Transparency data

MHCLG’s gender pay gap report 2020

Published 15 December 2020

Applies to England

Background

In 2017, the government introduced world-leading 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 the relevant organisations to publish their gender pay gap data by March annually, including 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 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. MHCLG supports the fair treatment and reward of all staff 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 gender pay gap in the organisation.

Organisational context for gender pay gap reporting

For the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government Group, our overall gender pay gap figures incorporate data for The Planning Inspectorate and the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre as well as the core Department. A total of 3,099 people are included in the dataset, with women making up 49%. This compares to a figure of 50% for women in 2019.

This is the fourth annual report on gender pay gaps in the MHCLG Group 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. Gender pay gaps in the core Department are modest, in part because of the even distribution of men and women throughout the organisation. However, for the Planning Inspectorate the gender pay gaps are more structural, and it is our priority to find the best possible interventions to deal with these issues without introducing new biases in recruitment.

Gender pay gap for the MHCLG Group

The Group (MHCLG core department and agencies) shows a mean pay gap of 5.1% and a median pay gap of 7.7%. Both gaps have widened slightly since the reporting exercise in 2019 when the mean gap was 4.3% and the median gap was 6.0%.

Mean and median pay gap by organisation - 31 March 2020

Mean MHCLG Group	5.1%
Median MHCLG Group	7.7%
Mean MHCLG Core Department	3.1%
Median MHCLG Core Department	3.0%
Mean PINS	11.6%
Median PINS	14.6%
Mean QEII	-10.2%
Median QEII	-9.6%

Gender pay gap results vary in different parts of the Group:

	Mean Gender Pay Gap 2020	Mean Gender Pay Gap 2019	Median Gender Pay Gap 2020	Median Gender Pay Gap 2019
MHCLG Core	3.1%	1.3%	3.0%	0.4%
PINS	11.6%	15.3%	14.6%	26.2%
QEII	-10.2%	-8.0%	-9.6%	-1.9%

*In the case of the Queen Elizabeth II Conference centre the negative pay gap indicates that women are paid more than men at both the average and median positions.

MHCLG has demonstrated its wholehearted commitment to equality of opportunity over a sustained period of several years, taking concrete steps to help us build a more inclusive and diverse organisation. We have an ambitious diversity and inclusion strategy, targeted at bringing in and advancing a diverse workforce, at all levels, including at our most senior levels. The objective of our strategy is to improve representation in certain areas, but above all to continue to create an inclusive and fair culture where all talent can flourish.

Pay quartile distribution for the MHCLG Group

Pay quartiles have been calculated by splitting all MHCLG group employees into 4 even groups according to their level of pay. Looking at the proportion of women in each quartile gives an indication of women’s representation at different levels of the group. An analysis of the MHCLG group showing the proportion of male and female employees in each quartile is shown in the graphic below:

Proportion of male and female employees in each quartile

Quartile	Female	Male	Total
Upper quartile	43.4%	56.6%	100%
Upper middle quartile	48.7%	51.3%	100%
Lower middle quartile	49.4%	50.6%	100%
Lower quartile	54.8%	45.2%	100%

Bonus pay for the MHCLG Group

Bonus pay is included in all gender pay gap calculations. This included in-year Exceptional Performance schemes (cash awards and vouchers); end of year bonuses for a defined proportion of staff and specific profit-related incentive arrangements at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre. Slightly more women (63.1%) received a bonus in the 12 months ending 31 March 2020 than men (61.4%).

Proportion of men and women paid a bonus

Male	61.4%
Female	63.1%

3-year comparison table for MHCLG Group

	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20
Mean gender pay gap - ordinary pay	3.1%	4.3%	5.1%
Median gender pay gap - ordinary pay	7.7%	6.0%	7.7%
Mean gender pay gap - bonus pay in the 12 months ending 31 March	-5.1%	-16.5%	-10.9%
Median gender pay gap - bonus pay in the 12 months ending 31 March	0%	0%	0%

Proportion of male and female employees paid a bonus in the 12 months ending 31 March

	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20
Male	49.0%	47.2%	61.4%
Female	55.0%	50.3%	63.1%

Data methodology and approach

This year our gender pay gap data has been aligned with Annual Civil Service Employment Statistics (ACSES) supplied to the Cabinet Office for the period ending 31 March 2020.

As part of this approach, each full-pay relevant employee’s hourly rate of pay has been determined using full-time equivalent salaries and contracted weekly hours. Permanent and pensionable allowances, non-consolidated performance payments, and salary sacrifice deductions are all incorporated to ensure that the methodology is consistent with reports produced in previous years. The department is satisfied that this complete and comprehensive approach is wholly consistent with the actual salary, hours and earnings (ASHE) approach applied in each of the last 3 years.

MHCLG continues to work closely with its executive agencies, PINS and QEIIC, to ensure consistency with previous years following the change in approach to reporting this year. However, as their gender pay gap data is submitted directly to the Cabinet Office as part of the annual collection of civil service statistics, we are no longer able to analyse and explain their data in the way that we have done in previous years.

Tackling the MHCLG Group gender pay gap

MHCLG is committed to closing our gender pay gap, as a key part of our overarching ambition to have skilled, talented, committed, diverse and high performing people, supported by effective leaders.

Each of our organisations has been directed to formulate a plan to address their gender pay gaps. The action plan for the core Department is set out below. Annex B and Annex C set out detailed action plans for The Planning Inspectorate and the Queen Elizabeth II Conference centre.

MHCLG: Core Department gender pay gaps

While the gender pay gaps reported for the MHCLG core department last year were 1.3% at the mean and 0.4% at the median, our gender pay gaps have increased this year. The gender pay gap for the core department as at 31 March 2020 is 3.1% at the mean and 3.0% at the median. MHCLG has employed 571 new staff between 31 March 2019 and 31 March 2020, and so our dataset is substantially changed from that on which previous analysis was based. To further add to that point, 401 of the staff included in last year’s report have left the Department in the time since.

An analysis of the gender pay gaps by grade* for the core department shows:

MHCLG average (mean) gender pay gap by grade

Grade	Female mean hourly rate of pay	Male mean hourly rate of pay
SCS2 (6.7% difference in pay)	£51.1	£54.8
SCS1 (4.2% difference in pay)	£38.4	£40.1
G6 (3.0% difference in pay)	£34.1	£35.2
G7 (2.0% difference in pay)	£27.9	£28.5
SEO (1.4% difference in pay)	£21.1	£21.4
HEO (0.8% difference in pay)	£17.2	£17.3
EO (2.0% difference in pay)	£14.3	£14.6
AO (3.4% difference in pay)	£13.1	£13.6

*Grades in the civil service progress in seniority from AO (Administrative Officer) through to SCS (Senior Civil Servant).

Gender Pay Gaps in the core department have been impacted by considerable changes in the Executive team.

Whereas previously we had a female Permanent Secretary and female Chief Financial Officer, the data for March 2020 reflects the appointment of a male Permanent Secretary. The permanent CFO (male) had not yet been appointed and so does not appear in data for this year. There is now a gender pay gap of 6.7% at Director (SCS2) level compared to 8.3% last year, with the gender pay gap for this grade continuing to be impacted by outliers, but it is good to see it close slightly; and there is a gender pay gap of 4.2% at Deputy Director (SCS1) level, compared to 3.2% last year.

For Senior Civil Servants’ recruitment, we scrutinise new appointments to ensure that we benchmark appropriately and that any differentials in pay offer are justified in terms of skills and experience. However, there are cases where individuals transfer in from other departments and we are bound to the CS rules for either level transfer or increase on promotion.

Whilst there have been only marginal changes in gender pay gaps at Grade 7, SEO (Senior Executive Officer) and HEO (Higher Executive Officer) level, the gap at Grade 6 has widened from 1.6% last year to 3% this year. Analysis of appointments and turnover at this level does not provide conclusive evidence for this change: for example, of the 35 joiners in the period, the same number (9) of males and females were appointed at the minimum of the pay range; slightly more women were appointed above the pay range minimum than men. Of the 55 leavers during the period, slightly more women were paid above the minimum than men, with the impact of widening the gender pay gap for those remaining in post.

The EO (Executive Officer) gender pay gap, has grown from 1.3% at the mean to 2%. There were 117 joiners at this grade during the reporting period (64 female, 53 male). 19 more female joiners were appointed at the minimum than male joiners which could have impacted this – higher starting salaries at EO level are because of transfers in from other government departments and promotions from the relatively high AO spot rates; it is very rare for a higher starting salary to be approved on appointment for any new civil servant at this level.

At AO (Administrative Officer) level the gender pay gap has closed from 4.0% in 2019 to 3.4% in 2020. Last year as part of the annual pay remit we moved all AOs below the spot rate onto the spot rate, but gender pay gap calculations do not differentiate on region so gender pay gaps impacted by the location of our AOs remain. We have 73 AOs in total (44 female, 29 male), 79% of male AOs are based in London where the AO spot rate is £26,344pa. The gender pay gap at AO level is impacted by female appointments in the regions, where the spot rate is £22,621pa.

An analysis of the quartile distribution for the core department by grade shows a relatively even distribution of men and women in all quartiles which plays a large part in explaining our modest gender pay gaps. However, whereas last year 51.2% of females were in the upper quartile, this year this has reduced to 48%. Whereas last year 52% of women were in the lower quartile, this year this has shifted to 53.8%. These changes in the distribution of men and women in the quartiles, particularly at the upper quartile, explain the widening of our gender pay gap this year, both at the mean and at the median.

MHCLG Core Department Pay Quartiles	Female %	Male %
Upper quartile	48.0%	52.0%
Upper middle quartile	52.6%	47.4%
Lower middle quartile	49.5%	50.5%
Lower quartile	53.8%	46.2%
MHCLG Core Department Total	51.0%	49.0%

Closing the gender pay gap – Core Department Action Plan

Whilst the increase in gender pay gaps for the MHCLG Group is disappointing, the change is small and we understand the reasons for the increase. We will continue to work closely with our arms lengths bodies to address the reasons for these pay gaps across the Group. Our pay policy ensures that men and women in equivalent roles receive the same pay.

We go above and beyond our legislative responsibilities, ensuring that equality is an integral part of all our activities, including people management processes and procedures. We are acting to close the gender pay gap through a number of interventions:

Recruitment, retaining and developing a diverse workforce

MHCLG’s external recruitment is carried out under Civil Service Commission Principles. All our recruitment must be based on fair and open competition and successful candidates selected on merit. We commit to continue to:

• Ensure all our roles are advertised on the external market by default, which has allowed us to recruit in a more inclusive, open and transparent manner.
• Extend our candidate reach by expanding our use of social media, alternative recruitment, network events, career platforms, ‘we are for everyone’ videos are now part of all our external recruitment adverts.
• Exploit our recruitment platform to remove bias and create a more inclusive recruitment. We practice blind recruitment so that names, age, gender, race, educational background or work experience are removed at the sifting stage.
• Mandate gender-mixed panels for all levels of recruitment including at our most senior roles.
• Encourage recruitment and selection training for hiring managers, colleagues who sift, and those who sit on interview panels to promote diversity and inclusion. Managers are required to attend the “success profiles” training course, which works to provide a comprehensive view of “how to recruit”, including inclusive recruitment and the value of diversity in the workforce. So far, we have trained over 800 recruiting managers.

Progression

We aim to help women progress in their careers and achieve their full potential through improving the diversity of our participants in cross-government and internal talent management schemes such as:

• Internal sponsorship, championing and mentoring of women has been a contributing factor in the overall representation of women, which in MHCLG is 51%, slightly ahead of the 50% gender parity value. Women make up 53% of our Senior Civil Service posts and most appointments in the last two years have come via progression over external hires
• Crossing Thresholds: a 12-month career mentoring programme for women to develop their career aimed at entry level to senior manager grades.
• Positive Action Pathways: a scheme for staff in under-represented groups, aimed at staff in all grades from entry to senior management. MHCLG has funded significantly more places on this scheme in 2019 than previous years.
• Women’s Leadership Summit: a programme that helps to create a sustainable pipeline of female talent ready to move into Senior Civil Service roles. In 2019 we introduced a new leadership summit specifically for women from an ethnic minority background.

The mixture of internal sponsorship and programmes aim to overcome barriers and help women compete on equal footing for progression or other Civil Service talent schemes. MHCLG promotes, and will continue to support, female applicants in all cross-government talent schemes across the department.

We will also continue to:

Offer internships to people from under-represented backgrounds through a Summer Diversity Internship Programme and the Early Diversity Internship Programme to provide people with an opportunity to learn about a career in the Civil Service and to prepare them for a place on the central Fast Stream graduate programme.

Accountability and transparency

MHCLG has focused on greater accountability and transparency to demonstrate, and fulfil, our commitment to equality. To support this, we:

• Internally publish monthly analysis of diversity and inclusion declaration and representation data to measure the impact of our action plan. These monthly packs also include a monthly headline/theme with a deeper dive into specific aspect of the data, intersectionality qualitative data and the lived experiences of staff and further data such as on reward, development, engagement and promotion by different characteristics.
• Internally publish all Senior Civil Servants’ D&I Objectives. All Senior Civil Servants have committed to at least one personal objective relating to Diversity and Inclusion and at MHCLG, with several supporting women to progress or promoting gender equality within the department.
• Internally publish this gender pay gap report, including analysis of gender pay gaps on a grade-by-grade basis, including those at SCS level.

Diversity, inclusion and equality in MHCLG

MHCLG is fully committed to equality of opportunity for all its people. Our Permanent Secretary Jeremy Pocklington takes pride in his role as MHCLG D&I Champion. We have taken concrete steps within our diversity and inclusion strategy to improve representation and inclusion for different demographic groups, including a focus on gender. MHCLG published a diversity and inclusion action plan in January 2019 under the three strategic aims of ‘Bring In’, ‘Bring On’, and ‘Inclusive’ and have made great progress in these areas. A new strategy for 2021 is being developed.

The department offers a range of support and development opportunities for women. We have an active MHCLG Gender Equality Network who share regular blogs, support policy development and run events to promote gender equality. The network is sponsored by a Gender Champion who is part of the Executive Team.

Celebrating gender equality and intersectionality

We will continue to support, fund and encourage the Gender Equality Network to celebrate and champion gender equality. In addition, we have started to encourage opportunities for cross-network collaboration in order to support intersections between gender and other demographic groups.

• Throughout 2020 we continued to run our campaign called “We are for everyone”, which through posters and personal blogs, shared the stories and experiences of our people in 2019. In 2020 produced two professional videos sharing the experiences of six members of MHCLG, four female and two male staff, from their perspectives, with consideration given to their gender, ethnicity, nationality, disability, working patterns etc. The intention is to promote the message that everyone can have a successful career in MHCLG and that “we are open, inclusive and we listen”, one of our departmental principles. This campaign is now part of all our external recruitment.
• We have now launched a new business deal in 2020 to support staff networks and provide them with further capacity and paid time. Our staff network chairs also now regularly meet with MHCLG’s Executive Team to facilitate the exchange of information and support.
• Our Gender Equality Network now has several new co-chairs bringing a new focus. MHCLG are now seeing real collaboration across networks where issues of gender intersect with other areas like race and sexuality and identity and social mobility.
• During 2020 staff networks have continued to work together on campaigns, joint events and projects. To further support our staff networks we are in the process of setting up an online hub for network chairs and committees to share best practise, collaborate and access additional training for themselves and their network members.
• We have entered a partnership with Inclusive Employers and are developing an allyship programme to run in 2021 which will focus on allyship across several areas including gender.
• Throughout 2020 we have run events and intranet content to support women at different intersects with other demographic groups.

Family Friendly HR policy

MHCLG has a culture of supporting and encouraging flexibility, and will challenge assumptions about traditional ways of working, taking account of the needs of our work, customers and employees. We will continue to:

• Promote the sharing of parental leave so that women can best manage their maternity provision where at least one partner works for the department.
• Provide additional resources to support families and working parents including: the Employee Assistance Program (EAP), which provides individual support for carers and managers; special leave, which provides carers with additional leave for important events or emergencies involving a dependent; and a carers passport, to identify problems in the workplace related to their responsibilities and solutions to alleviate these issues.

During school closures due to COVID-19 working parents were able to apply for special leave, this was provided to support staff with caring responsibilities for young children. The special leave was able to be used in a variety of ways according to each individual situation. Our approach and flexibility toward HR policies on supporting staff with caring responsibilities during the pandemic has been an exemplar in practice.

Declaration

Our calculations followed the legislative requirements as set out in the Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties and Public Authorities) Regulations 2017. The MHCLG Core departmental data has been verified by an analyst and signed off by the Permanent Secretary.

All staff who were deemed to be full paid relevant employees at 31 March 2020 were included. Our data includes that of our Executive Agencies. The data set reflects a total workforce of 3,099 individuals based on those in scope for gender pay reporting purposes – MHCLG Core: 2,245; Planning Inspectorate: 806 and Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre: 48

Annex A: Group structure and gender balance

Women make up just under half of employees at all grades in the MHCLG Group. Women are well represented at SCS level, with 4.5% of all female staff working at this level compared with 3.1% of men. This representation for SCS compares favourably with the rest of the Civil Service.

Grade balance for the MHCLG Group as of 31 March 2020

Grade	Number of men (% of men who work in this grade)	Number of women (% of women who work in this grade)	% female
AA/AO	90 (5.6%)	140 (9.0%)	60.9%
EO	220 (13.8%)	210 (13.5%)	48.8%
HEO/SEO	560 (35.0%)	570 (36.8%)	50.4%
Grade 6/7	680 (42.5%)	560 (36.1%)	45.2%
SCS	50 (3.1%)	70 (4.5%)	58.3%
Total	1,600 (100%)	1,550 (100%)	49.2%

In comparison, this table shows the proportion of men and women at each grade in the Civil Service overall.

Grade balance for the Civil Service overall as of 31 March 2020

Grade	Number of men (% of men who work in this grade)	Number of women (% of women who work in this grade)	% female
AA/AO	61,290 (29.9%)	80,620 (34.1%)	56.8%
EO	50,980 (24.9%)	65,550 (27.8%)	56.3%
HEO/SEO	60,110 (29.3%)	60,680 (25.7%)	50.2%
Grade 6/7	29,000 (14.2%)	26,310 (11.1%)	47.6%
SCS	3,500 (1.7%)	2,940 (1.2%)	45.7%
Total	204,880 (100%)	236,100 (100%)	53.5%

Grade balance information above is taken from the Cabinet Office Civil Service Statistical Release for 2020. These figures include all paid employees in the MHCLG Group and wider Civil Service as of 31 March 2020 and do not exactly match the number of full-pay relevant staff in scope for Gender Pay Gap reporting purposes.

Please note that some non-CS standard roles are mapped to an equivalent Civil Service grade for the purpose of the Cabinet Office collection.

Annex B: The Planning Inspectorate gender pay gap analysis

Context

The pay gap reported as at 31 March 2020 was 11.6% at the mean, the current gender pay gap has decreased by 3.7% since the last report in 2019. We are encouraged by the closing of our gender pay gap in the year. The Chief Executive and the Executive Board are committed to implementing short term and long-term plans to address current pay gaps, and this is a priority for the PINS Executive team.

We have undertaken thorough analysis of our workforce and structure to understand the reasons and are confident that we have robust plans and actions in place to further address the gap. Like other professions and industries, we are working hard to improve our gender balance and reward but will have a long lead time in correcting the gender imbalances of the past.

Organisation structure and gender balance

The Planning Inspectorate has two distinct groups of staff: office-based staff and home-based Inspectors who determine Planning Appeals throughout England and Wales. Office-based staff follow the traditional Civil Service grading structure. Inspectors are graded into three bands according to the complexity of the casework: Band 1 being the least complex and Band 3 the most complex. Our Inspector workforce is home based whilst the Professional staff is based at Temple Quay House (TQH), Bristol and Cathays Park, Cardiff.

Grade	Male	Female	Total	Male %	Female %	Range min	Range Max
SCSPB2	0	1	1	0%	100%	-	-
SCSPB1	3	1	4	75%	25%	-	-
GM	1	0	1	100%	0%	-	£79,676
Professional lead	4	2	6	66.7%	33.3%	-	£79,676
G6	4	4	8	50%	50%	£65,773	£72,387
G7	6	13	19	31.6%	68.4%	£54,124	£58,948
SEO	23	18	41	56.1%	43.9%	£40,114	£53,097
APO	12	8	20	60%	40%	£32,291	£34,348
HEO	34	32	66	51.5%	48.5%	£32,291	£34,348
EO	48	42	90	53.3%	46.7%	£25,666	£27,122
AO	55	83	138	39.9%	60.1%	£20,952	£22,227
AA	6	6	12	50%	50%	-	£19,040
APP AO	2	7	9	22.2%	77.8%	-	£17,809
Professional staff total	198	217	415	47.7%	52.3%	-	-

Grade	Male	Female	Total	Male %	Female %	Range min	Range Max
Band 3	43	30	73	58.9%	41.1%	£70,551	£76,270
Band 2	114	51	165	69.1%	30.9%	£57,937	£64,307
Band 1	97	56	153	63.4%	36.6%	£46,960	£50,350
Inspectors total	254	137	391	65%	35%	-	-

Grade	Male	Female	Total	Male %	Female %
PINS total	452	354	806	56.1%	43.9%

The gender pay gap at the Planning Inspectorate is structural - the overall gender pay gap is directly attributable to the large proportion of our senior Inspectors being male and a large portion of our AO and APP AO (apprentice) population in our casework and corporate services teams being female.

During the last Inspector recruitment campaign, the number of female applicants for Band 2 and 3 were low, however the hire rate remains constant. See Table 2 below:

Applicants breakdown by grade	% male applicants	% males hired of total applicants	% female applicants	% females hired of total applicants
B2	66%	58%	31%	42%
B3	79%	73%	17%	27%
Total	70%	63%	27%	38%

Inspectors are recruited from Architects, Town Planners, Surveyors, Legal Profession and Civil Engineers which are all male dominated fields. The Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) has this year launched studies into diversity in the sector and more specifically into the attraction and progression of females in the planning profession.

The RTPI Study (Feb 2019) – ‘Women into Planning’ found that the recent evidence suggests that female planners are still more likely to experience barriers to their professional advancement than their male counterparts. Compared to the ‘top four’ built environment Institutes, the composition of the RTPI’s membership is relatively diverse – with 39% female and 61% male.

In addition to more female planners, what is needed is an institutional shift regarding the way gender specific needs are integrated in planning policies.

But whilst the diversity of the membership may be slowly changing, this is primarily at lower levels. Representation at senior levels, both in the public and private sectors, is heavily dominated by males.

Planning Inspectorate is aware of this fact and recognises that to bring about genuine equality in the Planning Inspectorate, we need a long-term strategy.

Our analysis illustrates that the equal pay gap within most of our grades is quite narrow, further supporting the structural explanation for the imbalance. In Table 3 below, the mean equal pay gap is shown for each CS equivalent grade level, and apart from SCS2 and SCS1, most equal pay gaps are small or advantage women providing evidence of a gender-neutral pay approach for equivalent roles and no overt underlying Equal Pay issues. The SCS population is very small (4 people) including Sarah Richards, CEO and her leadership team.

Table 3: Mean average pay gap

Grade	Male	Female	Gap
SCSPB2		£73.8
SCSPB1	£45.9	£57.3	-24.9%
GM	£41.6	£41.6	0.0%
G6	£35.5	£34.2	3.6%
G7	£29.4	£28.4	3.4%
SEO	£21.5	£21.0	2.2%
HEO	£17.2	£17.2	-0.2%
EO	£13.7	£13.8	-0.7%
AO	£11.3	£11.3	0.1%
AA	£9.6	£9.7	-1.4%
APP AO	£9.3	£9.3	0.0%
BAND 3	£37.3	£37.1	0.5%
BAND 2	£30.8	£30.2	1.8%
BAND 1	£23.6	£23.6	-0.1%
GPG	£23.7	£20.9	11.6%

Table 3: Median average pay gap

Grade	Male	Female	Gap
SCSPB2		£73.8
SCSPB1	£44.2	£57.3	-29.7%
GM	£41.6	£41.6	0.0%
G6	£35.0	£34.2	2.5%
G7	£29.4	£28.1	4.3%
SEO	£20.8	£20.8	0.0%
HEO	£16.8	£16.8	0.0%
EO	£14.1	£14.1	0.0%
AO	£11.6	£11.6	0.0%
AA	£9.7	£9.7	0.0%
APP AO	£9.3	£9.3	0.0%
BAND 3	£36.7	£36.7	0.0%
BAND 2	£30.1	£30.1	0.0%
BAND 1	£24.4	£24.4	0.0%
GPG	£24.4	£20.8	14.6%

Table 4 shows that the male population at the upper quartile is approximately twice that of the female population. This uneven distribution of genders through the grades has a significant impact on gender pay gaps, more easily understood by looking at the quartile distribution of pay – which shows that the upper and upper middle pay quartiles are predominantly filled by men.

In the 2018 and 2019 pay remit, we revalorised the minimum pay ranges to 30% of the pay range; 35% for the Inspector cohort to shorten the pay ranges. There are now 200 staff at the bottom of the salary scales and this splits 44% male and 57% female. The top of the salary scale also shows a disproportionate split 65% male and 35% female. Furthermore, when you look at higher Inspector grades (Band 3) there are more men 59% than women 41% at this grade.

Table 4: PINS staff breakdown, equivalent to CS grades

Quartile	Male	% Male	Female	% Female
Upper Quartile	174	65%	92	35%
Upper Middle Quartile	86	61%	56	39%
Lower Middle Quartile	107	52%	97	48%
Lower Quartile	87	44%	113	57%

Progress and action plan

For the Planning Inspectorate it has been a period of change for the last two years. As a year of change which has seen us moving through organisational design, digital upgrades, process review and performance recovery. This programme of activity has resulted in a new business strategy, a people strategy, and mass recruitment campaigns, all of which have had or will influence the gender pay gap. Included in our people strategy is a core strand of diversity and inclusion, we will aim to finalise our Diversity and Inclusion Strategy in September 2020 with detailed action plan and deliverables.

We are about to complete the Organisation Design (OD) recruitment. Although all the posts are not yet filled, we anticipate that our new structure will be reflective in terms of the relative increase in female appointments at higher grade. So far our G7 roles are predominantly female and G6 roles are 50/50 split.

As part of our recruitment campaigns we have ensured that the language used in the candidate packs is free from gender bias so that we attract candidates from a diverse background. We have also revised and refined our policies around working patterns so that more females are able to apply for senior roles. This is especially so for the Inspector cohort.

To further our understanding of the cultural and organisational factors that affect the gender pay gap, two members of the HR team have received specific training from a national authority on the subject. This has built the capability in the team to help address it.

Diversity, inclusion and equality in the Planning Inspectorate

This year we aim to finalise our Diversity and Inclusion strategy in September 2020 to create an inclusive organisation that reflects the people who use our services. The strategy aim is to bring about inclusive behaviours as well as get some of the hard measures right. In addition to the initiatives noted above such as reviews of our plans, organisational design, pay and reward with diversity and inclusion central to these we are also undertaking the following:

• The terms and conditions for Inspectors are to be changed to make it easier for those with caring responsibilities to fulfil their potential as an Inspector. To date we have updated the Inspector working patterns to attract candidates with childcare or caring responsibilities.

• We have conducted Diversity analysis from the recruitment campaigns to develop strategies to target more female candidates. Initial analysis has been carried out on all volume recruitment. In October external consultants will be engaged to review all recruitment processes from a D&I perspective. This information will be used to better understand attraction rates and fall out rates at the different stages. Improvements to future campaigns are planned to include reviewing the essential criteria requirements for different roles to ensure fair and robust processes.

• We are setting up staff networks and encouraging champions for each network. So far, we have established Well-being and Inclusion champions network, TQH Disability Network and Women’s network. Additionally, representatives from the women’s network are also part of the South West regional Women’s’ network. It is our plan to support peer support, mentoring and coaching within these groups to encourage women to step into leadership roles.

• In order to build a talent pipeline, we are sponsoring women in AO-HEO grades to take part in Future Leaders Academy program.

• We set up the self-declaration facility using SAP so that we understand the diversity of our organisation. As a result, declaration rates have gone up. Declaration rates for age and gender are at 100%.

• We are developing a People dashboard of the Employee Cycle so that Heads of Service (HoS) have up to date data on their staff. This will support them in identifying any bias performance, development and talent in their teams.

Annex C: Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre gender pay gap analysis

Context

QEII Centre is a small Executive Agency of MHCLG. On 31 March 2020 the Centre employed 48 staff in 37 different roles, many of which are specialist and therefore unique to the work of the Centre (venue operation and technical delivery) rather than the Civil Service. The Centre employs a spot salary system, determining pay on a role-by-role basis rather than through a centralised pay and grading structure. Taken together, the size of the organisation and absence of a clear civil service grading system make comparative analysis of pay and gender difficult and removes any ability to generalise findings.

As at 31 March 2020 the Centre employed 20 women and 28 men, compared with 19 women and 30 men in the previous year. There was very little change in the distribution of men and women across the different grades from last year.

Gender pay gap

The total gender pay gap for the Centre as of 31 March 2020 was -10.2 (Mean) and -9.6 (Median).

Gender pay gaps are impacted by length of service, as those with longer service benefited from the period where pay progression was still in force. In terms of AO to HEO equivalent roles, women on average have longer service than men, contributing to the positive gender pay gap.

However, other factors have contributed to gender pay gaps at senior management levels. Even though women have longer service here, market forces have impacted the pay of different individuals and as there are only a few employees at senior levels, this has had a disproportionate impact on gender pay gaps.

Bonus pay gap

The Centre operates an annual non-contractual discretionary bonus scheme. The award is calculated based on the performance of the Centre as a whole, determined through the audited accounts. The award is split into corporate performance and individual performance, the latter of which is determined by end-of-year performance assessment, for which a percentage of the individual’s salary is awarded.

The mean average bonus pay gap for 2019-20 was -7.1% (median -7.1%) higher for women than for men, which is perhaps unsurprising as the bonus is calculated as a proportion of salary which, as discussed above, is on average higher for women than men. Though there are fewer women in the organisation, two of the four highest-paid individuals who received bonuses (three G6 and one SCS1) are women, compared with six of the 17 lowest-paid individuals (5 AOs and 12 EOs). This skews the mean average pay for women upwards when compared with men.

Comparison with previous year

As at 31 March 2019 the Centre’s mean gender pay gap was 8.0% in favour of women (-1.9% at the median). The mean gap has increased moderately to 10.2% in favour of women as at 31 March 2020, whilst the median gap has increased significantly to 9.6 %, also in favour of women.

Although there are several women in the highest paying roles It should also be noted that as a small organisation, differences in the pay of only one or two individuals can have a disproportionate impact to the overall picture.

Progress and action plan

As demonstrated, gender pay gaps at the Queen Elizabeth II Centre are in favour of women. There is little to suggest that gender constitutes a significant factor in salary differentials at the QEII Centre, with market forces and length of service appearing to produce a more reliable impact on pay.

Recruitment continued in 2019-20, of the 9 starters 5 women and 4 men one of them being the new G6 Director of Venue Operations. Plans to onboard to the Government Recruitment Service have been delayed due to lockdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Currently the Centre is closed and has been since 17 March 2020 with a recruitment freeze imposed.