Corporate report

Gender Pay Gap Report 2023

Published 8 March 2024

Applies to England, Scotland and Wales

1. Background

This report meets the legal obligation for the Insolvency Service to report on our Gender Pay Gap this is due to employing more than 250 employees which is the threshold for the Financial Year 2022-2023. The Insolvency Service and the Civil Service want to create a diverse and representative workplace – one that will attract and retain talented people from all backgrounds, and give everyone, including those already working for us, the opportunity to achieve their potential. It is part of our Five-Year strategy (2021 to 2026) to “Shape” the Agency into a great place to work.

In 2017, the government introduced world-leading legislation that made it a statutory requirement for organisations with 250 or more employees to report annually on their gender pay gap. Most Government departments, including their Executive Agencies 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 by 30 March annually. This includes the mean and median gender pay gaps; the mean and median gender bonus gaps; the proportion of men and women who received bonuses; and the proportions of male and female employees in each pay quartile.

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 there may be several issues to deal with, and the individual calculations may help to identify what those issues are. The distribution of women in higher paid roles in any organisation affects the pay gap.

The gender pay gap is different to 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.

Insolvency Service supports the fair treatment and reward of all staff irrespective of sex. In February 2022 the new Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy: 2022 to 2025 was published. This important strategy document was launched as part of the Government’s Levelling Up programme aimed at driving improvements in the day-to-day lives of all citizens, spending taxpayers’ money with care and providing excellent services.

Our objectives are to enable a Civil Service that:

• understands and draws from the communities it serves – drawing from a range of backgrounds, experiences, and locations
• is visible to everyone – engaging the communities we serve and showcasing what the Civil Service offers
• is flexible – supporting innovation, performance, and engagement
• welcomes talent from wherever it comes – attracting the best talent from all backgrounds

2. Headline figures

The Insolvency Service has published its Gender Pay Gap Report on gov.uk. for ease we have included previous years in our analysis making 3-year period comparisons.

Period Ending – Date	31 March 2021	31 March 2022	31 March 2023
1. Mean gender pay gap - Ordinary pay	9.4%	9%	8.7%
2. Median gender pay gap - Ordinary pay	14.7%	16.1%	11.1%

The headline 2023 Gender Pay Gap figures for the Insolvency Service show a reduction in both our mean gender pay gap to 8.7% and median gender pay gap to 11.1.

The mean is what is commonly described as the average. It involves adding together the pay or bonuses of employees and then dividing by the number of employees.

The median is the middle value of all hourly rates or bonuses when ranked. That is the amount paid to the employee in the middle of the list, if employees are listed in order of pay or bonus. The advantage of looking at the median is that it’s less affected by numbers at the top end of the pay range, such as the earnings of a small number of senior executives.

The gender pay gap is calculated as the difference between average (mean or median) hourly earnings excluding overtime of men and women as a proportion of men’s average hourly earnings.

We’re using both figures because they give us slightly different insights into the distribution of our pay and bonus data, and regulations require us to report on both. As per the regulations, the pay gaps and quartiles figures are based on the pay data on the snapshot date of 30 March 2023. The bonus gaps and participation figures are based on bonuses paid over the 12 months prior to the snapshot date.

This report fulfils the Agency’s reporting requirements, analyses the figures in more detail and sets out what we are doing to close the gender pay gap in the organisation.

3. Our Organisation

Our purpose is ‘delivering economic confidence’ through an organisation that has a flexible workforce empowered and rewarded to develop their capability and professional skills. We are an employer of choice where people are engaged and leadership, particularly through change, is recognised as a strength in all our leaders, whatever their role or grade, meaning we can quickly and easily meet fluctuations in demands and are agile enough to adopt new ways of working effectively and efficiently.

We have delivered and support this through our People Strategy which in turn supports our 5 Year Agency Strategy which has detailed our vision for the Insolvency Service to be at the centre of a fair, efficient and effective insolvency system that is a global leader in insolvency solutions for citizens and for businesses, underpinned and supported by a profession that is recognised for the highest professional, technical and ethical standards when carrying out its work. Our ambitions include an inclusive and innovative organisation fit for the future.

4. The Data

The report published provides our gender pay gap, using the snapshot date of 31 March 2023. This data was drawn from the Annual Civil Service Employment Survey (ACSES) which is collated and published collectively across the Civil Service by the Cabinet Office.

Gender make-up of the organisation:

• On 31st March 2023 the Insolvency Service recorded 1649 employees, with 57.6% female and 42.4% male.
• On 31st March 2022 the Insolvency Service recorded 1733 employees, with 57.4% female and 42.6% male.
• On 31st March 2021 the Insolvency Service recorded 1810 employees, with 56.7% female and 43.3% male.

As the Agency has largely maintained its employee numbers, the proportion of female employees has been steadily increasing overall.

	2023	2023	Female	Male
Grade	People in post (count)	Grade % of total employees	People in post %	People in post %
Band A	486	29.5%	64.0%	36.0%
Band B	328	19.9%	60.4%	39.6%
Band L	332	20.1%	53.6%	46.4%
Band C	334	20.3%	53.9%	46.1%
Band D	157	9.5%	51.6%	48.4%
SCS	12	0.7%	16.7%	83.3%
Total	1649	100.0%	57.6%	42.4%

Bonus Pay Gender Pay Gap

Period Ending -Date	31 March 2021	31 March 2022	31 March 2023
3. Mean gender pay gap - Bonus pay in the 12 months ending 31 March 2023	7.7%	-0.8%	-2.5%
4. Median gender pay gap - Bonus pay in the 12 months ending 31 March 2023	7.1%	-10%	-9.1%

5. Closing the gender pay gap

In analysing the Insolvency Service 2023 Gender Pay Gap, both the mean and median have reduced, with the median reducing by 5% from 16.1% to 11.1%. In terms of the data relating to bonuses, women were higher than men in both the mean and median bonus paid so the overall figures are negative.

The difference in grade distribution is likely to be the main driver of the overall gender pay gap. Whilst our staff numbers have largely remained the same although slightly reduced, this has resulted in increasing proportions of female employees by 0.3%. The figures show that of those employed across the Agency, over 60% at Grade A and B are female. As the GPG calculations look at the total workforce, the departmental pay gap in the Agency can be attributed to an uneven split of men and women by grade but with a predominately female workforce– with more men occupying highest grades.

6. Our processes: recruitment, retaining and developing a diverse workforce

Insolvency Service abides with the Recruitment Principles of fair and open competition with candidate selection based on merit. We are accountable to the Civil Service Commission. To ensure fairness we use the following methods:

• mixed gender interview panels
• anonymised sifting: where all identifiable characteristics are removed
• advertise all jobs as available for flexible working, full-time, job share or part time unless this is a very strong business case not to.
• introduction of recruitment “Success Profiles” which has gone through rigorous equality analysis. The Success Profiles Framework moves recruitment away from using a purely competency-based system of assessment. It introduces a more flexible framework which assesses candidates against a range of elements using a variety of selection methods. This will give the best possible chance of finding the right person for the job, driving up performance and improving diversity and inclusion. The elements that can be assessed to find the best candidate for the role are strengths, behaviours, technical, experience and ability.
• review our data to ensure that we continue to attract a more diverse pool of candidates from application stage to offer stage.
• use our Skills Tool (launched in early 2023) to give visibility of people with expertise, people who need help, and will help bring those people together. The Skills Tool provides a personal record to assist people’s development, and career planning.

The Insolvency Service is committed to ensuring that employees can access the full range of benefits available in connection with pregnancy, maternity, shared parental and adoption which in turn will enable employees and skills to be retained. To achieve this, the Insolvency Service has a range of policies and practices in place. 

7. Performance management

We have worked with Government Internal Audit Agency (GIAA) to amend our performance management process in 2023. Formal recorded reviews take place twice a year, with objectives representing goals in our strategy themes, people strategy, and our values. Managers will also have more regular light touch conversations as part of normal business to support people, as needed. We also have INSSPIRE, an in-year reward system. We monitor and analyse the data for INSSPIRE to ensure that it is fully representative of our workforce and consistent with our known diversity data. This will be supported by our drive to increase our diversity declaration rates across the Agency.

8. Learning and development

The Civil Service offers several central cross-government talent and positive action schemes. The Agency takes part in several talent programmes that are coordinated and delivered by Civil Service Learning. These include:

• Senior Leadership Scheme (Deputy Directors & SCS1)
• Beyond Boundaries (AA - SEO grade)
• Civil Service Local Future Leaders Academy (AA - EO grade)
• Crossing Thresholds (AO - SEO grade)
• Stepping into Leadership (HEO - SEO grade)

9. Working with the Employee Networks

The Insolvency Service employee networks have played an incredibly important role in helping to deliver D&I activity across the Agency. Our 10 employee networks include our Women’s Network, as well as:

• Carers Network
• Disability and Health Network
• FACES network (Ethnicity and Race)
• Grass Roots (Environmental)
• LGBT+ Network
• Mind Matters (Mental Health)
• No Limits (Socio Economic Background)
• Part Time Workers network
• The Shed – (Men)
• Women’s Network Group.

The Insolvency Service continues to promote and have an active workforce to ensure all groups are fully represented within the Agency. This report has been shared with the networks, including the Women’s Network whose input has helped shape this report.

10. Next steps

The Agency will continue to assess progress by:

Reviewing our recruitment practices

In July 2023, the Insolvency Service adopted a new approach to recruitment by launching a new Centralised Recruitment Team (CRT). Our CRT is continuously reviewing our recruitment practices, which will help women access development opportunities. The actions the Insolvency Service is undertaking include:

• ensuring that recruitment panels are gender-balanced
• reviewing our training on Inclusion in the Civil Service
• reviewing our learning opportunities on the Civil Service Campus
• exploring alternative places to advertise jobs to attract a diverse pool of candidates
• advertising expressions of interest through network groups
• advertising the civil service job share register
• promoting the use of our Regional Centre network for new joiners and the ability for internal staff to work from any office (under the Transforming Workplaces agenda) and use of technology to open opportunities and reduce travel requirements.

Supporting parents and carers

We know that returning to work after starting a family can be challenging. We are signatories of the Carers Charter to show our commitment to supporting carers in the workspace. Our Carers Network also provides support, insight, and advice to employees. Employees continue to welcome our flexible working options, which benefits all our people, especially carers and has the indirect effect of helping women.

Supporting the women’s network

Our women’s network continues to help improve engagement and awareness, whilst also facilitating networking across the Agency. It also participates in our mentoring for success is aimed at underrepresented groups, where senior managers are mentored by more junior members of staff. The network helps women further their practical skills and have inspiring role models. Dave Magrath (SCS Network Sponsor) and Marisa Ricketts (Network chair) have been involved with the drafting of this report.

‘The agency gender pay gap report for 2023 highlights the continued progress towards pay equality. It is great to see increasing female representation at all grades but there remains work to do to ensure that talented women in the organisation can be developed and supported into SCS roles’ - Dave Magrath (SCS Network Sponsor).

‘The Agency’s stats provide a progressive insight into the level of women employed exceeding those of men exponentially over the grades between A and D.  Optimistically we see a future with a more balanced Senior Leadership level and as Chair of the Women’s Network, it is my responsibility to continue to promote development opportunities offered by the Agency and wider civil service and with the continued support of our Ally and Supporter, Dave Magrath, we hope to see gender equality appear across all grades and departments’ - Marisa Ricketts (Network chair).

Looking at the representation of women across the whole Organisation.

We want to ensure talented women are represented across all our pay grades.

Our work with the new CRT will help ensure representation of women across the Agency, especially at the highest levels. We also have an annual budget for a Women into Leadership programme.

We launched our new values in early 2023 following engagement across the agency including our networks. We continue on our journey of improvement, with our actions helping to embed a culture change across the Organisation.