Transparency data

Homes England gender pay gap report 2021 (accessible version)

Updated 31 March 2022

Applies to England

Snapshot date 31st March 2021. Published 2022

Foreword: The Gender Pay Gap

I would firstly like to acknowledge the work that has been carried out since Homes England began publishing its Gender Pay Gap Report. Since 2017 the Mean and Median pay gaps have steadily reduced with a focus on active interventions which address pay inequalities at all levels of our organisation.

The publication of Homes England’s first Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Report in 2020 set the agenda for the approach to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, of which the gender pay gap forms part.

This report shows our gender pay gap as at March 2021.

2022 will see the publication of Homes England’s overall revised People and Culture Strategy. Key to improving the Gender Pay Gap and diversity overall is to ensure a fair and equitable environment at Homes England in which everyone can bring their whole self to work. A focus on diversity in the recruitment and talent attraction strategy will continue to support the downward trend.

In 2022 we will begin reporting internally on the Ethnicity Pay Gap and enlisting the support of an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion working group which is representative of our workforce. Sponsorship at Executive level and throughout the Directorates with input from Network Groups and Equality, Diversity and Inclusion specialists, the group will guide the agenda as an integral part of Homes England’s strategy to promote an environment in which Equality, Diversity and Inclusion is built into the foundations of the decision making process within the organisation.

Peter Denton Chief Executive Officer

Introduction

This year we have committed to publishing our Gender Pay Gap report closer to the snapshot date, to provide a more accurate and up to date reflection of our current position and that is what we are doing.

Our reported mean figure as of 31st March 2021 is 13.2%; our median figure is 7.9%, compared to 31st March 2020 figures: 16.9% and 15.3% respectively. The gap has decreased substantially as result of a continued focus. Our progress continues to improve with a significant improvement in both the mean and median figures.

We recognise that there continues to be work ahead of us to further close the gap and retain consistency. Our action plans this year will continue to harness the whole organisation to work together to create an inclusive, welcoming environment for all.

Background

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

• Mean gender pay gap in hourly pay
• Median gender pay gap in hourly pay
• Mean bonus gender pay gap
• Median bonus gender pay gap
• Proportion of men and women receiving a bonus payment
• Proportion of men and women 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 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.

Homes England supports the fair treatment and reward of all colleague irrespective of gender. This report fulfils the gender pay gap reporting requirements, analyses the figures in more detail and sets out what we are doing to close the gap.

This is Homes England’s fifth annual report on gender pay gaps and we remain committed to analysing and investigating any gender pay gaps and ensuring that we put in place the correct action plans to address them.

Our declaration

Our calculations follow the legislative requirements as set out in the Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties & Public Authorities) Regulations 2017. All colleague who were deemed to be full paid relevant employees at 31 March 2021 are included.

Gender identity

Following current requirements for gender pay gap reporting, gender must be reported in a binary way, recognising only men and women, and we are unable to report non-binary or other identities in this report.

The data used for the calculation comes from His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) records, which we acknowledge won’t have an accurate record of gender for many trans and non-binary people.

For the purpose of this report, we have used the terms ‘gender’, ‘men’ and ‘women’, although we understand that, for some people, this will be referring to their biological sex.

Gender is often assumed from the sex assigned at birth. However, we know that sex is more complex than simply ‘male’ and ‘female’ and gender is more than ‘men’ and ‘women’. We recognise there are many people who do not fit into these binary categories, for example non-binary or intersex people.

Gender identity - self-declaration 2021

Identity	%
Female	41.5%
Male	39.0%
Not declared	18.9%
Prefer not to say	0.4 %
Non-binary/Other	0.2%

Our internal diversity data collection process allows colleagues to choose between various gender identities as well as providing a space for them to self-identify.

As at 31st March 2021, 0.2% of colleagues declared their gender identity to be something other than man or woman.

This is lower than the official statistics, which indicate that around 0.4% of the UK population identify in this way (Titman, 2014).

Our data currently shows that a significant proportion of colleagues have not declared their gender identity. As part of our commitment to creating an inclusive environment in the organisation, one of our priorities for the coming year will be encouraging all colleagues to update their diversity data.

However, we understand that there may be some colleagues who do not feel comfortable sharing this information with us and provide a ‘prefer not to say’ option.

We want everyone at Homes England to feel comfortable to bring their whole self to work, and we therefore commit to the following actions to try to create a more inclusive workplace for trans and non-binary colleagues:

• Corporately encouraging the active use of clearly stated pronouns among colleagues
• Providing gender identity awareness training to employees
• Continuing to support and uplift the voices of trans-and non-binary members of our LGBTQ+ network
• Providing visibility of trans and non-binary issues at a senior level
• Addressing the current lack of trans and non-binary members of colleague actively through recruitment
• Reviewing our existing policy and procedures that support colleagues going through gender transition, to ensure they are clear, safe and confidential

Our gender pay gap as of 31st March 2021

Mean and median gender pay gap figures are based on a comparison of men and women’s hourly pay across the agency irrespective of grade, which means that the gap shows the difference in the average pay between all men and women in the agency’s workforce.

• The mean figure is the percentage difference between the mean average hourly rates of men and women’s pay
• The median figure is the percentage difference between the midpoints in the ranges of men and women’s pay
• The bonus gap refers to bonus payments paid to men and women employees during the 12 months period prior to the snapshot date.

Our pay gap figures

Mean Pay Gap

Women’s hourly rate is 13.2%

Median Pay Gap

Women’s hourly rate is 7.9%

Mean Bonus Gap

Women’s hourly rate is -3.3%

Median Bonus Gap

Women’s and Men’s bonuses are 0%

Bonus pay gap

The table below shows the percentage difference between the number of men and women being paid a bonus in 2020/2021 and the mean and median bonus amounts. The bonus data for 2020/21 includes performance-related pay, honorariums and Employee Recognition Scheme payments paid between 1st April 2020 and 31st March 2021.

Mean and median bonus amounts

	Men	Women
Mean Bonus Amount	£232.22	£230.67
Median Bonus Amount	£150.00	£150.00

The data shows that there was a similar percentage of men and women that received a bonus in 2020/21.

Within the 71.76% of women that received the bonus, the mean bonus value was £230.67. Within 71.03% of men that received bonus, the mean bonus value was £223.22.

As the mean bonus amount was higher for women than men, there was a -3.3% Mean Bonus Gap reported.

Median bonus amounts in 2020/21 were the same for men and women, therefore there was no median bonus gap observed.

Pay quartiles

Pay quartiles have been calculated by dividing all Homes England colleagues to four even groups according to their pay.

The upper quartile includes colleagues with the highest level of pay and the lower quartile has the lowest level of pay. The table shows the gender diversity within each pay quartile.

Gender split by pay quartiles

	Men	Women
Upper quartile	60.2%	39.8%
Upper middle quartile	54.1%	45.9%
Lower middle quartile	49.4%	50.6%
Lower quartile	38.6%	61.4%

There is a higher representation of men at the upper quartile (60.2%) and upper middle quartile (54.1%). There are more women than men in the lower middle quartile (50.6%) and lower quartile (61.4%). This data shows that there is still underrepresentation of women in the highest quartile.

Gender pay gap by grade

Lack of gender diversity and representation across grades, as seen in the chart below, continues to be a significant factor of our pay gap. Women are over-represented in junior grades and under-represented in senior grades.

Since the March 2020 snapshot date, we are pleased to report that there is now much greater gender diversity at Director level. However, improving gender diversity alone is not enough, and whilst there are differences in the hourly rate between men and women, particularly at Director grade/higher grades, our gap will remain.

Gender diversity by grade

	Men	Women
Analyst	37.2%	62.8%
Specialist	49.0%	51.0%
Senior Specialist	56.3%	43.7%
Head of Team	50.7%	49.3%
Director/Assistant Director	67.7%	32.3%
Executive Director	71.4%	28.6%

The table above shows our gender diversity by grade, taken from HMRC records for the purpose of this report. We know the table above is not an accurate reflection of Homes England’s gender diversity at some levels, as it does not reflect our non-binary colleagues.

We are exploring ways in which we can improve how we report on gender in future, as well as trying to improve the completion rates of our self-declaration data.

We acknowledge that there is an underrepresentation of women at the top 2 grades, and we want to improve gender diversity at the top of the organisation in the future.

Our gender pay gap journey

Comparing the results of the gender pay gap at Homes England reported at 31st March for the last four years, we can see a slow improvement in our pay gap. In our first report in 2017, we reported a mean and median gender pay gap of 18.4% and 19.6% respectively.

This has now decreased to 13.2% (mean) and 7.9% (median). Over this time, we have implemented a number of changes and initiatives, and talked about our gender pay gap with our Board, leadership team and colleagues. While the gap has decreased, we are working to reduce this further.

Mean and median gender pay gap comparison table

	Mar-17	Mar-18	Mar-19	Mar-20	Mar-21
Mean Gender Pay Gap - hourly rate	18.4%	18.2%	18.0%	16.9%	13.2%
Median Gender Pay Gap - hourly rate	19.6%	17.5%	15.5%	15.3%	7.3%

The gender pay gap at each grade has also fluctuated over the period of the last 5 years, as per the table below.

Gender pay gap by grade comparison

Grade	March 2017	March 2018	March 2019	March 2020	March 2021
Analyst	2.3%	-0.8%	7.1%	2.1%	2.79%
Specialist	5.4%	2.5%	2.9%	4.0%	3.05%
Senior Specialist	1.5%	2.5%	1.6%	3.6%	3.65%
Head of Team	6.2%	7.8%	4.7%	1.5%	1.30%
Director/Assistant Director	7.4%	8.4%	6.9%	8.6%	1.55%
Executive Director	14.6%	-2.8%	100%*	32.6%	16.61%

*at the point of reporting, all employees at Executive Director grade were men, therefore the gap appears as 100%

Activity since March 2020

Since we published our last report in March 2020, we have been working on our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion objectives for the next 4 years. These can be found in our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Report.

Our objectives are ambitious and have provide a platform for us to address inequality and advance inclusion through systemic change, awareness and acceptance raising, stronger leadership on diversity and inclusion, and helping to create a more inclusive industry.

In addition, we have been continuing to progress with existing actions and initiatives, including:

Focus on Development

• We continue to invest in everyone’s personal development at Homes England. All colleagues have access to our Learning Hub which includes a wide range of blended and self-learning tools. Through performance conversations colleagues identify their development objectives which supports our grow our own agenda.

Transparency

• We continue to report on our gender pay gap on a quarterly basis to Executive Directors and the Board.

Attraction strategy

• The recruitment and attraction strategy continues to increase our diversity of applicants. We also continue our pledge to ensure that all Homes England interview panels are mixed gender.

External Influence

• We have joined Real Estate Balance which is committed to improving gender diversity in the property sector.

• Influenced our supply chain partners with the introduction of an ED&I criteria which must be met (within 2 years) by those aiming to access our frameworks as part of the DPS.

Awareness Training

• Diversity and Inclusion and Conscious Inclusion training is provided for all colleagues with rollouts across 2022.

Working with our Network Groups

• The talent and lived experience of the Network Groups.

What are we doing about the gap?

Our ambitions is to create a more inclusive agency which is set out in our diversity and inclusion strategy. Our wider diversity and inclusion objectives are designed to positively impact the gender pay gap. In relation to specific action, we will focus on the areas where we believe we will see the biggest impact in 2022:

National Equality Standard

Homes England have committed to benchmarking Equality, Diversity & Inclusion against the EY National Equality Standard.

The standard measures ED&I performance against 35 competencies across 7 key areas:

1. Core components ED&I
2. Your Talent
3. Your business
4. Your personnel
5. Your leadership
6. Your relationships
7. Review & measurement

Once completed, the report will provide the framework for the Equality Diversity & Inclusion agenda across Homes England.

Focus on Attraction

• Continue the development of an inclusive recruitment strategy that will aim to attract diverse talent through brand promotion, flexible working benefits and inclusive culture.

• Graduate recruitment.

Increased Leadership commitment

• The outcomes of the NES are being considered by our Senior Leadership team and this will help shape our ED&I priorities over the coming months to promote ownership, commitment and visibility.

• Diversity and inclusion training opportunities will be offered to Board, executive and non-executive directors.

Contact us

Enquiries@homesengland.gov.uk

0300 1234 500

gov.uk/homes-england