Corporate report

Home Office's gender pay gap report 2021

Published 27 January 2022

This was published under the 2019 to 2022 Johnson Conservative government

Background

In 2017, the Government introduced legislation that made it statutory for organisations with 250 or more employees 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 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 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.

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. The Home Office promotes the fair treatment and reward of all staff irrespective of gender.

We continue our journey to become a place where everyone feels valued, able to bring their whole selves to work and, importantly, reflect the communities we serve. This reflects our current aspirations for change and take on board the important findings from the Windrush Lessons Learned Report.

This Gender Pay Gap (GPG) 2021 report fulfils the department’s reporting requirements, analyses the figures in more detail and sets out our progress to date and what we are doing to close the Gender Pay Gap in our organisation. It also shows how we are embedding the actions we intend to take to address the Gender Pay Gap, brigaded under a thematic approach of accountability, inclusion and representation. Our report is also in line with the recommendations made from the Inclusive Data Taskforce report published in September 2021

2020/21 Gender Pay Gap Analysis Organisational Context

At 31 March 2021, the Home Office employed a total of 32,876 relevant employees of which 32,591 were full time equivalent (FTE) staff below Senior Civil Servant (SCS), and 284 FTE SCS staff.

The Home Office has the ability, within the frameworks set by HM Treasury and Cabinet Office, to determine its pay and grading structures for delegated grades below the SCS (AO to Grade 6). The SCS pay and grading structures are determined by the Cabinet Office. The Home Office can make salary and bonus awards within centrally determined parameters. The Home Office annually reviews pay for staff in grades below SCS, focusing on what steps might be taken to reduce identified disparities, as part of its pay policy.

Arm’s Length Bodies of the Home Office, and National Crime Agency (NCA), will report separately. The Gender Pay Gap analysis provided here is based on the methodology set out in the Equality Act (Specific Duties and Public Authorities) Regulations 2017.

Across all grades and business areas, our workforce consists of 16,536 females and 16,340 males which represent 50.3%, and 49.7% percent respectively (FTE). Gender Pay Gap figures for 2020/21 are listed below.

Each year, the Office for National Statistics undertakes two surveys and the published outputs include Gender Pay Gap statistics. These are the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) and the Annual Civil Service Employment Survey (ACSES).

ASHE uses employee’s actual earnings, excluding overtime, and actual working hours during a specified pay period. ASHE uses this data to calculate the hourly rate which is used to calculate the national Gender Pay Gap figures. ACSES covers all home Civil Service employees and collects data on full time annual equivalent pay, excluding bonuses. This annual figure is used to calculate Civil Service Gender Pay Gap figures. In this report we have used the ACSES methodology for 2019-20 and 2020-21 data. Comparisons against previous years’ Gender Pay Gap data is not appropriate due to this change in methodology. We will continue to adopt the ACSES methodology in future years.

The primary driver of the Home Office Gender Pay Gap relates to our workforce composition. The use of allowances to attract, retain and recompense our people engaged in front Line 24/7 operations, compared to the rest of our workforce, has a significant impact. The removal of allowances from our GPG calculations reduces our hourly Gender Pay Gap to 3.7% mean and the median to 3.9%.

Key figures

Proportion of male and female employees full time equivalent (FTE) and Headcount

Headcount

Male	Female
48%	52%

Full Time Equivalent

Male	Female
49.7%	50.3%

Distribution of male and female employees by grade

Grade	Percentage of males who work in this grade	Percentage of females who work in this grade
AA	2.5	2.3
AO	17.7	22.4
EO	41.2	39
HEO	15.5	15.2
SEO	10.4	10.5
Grade 7	7.9	6.8
Grade 6	2.8	2.5
SCS	1	0.8

Hourly pay gap

Mean	Median
7.7%	11.5%

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.

Percentage of males and females in each pay quartile

Quartile	Male	Female
Upper quartile	55.4	44.6
Third quartile	55	45
Second quartile	41.5	58.5
Lower quartile	40.9	59.1

Bonus pay gap

Mean	Median
4.7%	0%

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.

Proportion of males and females receiving a bonus

Male	Female
65.4%	64.3%

Analysis

	Mean	Median
This year (2020-21)	7.7%	11.5%
Last year (2019-20)	7.8%	12.5%

Trend data using ACSES calculated data shows an overall neutral position on our hourly pay gap compared to 2020. This year we have seen an increase in the percentage of female workforce employed in more middle management grades and a reduction in administrative grades. This shift in the workforce composition has influenced the reduction in the median pay gap. The underlying contributory effect of allowances to our 24/7 operations on our Gender Pay Gap remains the most significant factor in our mean and median hourly pay gaps. We continue to see also men being overrepresented in the upper quartiles in comparison to women, which is a further contributory factor to our Gender Pay Gap, and relates to allowances being paid within our 24/7 operations.

Percentage of Females in each pay quartile 2019/20 and 2020/21

Quartile	2021	2020
Upper quartile	44.6	44.3
Third quartile	45	44.8
Second quartile	58.5	58.9
Lower quartile	59.10	60.2

Comparing 2020 and 2021 we see overall an overall pattern of reductions in the number of female in the lower quartiles and small increases of female employees in the upper quartiles. There remains an imbalance with women continuing to be overrepresented in lower quartiles compared to men, which continue to contribute towards our overall hourly pay gap.

Bonus pay gap

	Mean	Median
This year (2020-21)	4.7%	0%
Last year (2019-20)	3.3%	0%

Our mean and median pay gaps include all bonuses monetary or voucher made in year or the relevant pay period. Last year in our Gender Pay Gap report only a proportion of vouchers had been included, due to system issues and to provide consistency for reporting purposes. The methodology in place this year incorporates all performance related bonuses in our calculations.

Our approach to reward and recognition changed in 2021 to an ongoing recognition of exceptional performance during the year, rather than a one-off payment at the end of the year. This has led to a larger number of bonuses and vouchers being awarded for in year performance, rather than relying on an end of year bonus scheme solely. We see an increase in the mean bonus gap due to the value of bonus payments to male employees being higher compared to female employees. This is seen in particular at more administrative and first line management roles. The overall average mean bonus award to female employees remains unchanged between 2020 and 2021.

Proportion of gender population receiving a bonus payment in 2020/21

-	Male	Female
This year (2020-21)	65.4%	64.36%
Last year (2019-20)	62%	63.3%

Actions

The Home Office is committed to closing the Gender Pay Gap, and we have a Gender Pay Gap Action Plan dedicated to making our ambition a reality. Our approach focuses on three thematic areas to build an inclusive culture, representative workforce and embedding accountability, In turn this supports our approach to reducing the Gender Pay Gap and key activity under our wider Gender Equality Action Plan. This priority is supported by a Gender Pay Gap Delivery Board which reports into the Home Office Gender Board. This delivery board will monitor and evaluate the Department’s progress against the commitments we make to close our Gender Pay Gap. The delivery board will be chaired by a senior Director.

We have set ourselves specific targets to address the under-representation of women in the Senior Civil Service (SCS) aiming to achieve by 2025, a representation rate of 47%, which is equivalent to the female economically active population of the UK. Female SCS representation in the Home Office exceeded our target during 2020 but in March 2021 was 45.7%.

Our strategy to achieve gender equality has included a variety of interventions and actions. These include participation in cross-government programmes and the development of Home Office specific activities. These aim to build an environment where we are able to retain, recruit and progress our people to ensure that we are representative of the communities we serve. Our actions apply to Gender as well as other protected characteristics.

Our primary focus over the next year will be to build on the detailed analysis undertaken earlier this year on our Gender Pay Gap. In addition to focusing on our approach to pay, we intend to look holistically at interventions and actions we will take. These aim to support our ambition to reduce the Gender Pay Gap through retention, recruitment and development, making the Home Office an inclusive environment for all. This action plan summarises the interventions which are relevant to Gender, but also other protected and diverse groups.

Cross Government and Home Office departmental activity

Since 2016, we have run our own, award-winning development programme called Access to support the development of underrepresented groups in middle management roles, including women. Last year we extended our programme to entry level and administration grades. By 2023 we aim to extend the number of our people participating in development programmes to 1500 people, with attendance which is representative of our workforce.

We provide flexible working to support staff who wish to work more flexibly, for example, posts being available on job-share and options for reduced hours, term-time working or compressed hours, and we encourage the uptake of shared parental leave. By default, all vacancies in the Home Office are available for job-share and other flexible working patterns, including part time.

The Home Office has an active job-sharing network in operation, with links into the cross-government flexible working network, that meets regularly to provide support, advice and share good practice for those looking to set up job-sharing or already in existing partnerships. The network’s objective is also to promote and raise awareness on job-sharing across the HO as a valid choice for those looking for flexible working opportunities, regardless of gender. A number of individuals have been introduced through the network as potential partners.

To complement our internal development programmes, we participate in Crossing Thresholds, a 12-month mentoring programme aimed exclusively for women in the Civil Service at all levels below the SCS.

The Future Leaders Scheme is a cross-government talent programme aimed at high potential senior leaders, including from underrepresented groups to help them accelerate their development to the SCS and to create a strong, diverse talent pipeline across the Civil Service. Also, for SCS we have the Senior Leaders Scheme and High Potential Development Scheme to accelerate the development of high potential SCS.

We have also participated in the Leadership Summit, designed specifically for women to support them moving into executive roles; last year we participated in a pilot Summit for Black, Asian and minority ethnic women, and recently launched an equivalent pilot for women at middle management level.

We are reviewing the outcomes of our Career Watch Sponsorship Programme, for Black, Asian and minority ethnic staff and staff with a disability, where a senior leader will focus their influence to support the development and progression of staff with potential to progress. Data collected from two thirds of the local Career Watch schemes launched so far indicates that an average 54% of sponsees are women. We will be extending our programme to other diverse groups.

In building on our inclusive approach, a support network for people, both men and women who may have experienced domestic abuse has been introduced. We are also focusing on providing additional interventions to support people and the wider impacts of the menopause. These maintain women’s participation in the workforce.

Next steps

The Home Office continues to monitor trends in earnings by gender and to act as permitted within the parameters set by the Treasury’s pay guidance, to further reduce any variances.

Over the next year we will focus on areas where there is a direct or indirect impact in reducing the main drivers of our pay gap. This will be both through actions specific to gender, which are co-owned with our gender support staff network GEN (Gender Equality Network), and through our departmental Diversity and Inclusion Delivery Plan.

Accountable

We will continue to have an Executive Committee level Gender Champion who is supported by a Gender Board which meets regularly to identify and address gender representation and inclusion issues at the Home Office.

We will continue to review our gender representation to achieve a workforce representative of the economically active population. We will review our representation by grade against 2021 census data to ensure our ambitions and targets reflect the most up to date data.

We will ensure that all our people and HR policies consider, through our equality impact assessment process, the impact of all gender related issues, when reviewed or introduced. We will ensure that our consultation processes engage with our Trade Unions and staff support networks to understand our people’s personal experiences.

GEN is an established and active gender staff support network. Together with the department, the network has developed a shared Gender Action Plan focusing on: balanced representation, the Gender Pay Gap, talent, and wellbeing. GEN were recipients of the Advancing Gender Equality Award in the 2020 Civil Service Diversity & Inclusion Awards.

Inclusive

We will review our approach to shortening salary ranges. As staff are recruited and promoted, they will enter the next grade at or near the grade minimum, and may therefore be at a disadvantage to established staff in those grades, who will be at a more advanced salary. Reducing the range width of grade salary bands can counter the potential for this to impact on either gender.

We will ensure that we are transparent in all roles which we offer externally about our approach to starting salaries. These will be explicit in that we expect salaries to be at the advertised rate, and only on an exceptional basis will we alter this approach.

We will review and undertake additional analysis on the application of allowances within the Home Office, to understand whether there are any disparities in outcome based on Gender or other protected characteristics. We will develop, where appropriate, interventions to address any disparity of outcome which we identify.

We will undertake a survey with our people to understand the impact on ways of working which the pandemic has had. We will review findings and identify opportunities which can support an inclusive environment for our people.

Representative

A cross Home Office Exit Questionnaire is due to launch in early 2022 to provide insight into why people leave the Home Office. This will help us understand and, where appropriate, address issues which affect how we retain our people, including based on Gender.

A new system to share internal vacancies and development opportunities will be launched shortly. This will open all vacancies and developmental opportunities across the Home Office.

We are in the design phase for a new careers website for Home Office Vacancies. This will seek to encourage applications from underrepresented groups, particularly for those professions or roles where there is underrepresentation in the workforce. These will include those areas and professions in the Home Office, and which directly impact on our Gender Pay Gap and where there is lower female representation.

Our largest directorate, Border Force, have established a job-share network, and we will be identifying lessons from this pilot to inform how we can encourage job share and other flexible working arrangements for everyone in the Home Office. The Home Office job-sharing network is also linked into this pilot.