Corporate report

Home Office gender pay gap report 2024

Published 17 December 2024

Executive summary 

The Home Office is committed to being representative of the communities we serve. We recognise that we will achieve better outcomes for the public by having a broad range of experience, knowledge, and backgrounds to deliver our objectives. Our focus is also to enable and support all our people flourish in their careers.  

We are committed to reducing the gender pay gap between men and women. Our approach looks holistically at the interventions which will achieve this. Our analysis has found that the primary driver of the gender pay gap is the fact that the Home Office often provides extra compensation for those engaged in front line 24/7 operations, and that workforce has a higher male representation than women. 

Our approach to becoming representative of the communities we serve focuses on improving recruitment outcomes for under-represented groups, including gender. This year we undertook further analysis of our workforce data against the 2021 Census. This allowed us to review and set revised representation targets, where appropriate, in line with the economically active population.  

On the 31st of March 2024, female representation at Senior Civil Service (SCS) grades was 46.7%, which is below our revised 2025 target of 48% and a decrease of 1.4 percentage points from March 2023. For grades below SCS, we have 52.2% female staff, therefore achieving our target of 52%. However, we remain under-represented at Grade 6 (47.7% female) and Grade 7 (48.2%), the key internal talent pipelines to maintain our SCS female representation. Our action plan for next year will seek to address this. We are disappointed to see an increase in our median hourly pay gap, 11.1% (10.7% in 2022/23). Whilst we saw a reduction in our mean hourly pay gap, 6.7% (7.0% in 2022/23) this remains high. The increase in the median and decrease in the mean differences in hourly pay is influenced by the slightly higher proportion of female staff in the lower salary quartiles. We have continued to see a reduction in our mean and median bonus pay gaps, which are 0.0% and 0.1%, respectively.  

Last year we said that we would undertake a deeper analysis of what is causing our gender pay gap and develop localised plans. This year we are strengthening our approach, with a focus on accountability and clearly defined outcomes to help both monitor progress and achieve further reductions. Last year, we also reported enhancement to the performance management system to enable a quicker turn around for our people to be recognised for strong or excellent performance. Looking at the results of our bonus payments this year, it is pleasing to note that the change in our performance management system appears to be having a positive impact. 

Our approach to the gender pay gap goes beyond focusing solely on pay. We aim to continue to build an inclusive environment for all our people, where those already here want to continue to develop their careers in the Home Office, and where others seek to join us to deliver the vital work which the Department undertakes.

Professor Jennifer Rubin, Home Office Gender Champion 

Introduction 

This report covers the period from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024. 

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. These regulations underpin the Public Sector Equality Duty and require relevant organisations to annually publish their gender pay gap. 

The gender pay gap is different to equal pay. The gender pay gap shows the difference in the average pay between all men and women in a workforce and the reporting requirements specify the calculations to include in the report. Equal pay deals with the pay differences between men and women who carry out the same jobs, similar jobs, or work of equal value. A gender pay gap does not equate to the existence of an equal pay problem but may be the trigger for investigating why the gap exists. If an organisation has a particularly high gender pay gap, this can indicate there may be a number of issues to deal with, and the individual calculations may help to identify what those issues are. 

Organisational context 

The Home Office is committed to closing the gender pay gap. We continue to focus on three thematic areas; to build a resilient and inclusive culture, to have a workforce representative of our communities, whilst embedding accountability throughout our organisation. These thematic areas are aligned to the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy. We aim to attract the best people to work for us from a range of backgrounds, experience, talents, and locations. Our executive level diversity champions and staff networks collaborate, recognising the benefits of sharing knowledge, experience, and insights so the Home Office is seen as a visibly inclusive employer. 

Our thematic approach frames how we intend to reduce the gender pay gap and the key activities under our wider Gender Action Plans. This work is coordinated and led by our executive Director General Gender Champion and her Gender Equality Board. The board monitors and evaluates the Department’s progress against the commitments we make to close our gender pay gap. This ensures that the actions which we take are the right ones. Our approach is evidence led, informed by both the feedback and firsthand experiences of our people and quantitative data collected through our People Survey. These are in addition to insights we draw from our gender pay gap analysis. 

Following analysis of the Census 2021 economically active population data, we have set ourselves a revised target to ensure our representation of women in the Senior Civil Service (SCS) reflects the communities we serve. The target was increased by 1 percentage point from 47% to 48% which we aim to achieve by March 2025. As of 31 March 2024, our Senior Civil Service (SCS) female representation was 46.7% which falls short of our revised 2025 target of 48%. There was a small decrease in our total female SCS workforce, from 166 to 165 since March 2023. 

Our aim has been to reduce the gender pay gap through retention, recruitment, and development of our people. To affect this change, we developed targeted action plans focused on areas of priority and aligned to addressing imbalances within our workforce composition. 

As of 31 March 2024, the Home Office employed a total of 51,022 relevant employees of which 50,669 were below SCS, and 353 people were at SCS. This is an increase in our total workforce of 7,895 in scope for our GPG report in 2024 compared to 2023, an increase of 18.3%. 

Across all grades and business areas, our workforce consists of 26,657 females and 24,364 males, which represent 52.2% and 47.8% of the workforce, respectively. This is an overall increase in the proportion of female employees of 0.2 percentage points compared to 2023. The proportion of female staff at SCS grades decreased from 48.1% in 2023 to 46.7% in 2024.  

The primary driver of the Home Office gender pay gap continues to relate to our workforce composition, and the use of allowances. The Home Office pays allowances to recompense our people engaged in front line operations rostered on a 24/7 basis, which has a significant positive impact on their pay in comparison to other parts of our workforce. Staff in roles working theses 24/7 rosters are more likely to be male. . The removal of allowances from our GPG calculations reduces our hourly gender pay gap to 2.8% mean and the median to 4.2%. The overall mean gender pay gap, excluding allowances, has decreased by 0.4 percentage points, from 3.2% in 2023, while the median has increased from 1.1% in the previous year. 

During the 2023/24 financial year, the Home Office has further embedded our new performance management approach; aiming to reward and recognise our people throughout the year, moving away from one off end of year performance bonuses. The proportion of female employees receiving a bonus compared to male employees remains balanced as in previous years. 

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 several issues to address and consider. 

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. 

For the reporting period from the 1st April 2023 to 31 March 2024 (2023/24), the gender pay gap figures were published in the Annual Civil Service Employment Survey (ACSES) for the fifth time. ACSES provides an overall picture across government.

This report fulfils Home Office’s reporting requirements and sets out the actions we are taking in relation to improving gender parity. This information is published on GOV.UK and the Government Equality Office (GEO) portal. 

Table 1: Hourly and bonus gender pay gaps, 2023/24 

Hourly gender pay gap 

Mean	Median
6.7%	11.1%

Bonus pay gap 

Mean	Median
0.1%	0.0%

Table notes: 

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

The bonus pay gap refers to the bonus pay paid to male and female relevant employees during the twelve months prior to the snapshot date, expressed as a percentage of the bonus pay paid to male relevant employees. Bonus pay includes all monetary and voucher payments made during the twelve-month period. 

Table 2: Percentage of male and female employees receiving a bonus, 2023/24 

Men	Women
86.3%	85.4%

Table 3: Proportion of male and female employees in each pay quartile, as at 31 March 2024 

Pay quartile	Male	Female
Upper quartile	54.6%	45.4%
Upper middle quartile	53.4%	46.6%
Lower middle quartile	42.6%	57.4%
Lower quartile	41.2%	58.8%

Table 4: Proportion of male and female staff, by grade, as at 31 March 2024

Grade	Male	Female
SCS	0.8%	0.6%
G6/G7	10.3%	8.7%
SEO/HEO	26.1%	26.5%
EO	44.7%	40.5%
AA/AO	18.1%	23.7%

Table 4 shows the distribution of men and women across each grade for the Home Office. We continue to have a higher proportion of women than men at junior grades – staff at AA, AO and EO grades account for 63.5% of our total workforce, with 52.8% female staff at these grades. 

Analysis of gender pay gap 

The Home Office uses the Civil Service grading system ranging from Administrative Assistant (administration level grades) to Senior Civil Servant (director level grades). Grades are determined by the level of responsibility that employees have in their job roles. Each grade, except for administrative grades, has a set pay range, with higher grades receiving higher salaries. Our administrative grades have a spot salary. 

As a Civil Service Department, we are subject to current public sector pay policy, pay restrictions, and comply fully with all requirements of Civil Service Pay Guidance. When excluding allowances, which are separate from our pay scales, the mean gender pay gap reduces from 6.7% including allowances, to 2.8% excluding allowances, in 2024. Our median gender pay gap, when excluding allowances reduces from 11.1% to 4.3%. 

Table 5: Average hourly gender pay gap, 2021 to 2024 

	2021	2022	2023	2024
Mean	7.7%	6.7%	7.0%	6.7%
Median	11.5%	7.5%	10.7%	11.1%

Figures relate to those in post as at 31 March of that year.

Table 6: Proportion (%) of female employees in each pay quartile, 2021 to 2024 

Quartile	2021	2022	2023	2024
Lower salary quartile	59.1	58.8	58.8	58.8
Lower middle salary quartile	58.5	56.1	56.7	57.4
Upper middle salary quartile	45.0	46.3	47.0	46.6
Upper salary quartile	44.6	45.0	45.2	45.4

Figures relate to those in post as at 31 March of that year.

In 2023 there was an increase in the proportion of employees at junior grades AA/AO compared with 2022, however in 2024 there was a decrease for both men and women. There continues to be a higher proportion of female staff at these grades compared with the proportion of men. 23.7% of all female employees are now employed in these grades compared with 18.1% of male employees. This reflected the focus on increasing our workforce to meet increased business demands. This year we have continued to see that the proportions of our female employees working at HEO and SEO are higher than the percentage of male employees, a change which was first seen last year in 2023. 

The grade mix for male and female impacts on the percentage of women within each pay quartile. The increase in the proportion of female employees at EO grades has contributed to increasing the percentage of women in the lower middle pay quartile by 0.7 percentage points. The proportion of female employees in the upper salary quartile has increased in the latest year, however there was a slight decrease in the upper middle salary quartile by 0.4 percentage points. 

Table 7: Proportion of employees by grade and sex, 2021 to 2024 

Grade	2021: Female	2022: Female	2023: Female	2024: Female	2021: Male	2022: Male	2023: Male	2024: Male
AO/AA	24.7%	22.9%	25.1%	23.7%	20.2%	17.5%	18.8%	18.1%
EO	39.0%	39.6%	38.4%	40.5%	41.2%	42.6%	43.0%	44.7%
HEO/SEO	25.7%	26.9%	26.4%	26.5%	25.9%	27.3%	26.2%	26.1%
Grade 6/7	9.3%	9.9%	9.3%	8.7%	10.7%	11.6%	11.2%	10.3%
SCS	0.8%	0.7%	0.7%	0.6%	1.0%	1.0%	0.9%	0.8%

Note: Unknown grades are excluded from the overall calculations. In 2024, 0.3% of staff did not have their grade recorded on Metis. 

Figures relate to those in post as at 31 March of that year.

Table 8:  Proportion of employees receiving a bonus in 2021 to 2024, by sex 

Year	Male	Female
2020/21	65.4%	64.3%
2021/22	79.7%	79.6%
2022/23	81.0%	80.8%
2023/24	83.2%	82.8%

Figures relate to those receiving bonuses within that financial year.

In 2022 we introduced a new performance management system. This led to a focus on awarding bonus and vouchers during the year, and a move away from end of year bonus payments. We have seen the number of people receiving either a bonus or voucher slightly increase each year since 2022. 

Our bonus payments include all vouchers and bonuses paid in the 2023/24 year. These range from small value vouchers to more substantial amounts depending on the performance or activity being rewarded. In 2024 we saw 11.7% of men receive vouchers across the full year of up to £100, compared to 12.4% of women. 

Table 9: Mean and median bonus gender pay gaps (%), 2020/21 to 2023/24 

	2020/21	2021/22	2022/23	2023/24
Mean	4.7	1.5	-0.8	0.1
Median	0.0	-6.7	4.4	0.0

Figures relate to those receiving bonuses within that financial year.

Targeted action to reduce the gender pay gap 

Our actions in 2023/24 

We have continued to focus on improving our approach to attract diverse candidates from different backgrounds, and with different experiences to work in the Home Office, including women. We have focused on ensuring our vacancy descriptions are clear, highlighting the benefits of working for the Home Office and dispelling myths which may put people off applying for our roles. This attracts a broader range of applicants including female applicants to apply for our SCS roles. We will review this over the next 12-month period to check progress. 

We continued to deliver our Talent Strategy for 2022-25. This articulates our belief that everyone has the talent and potential to grow and make a greater contribution to the organisation, whatever their skills or background. We have continued to increase the number of people who attend internal talent programmes. In 2024, our internal records show that 64% of participants in middle manager grades (HEO/SEO) were female and 61% of successful applicants in administrative and first line manager roles (AA-EO). 

We have also worked to increase our female representation in Digital, Data & Technology. Our Women in Tech continue to drive forward initiatives to progress this agenda. This year saw the growth of an Allyship programme. This not only seeks to support women in the workplace, but will take active, positive steps to ensure everyone has equal opportunity to flourish in their career. 

To address the gender imbalance within our 24/7 operational roles, we launched a series of actions to help increase representation by improving opportunities for career progression for women. These activities included bespoke Women into Leadership events and positive action programmes. We will continue to progress this work to further progress female representation in operational roles, especially at SCS. 

We undertook a detailed analysis of our gender pay gap, highlighting the key drivers. This has led a focus on actions and plans already in place, and to implement new actions to address gender imbalances in our workforce which are contributing to our gender pay gap.  

Our areas of focus for the coming year 

We are continuing to ensure that accountability is in place within the Home Office to help address the gender pay gap. We will work with our business area leadership to develop and implement targeted local gender action plans. This includes ensuring that we understand and address local inclusion and under-representation issues within their workforce in respect of gender, coordinated and overseen by our Gender Equality Board and People Committee.  

Our actions for the coming year

The department remains committed to building an organisation that reflects the communities we serve. This will help us to better understand and respond to their needs. 

We are giving greater focus to our improving our female SCS representation. We will develop actions to ensure that at Director level and above we have balanced male and female representation.

We will also seek and identify opportunities to achieve a balanced representation at all grades within business areas within the Home Office where appropriate to do so. We will develop appropriate actions and plans to identify areas of focus across the Home Office and monitor our progress in achieving this ambition through senior level boards.

We will ensure that our recruitment approach continues to highlight the benefits of working for the Home Office, We will build on the success of our external careers website to highlight how, as an employer, we are inclusive, promoting opportunities to the attract diverse candidates for our jobs. As part of our actions, we will continue to highlight opportunities for women to work across a range of professions and at all levels within the Home Office.

We will actively consider how we are able to reduce our Gender Pay Gap differential as part of our approach to reward and pay within the Home Office. Alongside shortening of pay ranges, we will now consider what more is possible to reduce the Gender Pay Gap through our pay system. We will ensure all our reward and pay activity actively consider the impact on the Gender Pay Gap, with the aim of influencing this positively, where appropriate and possible to do so.

We will undertake a deep dive into part-time working and job-sharing opportunities. 16.6% of our workforce work part-time, however as grade increases the representation of part-time workers decreases. Three-quarters (75%) of our part-time workforce are female.  We will identify best practice in maximising the flexibility in our more senior roles and ensure that best practice is implemented.

We will review how we support those with caring responsibilities within the Home Office. 60% of those who have declared that they are carers are women and nearly 50% of those are over 50. We will work with our new Carer’s champion to understand and develop actions that how we can ensure that opportunities and support are in place for all of those with caring responsibilities.

We will continue to focus on talent development and sponsorship programmes for those in our talent pipelines to SCS. We will focus on introducing interventions to help all colleagues, including women, understand how to prepare and be successful in progressing their career. We also intend to increase our focus in middle management grades (HEO and SEO), building on the success of female participants attending our development programmes. We will promote both cross Whitehall and internal talent programmes, with a focus on ensuring appropriate sponsorship is provided to those who take part in these programmes. 

We will ensure we fully implement the findings from our positive action evaluation programmes and develop a clearly targeted action plan. This seeks to create a suite of positive action interventions including sponsorship that will help bridge the gap with our under-represented groups, including women at Grades 6 and 7. 

Finally, we will continue to review our existing commitments and actions to ensure that they are delivering the outcomes which we want. Our approach to reducing our gender pay gap, focuses clearly on reducing barriers for women to progress their careers in the Home Office. We will continue to review our actions, from how we sell the benefits of working for the Home Office, the effectiveness of our approach to diverse panels, internal talent schemes, development programmes, and providing an inclusive environment where women are able to achieve their potential.

Declaration 

We confirm that data reported by the Home Office 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. 

Matthew Rycroft, Permanent Secretary 

Sarah Taylor, Chief People Officer