reduced pay
• overtime

The calculation is based on contractual weekly hours. This gives a direct comparison between employees’ hourly pay, regardless of whether they work full-time or part-time.

4.3 Bonus

For the purpose of pay gap reporting ‘bonuses’ refers to:

• one-off payments, based on an annual performance review, given as part of our annual pay award - as these payments are calculated as a proportion of an employee’s prorated salary, the amount is affected by the number of contractual weekly hours
• one-off reward payments given throughout the year to recognise good work

4.4 Mean and median

Mean – adding a range of numbers together and dividing the total by how many numbers there are.

Median – the middle value in a range of numbers.

4.5 Pay quartiles

Pay quartiles are calculated by:

• ordering employees by their ordinary pay
• dividing the employees into four groups, each with an equal number of employees - each group is a quartile

For the Environment Agency this results in pay quartiles where:

• the bottom quartile includes those earning less than approximately £13 an hour including allowances and shift pay
• the second quartile includes those earning between approximately £13 to £16 an hour
• the third quartile includes those earning between approximately £16 to £19 an hour
• the top quartile includes those earning over approximately £19 an hour

Quartiles allow the Environment Agency to compare employees pay including allowance and shift pay rather than using grades which only considers their basic pay. It also allows us to compare all employees’ across our various grade structures to allow for the range of skills we need as an organisation.

5. Difference between pay gap and equal pay

Equal pay calculations compare the average male and female employees’ pay for those doing equal work (for example on the same grade).

Gender pay gap is a comparison of the average pay for all men and all women within the organisation. As well as our pay strategy, gender pay gap is impacted by the grade profile of men and women. This is positively influenced by equal treatment in:

• recruitment
• progression through grades
• performance management
• learning and development
• maternity return rates
• equal use of flexible working and parental leave
• inclusive leadership and culture

6. How we have improved diversity

The Environment Agency is committed to improving our diversity. We have:

• embedded equality messages into our performance management system
• provided positive action development programmes for women, employees with disabilities, BAME and LGB employees
• created a network of Respect at Work Advisors to support our culture of zero tolerance to discrimination, bullying and harassment (DBH) - this work is supported by strong messages from our senior leaders
• supported employees to develop equality and diversity employee networks that support all protected characteristics
• provided unconscious bias training for our managers
• anonymised our recruitment
• embedded equality, diversity and inclusion into our resourcing strategy, including piloting a university summer placement project in which 75% of the 9 students recruited were from a BAME background and 6 were successful in extending their contracts beyond the summer

We have increased our proportion of women in senior leadership positions by 10% over the last 5 years (28% in quarter 1 of 2012/13 to 38% in quarter 1 of 2017/18).

7. How we will improve diversity in future

Our Equality Objectives will create a workplace where all employees can be themselves.

Over the next 3 years, we will:

• ensure diversity is a key factor in the development of our annual pay award
• ensure all our HR policies are inclusive
• continue to improve our performance management system
• complete a recruitment audit
• monitor progression up the grade structure by protected characteristic
• develop our outreach activities with schools and universities
• encourage men as well as women to use our range of flexible working options

8. Gender pay gap

8.1 Ordinary hourly pay gap for gender

43% (4,574) of the Environment Agency workforce is female. This percentage of women is nearly consistent across quartiles:

• bottom quartile: 39% women
• second quartile: 47% women
• third quartile: 45% women
• top quartile: 37% women

Quartile	Female %	Male %
Bottom quartile	39.1%	60.9%
Second quartile	47.0%	53.0%
Third quartile	45.2%	54.8%
Top quartile	36.6%	63.4%

This gives us an ordinary hourly pay gap as follows:

	Gender ordinary hourly pay gap
Mean	2.6%
Median	2.5%

This means within the Environment Agency on average more male employees occupy higher paid roles than female employees.

The Environment Agency is a science based public sector organisation. According to WISE ^{[footnote 6]} the proportion of women in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) occupations is 23%. The Environment Agency is very proud of having 43% women overall and 38% women in our senior leadership positions although not all of these are in STEM.

As we aspire to fully represent the community we serve, we aim to further improve our gender representation to 50%. We also want to address areas of our organisation where we do not have a diverse representation, such as our field services teams who only have 2% women.

8.2 Bonus pay gap for gender

More women than men received a bonus payment:

• Male	75.7%
  Female	87.4%

However, on average women received smaller bonuses than men. This is because most bonuses are a proportion of basic pay and on average this is lower for women than men. The basic pay is lower because they are slightly more likely to be in lower paid jobs (39% of women in the bottom pay quartile compared to 37% of women in the top pay quartile) and they are more likely to work part time.

The difference in the average bonus payment for men and women means that the gender bonus pay gap is:

	Gender bonus pay gap
Mean	10.5%
Median	8.3%

9. Disability pay gap

9.1 Ordinary hourly pay gap for disability

12% (1,308) of our workforce have declared a disability. Each quartile has between 11% and 13% employees with a disability. The similarity across the quartiles means that our ordinary hourly pay gap for disability is 2.6%.

Quartile	Disabled %	Not disabled %	Unknown %
Bottom quartile	11.4%	49.4%	39.2%
Second quartile	12.5%	61.2%	26.3%
Third quartile	12.5%	70.0%	17.5%
Top quartile	13.3%	72.1%	14.6%

This gives an hourly pay gap as follows:

	Disability ordinary hourly pay gap
Mean	2.6%
Median	4.7%

9.2 Bonus pay gap for disability

A similar proportion of employees with and without a disability received a bonus:

• Disabled	86.1%
  Not disabled	86.6%
  Unknown	59.7%

However, on average employees with a disability received smaller bonuses than employees without a disability. This is because most bonuses are a proportion of basic pay and on average this is lower for employees with a disability than employees without a disability. The basic pay is lower because they are slightly more likely to be in lower paid jobs (11% of employees with a disability in the bottom pay quartile compared to 13% of employees with a disability in the top pay quartile).

The difference in the average bonus payment for employees with a disability and employees without a disability gives a disability bonus pay gap of:

	Disability bonus pay gap
Mean	7.3%
Median	2.0%

10. Race pay gap

10.1 Ordinary hourly pay gap for race

3.8% (411) of our workforce are black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME). Each quartile has 3% to 4% BAME employees.

Quartile	BAME %	White %	Unknown %
Bottom quartile	4.0%	94.7%	1.3%
Second quartile	4.2%	93.7%	2.1%
Third quartile	3.8%	94.4%	1.8%
Top quartile	3.4%	95.1%	1.5%

This similarity across the quartiles means that our ordinary hourly race pay gap is 3.3%.

	Race ordinary hourly pay gap
Mean	3.3%
Median	6.2%

10.2 Bonus pay gap for race

Slightly fewer BAME employees received a bonus than white employees:

• BAME	78.8%
  White	81.1%
  Unknown	95.83%

On average BAME employees received smaller bonuses than white employees. This is because most bonuses are a proportion of basic pay and on average this is lower for BAME employees than white employees. The basic pay is lower because they are slightly more likely to be in lower paid jobs (1.3% of BAME employees in the bottom pay quartile compared to 1.5% of BAME employees in the top pay quartile). However the mid value bonus was the same for BAME and white employees.

The difference in the average bonus payment for BAME employees and white employees means that the bonus pay gap was:

	Race bonus pay gap
Mean	6.0%
Median	0.0%

11. Religion and belief pay gap

11.1 Ordinary hourly pay gap for religion and belief

40% of our employees have declared a religion or belief. Each quartile has between 39%-45% of employees with a religion or belief.

Quartile	Religious %	Not religious %	Unknown %
Bottom quartile	39.0%	27.3%	33.7%
Second quartile	38.6%	34.7%	26.7%
Third quartile	40.0%	38.2%	21.8%
Top quartile	45.3%	36.5%	18.2%

This consistency combined with the large number of employees represented results in a -0.17% ordinary hourly pay gap between employees who have declared a religion and those that declared they have no religion or belief.

	Religion and belief ordinary hourly pay gap
Mean	-0.2%
Median	3.5%

11.2 Bonus pay gap for religion and belief

A similar proportion of employees declared they have a religion or belief compared to those who declared they are not religious:

• Religious	83.6%
  Not religious	85.0%
  Unknown	63.7%

However,on average employees who declared they have a religion or belief received slightly bigger bonuses than employees who declared they do not have a religion or belief. This is because most bonuses are a proportion of basic pay and on average this is slightly higher for employees who declared they have a religion or belief than employees who declared they do not. This is higher because they are slightly more likely to be in higher paid jobs (39% of employees who declared they have a religion or belief in the bottom pay quartile compared to 45% of employees who declared they do not have a religion or belief in the top pay quartile).

However, the mid value bonus was slightly lower for employees who declared they have a religion or belief and employees who declared they do not have a religion or belief.

The difference in the average bonus payment for employees who declared they have a religion or belief and employees who declared they do not have a religion or belief means that the bonus pay gap was:

	Religion and belief bonus pay gap
Mean	-3.7%
Median	2.0%

12. Sexual orientation pay gap

12.1 Ordinary hourly pay gap for sexual orientation

2.5% (272) of our workforce are lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB ^{[footnote 2]}). Each quartile has between 2% and 3% LGB employees. Like other characteristics this is only a 1% variation.

Quartile	LGB %	Heterosexual %	Unknown %
Bottom quartile	3.3%	66.7%	30.0%
Second quartile	2.3%	75.1%	22.62%
Third quartile	2.3%	78.7%	19.0%
Top quartile	2.3%	81.8%	15.9%

However, as we have a smaller number of LGB employees this 1% difference is magnified to a 6% pay gap.

	Sexual orientation ordinary hourly pay gap
Mean	6.2%
Median	15.0%

12.2 Bonus pay gap for sexual orientation

Fewer LGB employees received a bonus than heterosexual employees:

• LGB	73.8%
  Heterosexual	84.2%
  Unknown	61.6%

On average LGB employees received bigger bonuses than heterosexual employees. However the mid value bonus was the same for LGB and heterosexual employees. The difference in the average bonus payment for LGB employees and heterosexual employees means that the bonus pay gap for sexual orientation is:

	Sexual orientation Bonus Pay Gap
Mean	-10.1%
Median	0%

13. Footnotes

1. Disabled – includes those with a physical or mental impairment, which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on a person’s ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities. ↩

2. LGB – the analysis does not include transgender as gender reassignment is a separate protected characteristic in the Equality Act 2010 and therefore we collect that data separately. With 6 employees declaring themselves as transgender we do not have enough data to do pay gap analysis for gender reassignment. Currently our database does not enable employees to declare that they are non-binary but this is something we are hoping to achieve in the future. ↩ ↩²

3. Office for National Statistics ‘The gender pay gap – what is it and what affects it?’ ↩

4. Papworth Trust ‘Disability Facts and Figures 2016’ ↩

5. WISE Campaign ‘Women in STEM workforce 2017’ ↩