Transparency data

MHRA gender pay gap report: 2019 to 2020

Updated 5 January 2023

1. Agency gender pay gap report: April 2019 to March 2020

Snapshot date: 31 March 2020

1.1 Definitions

Mean Gender Pay Gap in Hourly Pay

The difference between the mean* hourly rate of pay of males and females, where hourly pay includes basic pay, bonuses, and allowances. *average pay for all male and female employees

Median Gender Pay Gap in Hourly Pay

The difference between the median* hourly rate of pay of males and females *middle rate of pay (when listed in order) for all male and female employees

Mean Gender Pay Gap in Bonus Pay

The difference between the mean* bonus paid to males and females where bonus refers to a variety of bonus payments (see Point 4 below) *average bonus for all male and female employees

Median Gender Pay Gap in Bonus Pay

The difference between the median bonus pay paid to males and females *middle value of bonuses paid to all males compared to all female employees

Bonus proportions

The proportions of males and females who were paid a bonus

Quartile bands

The proportions of male and female employees in the lower, lower middle, upper middle, and upper quartile pay bands

1.2 Gender pay gap data

The gender pay gap shows the difference in the average pay between all men and women in a workforce.

This report fulfils our reporting requirements in providing an analysis of data and sets out what we are doing to close the gender pay gap in the Agency. We have not included contingent workers and contractors, but we intend to review information for this group in the future.

The information in this report is extracted from payroll data as at 31 March 2020 where 59% (751 employees) of the Agency workforce were female and 41% (523 employees) were male. All bonus pay data relate.

The Agency supports the fair treatment and reward of all staff irrespective of gender. Our pay approach is based on the principles of consistency, fairness and transparency.

Data Summary	%
1. Mean gender pay gap in hourly pay	5.2
2. Median gender pay gap in hourly pay	8.3
3. Mean gender pay gap in bonus pay	-2.6
4. Median gender pay gap in bonus pay	0.0
5. The proportion of male employees paid a bonus	35.1
6. The proportion of female employees paid a bonus	33.7

The data summary is the overall Agency picture using ‘raw’ data from the payroll system and is made up of an average of basic pay, bonuses, and allowances.

The mean gender pay gap has narrowed since this was last reported in March 2019, when it was 7.1%. This is due in part to an increase in female employees in higher graded posts along with a higher proportion of male employees, including some at a very senior level, leaving the Agency. There has also been a greater focus within the Executive Team (now ExCo) on the impact of bonuses that have been awarded to ensure that there are more in line with our staff demographic.

The median gender pay has increased since this was last reported, when it was previously 6.2%. One of the main reasons for this is due to an increase in the proportion of female employees in the Agency, especially in the lower grades. While the median salary for both female and male employees currently sits at SEO, the median salary for a female employee is in the lowest pay quartile, and nearer to HEO, whereas the median salary for a male employee is in the highest pay quartile, and nearer to Grade 7.

Sections 3 and 4 below, offers more analysis and explanation of the data that underpins this summary.

1.3 Proportion of male and female employees in each quartile (basic pay)

Quartile	Proportion of male employees at the Agency	Male (%)	Proportion of female employees at the Agency	Female (%)
First quartile (lower)	114	35.8	204	64.2
Second quartile (lower middle)	131	41.2	187	58.8
Third quartile (middle upper)	130	40.9	188	59.1
Fourth quartile (upper)	148	46.5	170	53.5

Nearly two thirds of employees in the lower pay quartile are female, and this proportion decreases between each pay quartile with just over half of female employees in the upper pay quartile. For male employees there is a gradual increase in the proportion of staff in each quartile.

1.4 Further Analysis

The number of male and female employees at each grade/basic hourly pay

Grade	Female	Male	Female Mean Hourly Rate	Male Mean Hourly Rate	% Difference
AA/AO	24	28	£12.04	£11.57	-3%
EO	120	64	£14.40	£14.30	-1%
HEO	136	80	£17.23	£17.15	0%
SEO	153	105	£21.45	£21.43	0%
Grade 7	158	105	£27.84	£27.70	-1%
Grade 6	81	77	£35.83	£36.04	1%
SCS	79	64	£44.59	£46.00	3%
All employees	751	523	£24.77	£24.90	1%

Whilst the table above does not appear to align with the mean gender pay gap in terms of hourly pay and percentage differences as reported above, this is an analysis of basic pay only and does not include bonuses and allowances which the mean gender pay gap does.

It is noted that the span of salaries within the SCS is significantly larger than within the delegated grade pay bands and therefore averaging is influenced by this. However it is worth noting that the female hourly rate at SCS has increased by 1% since the last report while the male hourly rate at SCS has decreased by 0.4%.

We are pleased to note that our gender pay gap has reduced by 4.5% over the last two years, which we believe is as a result of the increase in the number of female employees in higher graded posts e.g. SCS and progression over time away from legacy pay policy differences.

1.5 Bonus Pay

Bonus pay includes end of year awards, special bonuses and vouchers paid to delegated grade employees, and the end of year award and in-year bonuses for the SCS.

Bonuses were paid to 387 employees from delegated grades (37% of the delegated grade) with a total payout of £343,836; and to 50 employees in the SCS grades (35% of the SCS) with a total payout of £534,400.

It should be noted that there are separate schemes for delegated and SCS grades.

• 33.6% of the female employees in the delegated grades received an end of year award, special bonus or voucher in 2019/20 totalling £197,217 with an average payment of £873
• 35.1% of the male employees in the delegated grades received an end of year award, special bonus or voucher in 2019/20 totalling £146,619 with an average payment of £911
• 34.2% of the female employees in the SCS received an end of year or in-year award in 2019/20 totalling £308,353 with an average payment of £11,420
• 35.9% of the male employees in the SCS received an end of year or in-year award in 2019/20 totalling £226,047 with an average payment of £9,828

The median bonus award for both male and female employees was £1,000.

1.6 Targeted action to reduce the pay gap

1. We will look to focus future pay awards on reducing specific pay ranges and on addressing specific pay issues that benefit the majority of our workforce. We will factor how the pay award effects staff covered by the 2010 Equality Act, working with ExCo, the People and Culture Committee and the Agency’s Diversity and Inclusion Group to monitor diversity related demographics, including the distribution of bonuses. We will also use an intersectionality approach to review this, along with people survey and exit data to identify if certain staff are adversely affected.

2. We continue to review our recruitment policies and processes to ensure fairness and equality, this includes on the diversity of the interview panel. We will continue to ensure that all new starters are recruited in line with our existing pay policy and that any flexibilities are approved by the Agency Pay Committee, where an Equality Impact assessment is expected to be completed in all cases.

3. We will continue to scrutinise and review the recruitment journey from job posting through to job offer, which offers insight into the demographics of applicants at each stage of the process – utilising HR resources to do so. We will monitor job advertisements to ensure that they are gender neutral and fully reflect the benefits of working for the Agency.

4. We will continue to monitor the mandatory requirement for all staff to complete the modular training on CSL on Diversity and Inclusion. We will continue to provide bespoke in-house recruitment training for recruiting managers, covering best practice recruitment principles and selection techniques. We will also compile and publish on INsite a list of Agency trained interviewers for managers to call upon to ensure a diverse interview panel and work with our established staff networks to increase their participation in the interview process.

5. We will continue to support women returning to work following maternity or adoption leave, by refreshing our Parent Support Network work. This will link to our Diversity and Inclusion framework and support wider initiatives in place such as Future Ways of Working, which includes exploring things such as shared parental leave, job share or part time working, as well as flexible working hours and home working.

6. There remains a continued focus on improving representation of female participants on talent development schemes. As well as Civil Service wide initiatives we will continue to provide more general career development activities within the Agency such as the expansion of our coaching and mentoring networks and the Agency’s Career Pathways project, which are available to all staff.

7. By way of providing assurance in terms of inclusivity, we will evaluate our existing development programme for Grade 6 and Grade 7s and the proposed HEO/SEO development programme. We will also continue to assure our Talent Management processes for Grade 6 / SCS officers as well as continuing to promote internal talent development schemes such as Future and Senior Leaders schemes and seek to identify internal candidates as well as developing our Reverse Mentoring scheme within the Agency.