Corporate report

Equal pay audit 2021: MOD core civilian industrial personnel

Updated 23 May 2022

This was published under the 2019 to 2022 Johnson Conservative government

Introduction

The Equal Pay Audit (EPA) examines the equality of pay of all industrial personnel by analysing the differences in average basic salary based on Gender and Ethnicity. This is in done to meet the department’s obligations under the Public Sector Equality Duty to provide information on its workforce identified by the Equality Act 2010.

Analysis on length of service in substantive grade, working patterns, promotions and time to promotion have been conducted to provide possible explanations for differences in pay.

All data in this report covers MOD Main personnel only. See background notes section 5 at the bottom of this report to see details of personnel included/excluded.

Table 1.1 and 2.1 include both full-time and part-time personnel, while table 1.2 and 2.2 focus on part-time personnel only.

All tables in this publication can be viewed in Excel ODS format which can be found on the index page of this year’s report.

For data sources, symbols, table rounding and other rules please see background notes section 5.

Definitions of terms used in this publication are highlighted throughout the publication where relevant.

Average Basic Salary figures are derived from the basic monthly salary rate paid as at 1 October 2021, annualised to assume a whole year at the same salary rate. To assure comparability, for all personnel regardless of their full-time/part-time status, it represents what they would earn in a full year at the same salary rate with an FTE of 1.

Adjusted Average Basic Salary figures have been calculated using Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) methodology, with adjusted averages obtained after the differential effects of Length of Service in Substantive Grade in males and females have been considered.

Length of Service (LOS) in Substantive Grade is how much time, in years to 1 decimal place, personnel have been in their actual grade for, regardless of temporary promotions or other pay arrangements.

Main Points

1.1: Skillzone grades 1 and 2 have seen no difference between males and females on average salary. Skillzone 3 has seen just under 2% average pay gap, but we must consider the large population difference between genders at this grade when comparing average pay.

1.2: Skillzone 1 and 2 personnel have a very similar number of male and female part-time workers. While average FTE for females is larger at Skillzone 2, Skillzone 1’s average FTE is equal between genders, so there is no meaningful analysis that can be done for part-time industrial working trends between males and females.

2.1: For all industrial grades, there is no significant ethnicity pay gap. It is observed however, that there are large population difference between White and BAME personnel which can skew the average pay calculation for different ethnic groups.

2.2: Due to confidentiality reasons and low numbers of BAME part-time workers, Table 2.2’s figures have been omitted from this report. Therefore, no meaningful analysis can be conducted here.

3.1: Due to the low number of personnel promoted from Skillzones 1 to 4, figures have been omitted from this table due to confidentiality reasons and no further analysis will be conducted here.

3.2: Since promotion figures per grade for industrial personnel are low, statistical significance tests were conducted on personnel as a whole. For all industrial grades, the relative female promotion rate was higher than males, however this is not statistically significant.

Full Time Equivalence (FTE) is a figure that allows part-time workers’ hours to be put into the same units as full-time workers.

Broader Banded grade is the MOD’s main civilian grade structure that Analysis Civilian report personnel against. See background notes section 5.2 for more information and Civil Service grade equivalents.

1. Average Salary by Gender and Grade

Table 1.1 - Civilian Personnel: Average Basic Salary by Gender and Grade

Grade by gender	Headcount	Average FTE	Average LOS in substantive grade (years)	Average basic salary	Average basic salary ANCOVA adjusted for LOS in substantive grade
Skillzone 4	[c]	[z]	[z]	[z]	[z]
Male	207	0.99	7.8	£25,312	[z]
Female	[c]	[z]	[z]	[z]	[z]
Difference	[z]	[z]	[z]	[z]	[z]
Skillzone 3	1,166	0.99	9.6	£21,494	[z]
Male	1,085	0.99	9.9	£21,521	[z]
Female	81	0.99	6.9	£21,134	[z]
Difference	+1,004	+0.00	+3.0	1.8%	[z]
Skillzone 2	1,273	0.98	8.6	£19,030	[z]
Male	973	0.98	9.1	£19,031	£19,030
Female	300	0.96	7.2	£19,025	£19,029
Difference	+673	+0.02	+1.8	+0.0%	+0.0%
Skillzone 1	461	0.96	12.2	£17,481	[z]
Male	336	0.98	12.2	£17,481	£17,481
Female	125	0.93	12.0	£17,481	£17,481
Difference	+211	+0.05	+0.3	+0.0%	+0.0%

Headcount is a measure of the size of the workforce based on number of personnel employed.

Industrial personnel are civilian personnel employed primarily in a trade, craft or other manual labour occupation. This covers a wide range of work such as industrial technicians, air freight handlers, storekeepers, vergers and drivers.

Table 1.1 shows the headcount, average (arithmetic mean) FTE, the average LOS in substantive grade, and average basic salary split by gender and grade for each industrial grade. Unlike the non-industrial equivalent, ANCOVA adjusted salaries were not applied here due to the low number of industrial personnel per grade.

Skillzone 4 personnel were omitted from this table due to the low numbers of Skillzone 4 females. Therefore, meaningful gender comparisons could not be made for this grade.

Average LOS in substantive grade remained relatively equal for males and females at Skillzone 1, increasing in Skillzones 2 and 3, indicating that male worker’s LOS in substantive grade rise as they progress through industrial grades.

Average salary comparisons for gender are equal for Skillzones 1 and 2, but we see just under a 2% pay gap in Skillzone 3 favouring males. ANCOVA adjusted salaries for LOS in substantive grade show the same differences in gender pay.

Full-time civil servants are those working 37 hours a week (36 hours or over in London), excluding meal breaks.

Part-time civil servants are those working fewer than 37 hours a week (36/37 hours in London), excluding meal breaks.

Table 1.2 - Civilian Part-Time Personnel: Average Basic Salary by Gender and Grade

Grade by gender	Headcount	Average FTE	Average LOS in substantive grade (years)	Average basic salary	Average basic salary ANCOVA adjusted for LOS in substantive grade
Skillzone 4	[c]	[z]	[z]	[z]	[z]
Male	7	0.65	8.7	[z]	[z]
Female	[c]	[z]	[z]	[z]	[z]
Difference	[z]	[z]	[z]	[z]	[z]
Skillzone 3	[c]	[z]	[z]	[z]	[z]
Male	38	0.63	12.5	[z]	[z]
Female	[c]	[z]	[z]	[z]	[z]
Difference	[z]	[z]	[z]	[z]	[z]
Skillzone 2	91	0.71	11.7	£19,036	[z]
Male	49	0.68	13.3	£19,042	£19,042
Female	42	0.74	10.0	£19,030	£19,030
Difference	+7	-0.06	+3.3	+0.1%	+0.1%
Skillzone 1	45	0.63	11.6	£17,481	[z]
Male	20	0.63	12.0	£17,481	£17,481
Female	25	0.63	11.3	£17,481	£17,481
Difference	-5	+0.00	+0.7	+0.0%	+0.0%

Table 1.2 shows the same outputs as in Table 1.1, but for part-time personnel only.

Average basic salary for part-time personnel is presented as annualised to be comparable to individuals working varying numbers of hours. This is derived from the basic monthly salary as at 1 October 2021 which is what they would receive if they worked full-time, multiplied by 12 to obtain the annualised basic salary assuming an FTE of 1.

Skillzone 3 and 4 were omitted from this table for confidentiality reasons, as the number of part-time female industrial workers was too low to report on.

For all other industrial grades (Skillzones 1 and 2), average FTE for part-time personnel stayed relatively equal for males and females. Although females saw a slight increase in FTE at Skillzone 2, there is not much to be said about male and female working patterns since the populations per grade are too small to conduct meaningful analysis.

With this same logic, analysis on average LOS in substantive grade would be prudent as populations are too small to report on. However, for Skillzones 1 and 2, average basic salary seemed relatively equal for males and females. ANCOVA adjusted salaries for LOS in substantive grade show the same differences in gender pay.

2. Average Salary by Ethnicity and Grade

Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) is now the widely used terminology, as a collective descriptor for non-white citizens, across Whitehall, other public sector bodies and the third sector, as well as among civil service race staff networks and their cross-Whitehall umbrella body, the Civil Service Race Forum. See also Ethnic Origin.

Ethnic Origin is the ethnic grouping to which a person has indicated that they belong. The classifications used were revised for the 2011 Census of Population when a classification of nationality was also collected. Ethnic background, disability, religion, and sexual orientation are self-declared. Therefore, representation rates are calculated from known declarations and exclude unknown and undeclared personnel.

Table 2.1 - Civilian Personnel: Average Basic Salary by Ethnicity and Grade

Grade by gender	Headcount	Average FTE	Average LOS in substantive grade (years)	Average basic salary
Skillzone 4	[c]	[z]	[z]	[z]
White	181	0.99	7.8	£25,316
BAME	[c]	[z]	[z]	[z]
Difference	[z]	[z]	[z]	[z]
Skillzone 3	1,017	0.99	9.8	£21,512
White	996	0.99	9.8	£21,512
BAME	21	0.97	10.8	£21,487
Difference	+975	+0.02	-1.0	+0.1%
Skillzone 2	1,069	0.98	9.1	£19,031
White	1,019	0.98	9.2	£19,032
BAME	50	1.00	6.7	£19,030
Difference	+969	-0.02	+2.5	+0.0%
Skillzone 1	391	0.97	12.5	£17,481
White	380	0.97	12.7	£17,481
BAME	11	0.91	8.2	£17,481
Difference	+369	+0.06	+4.5	+0.0%

Table 2.1 examines the headcount, average (arithmetic mean) FTE, the average LOS in substantive grade, and average basic salary split by ethnicity and grade for each industrial grade.

Although Skillzone 4 personnel have been omitted for the same confidentiality reasons as Tables 1.1 and 1.2, it is observed that the number of industrial BAME workers is very low compared to their White counterparts. This is important to keep in mind when comparing ethnic pay differences as calculations for the mean can be misleading when low populations are being analysed.

Taking this into account, there is no significant difference in pay between BAME and White personnel from Skillzones 1 to 3. Unlike the non-industrial equivalent of this table, location differences are not accounted for in industrial grades as they are paid the same in London as they are in the rest of the UK (see section 4 for a breakdown of pay ranges per grade). This could be playing a factor in the low difference between BAME and White pay as BAME working proportions tend to be higher in London.

Average LOS in substantive grade is higher for White personnel in all industrial grades apart from Skillzone 3, where BAME have on average 1 year more LOS in substantive grade than their White equivalents at this grade.

Table 2.2 - Civilian Part-Time Personnel: Average Basic Salary by Ethnicity and Grade

Table 2.2 has been omitted from the analysis due to all grades having very low numbers of BAME part-time personnel, so it is not appropriate to undertake any analysis.

3. Promotion by Gender and Grade

Promotions: includes those who were permanently promoted or advanced within in the report’s reference period (including a small number of personnel who were both recruited and promoted within the period).

Length of Time to Promotion is the time (in years) it takes to be promoted to a grade above your current substantive grade.

Table 3.1 - Promoted Civilian Personnel: Average Basic Salary by Gender and Grade and Length of Time to Promotion

Table 3.1 shows the number of males and females in each grade who were promoted/advanced form their substantive grade in the period: 1 October 2020 to 30 September 2021. Temporary promotions were not included here, except where those temporary promotions were made permanent. Extra personnel exclusions were made for the promotion analysis and can be seen in the background notes section 5.4.

Like table 2.2, the number of BAME promoted in industrial grades are too low to report on, so for confidentiality reasons, any analysis for promoted personnel has been omitted in this report.

Table 3.2 - Promoted Civilian Personnel: Promotion Rates by Gender and Grade

Grade by gender	Number of promotions into grade	Average headcount at lower grade	Female promotion rate compared to lower grade promotion rate	Statistical significance	Promotion rate into grade
All Industrial grades	31	2,733			1.1%
Male	23	2,341			1.0%
Female	8	392			2.0%
Female Proportion	25.8%	14.3%	+11.5%	[ns]	-1.1%

Table 3.2 shows the number of permanent promotions into grade by gender highlighting the proportion of those who were female and then running a two-proportions z-test to test for gender bias in promotions. Promotion rates by gender and their differences can also be observed.

Average headcount is calculated as a 13-month weighted average and represents the pool of people at one grade beneath the promotion grade (lower grade). It is assumed for simplicity that there are no promotions from two grades below or more.

The two-proportions z-test is a statistical significance test which examines, per grade, whether the difference between the promoted female proportion is significantly different to the female proportion in the lower grade. Where the difference is above 0, the promoted female proportion is higher than the lower grade female proportion. Whether these differences are statistically significant can be identified by an [s] in the ‘Statistical significance’ column and the significance test is conducted at a 95% confidence level.

A marker for statistical significance ([s]) implies possible gender bias in promotions since the null hypothesis is ‘no gender bias on promotion’, so promotions at these grades may be worth examining. For more information on how a two-proportions z-test is applied to the analysis, see background notes section 5.1.

Since the number of females promoted broken down by grade are too small to conduct statistical analysis on, only grouped promoted personnel have been analysed in the ‘All Industrial grades’ category. It is observed that the female promotion rate is relatively higher by 11.5% when accounting for the average female headcount at the lower grade.

This result, however, is not statistically significant, meaning there is no evidence to suggest gender bias on promotion.

4. Ministry of Defence Broader Banded Pay Ranges

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) considers that a necessary and fair measure is to address the pay gap between people being paid considerably less than colleagues performing a similar role at the same grade.

The MOD civilian pay award followed the guidance of the 2021/22 Civil Service pay remit, confirming:

• MOD will pay a one-year consolidated pay award of £250 for all eligible staff earning a full-time equivalent salary of less than £24,000 and a tapering of the award up to £24,250 for those earning between £24,000 and £24,250.

• Personnel earning above £24,250 received no increase in salary value in accordance with Cabinet Office pay guidance.

This means most industrial civilian personnel will receive a pay award for the period 1 August 2021 to 31 July 2022.

These pay scale changes over the past 5 years can be summarised in the table below, or the attached Excel ODS Industrial table in the index page of this year’s report.

Grade	Salary Range	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2016-2021 difference change
Skillzone 4
London & National	Maximum Salary	£25,179	£25,305	£25,507	£25,762	£26,020	£26,020
London & National	Minimum Salary	£23,300	£23,556	£23,980	£24,532	£25,000	£25,000
London & National	Difference	£ 1,879	£ 1,749	£ 1,527	£ 1,230	£ 1,020	£ 1,020	-45.7%
Skillzone 3
London & National	Maximum Salary	£22,372	£22,484	£22,664	£22,891	£23,120	£23,370
London & National	Minimum Salary	£18,977	£19,186	£19,531	£19,980	£20,500	£20,750
London & National	Difference	£ 3,395	£ 3,298	£ 3,133	£ 2,911	£ 2,620	£ 2,620	-22.8%
Skillzone 2
London & National	Maximum Salary	£18,190	£18,281	£18,427	£18,611	£18,797	£19,047
London & National	Minimum Salary	£17,346	£17,537	£17,853	£18,264	£18,757	£19,007
London & National	Difference	£ 844	£ 744	£ 574	£ 347	£ 40	£ 40	-95.3%
Skillzone 1
London & National	Maximum Salary	£16,647	£16,730	£16,864	£17,033	£17,231	£17,481
London & National	Minimum Salary	£15,872	£16,047	£16,336	£16,712	£17,231	£17,481
London & National	Difference	£ 775	£ 683	£ 528	£ 321	£ 0	£ 0	[z]

5. Background Notes

5.1 Accessibility and Clarity

Accessibility

This document follows MOD’s and GOV.UK’s accessibility guidelines which can be found here: MOD’s accessible documents policy and here: GOV.UK’s accessibility statement.

The main body of the report is produced in HTML Markdown format and the tables in this report are replicated in the attached Excel ODS format in case users would like to do further analysis with the figures provided.

Symbols

Symbol	Definition
[z]	figure/calculation not applicable as data is not of a sufficient size/calculation is not relevant
[c]	figure is less than 5 and omitted due to confidentiality risks
[s]	statistically significant at the 5% level
[ns]	not statistically significant at the 5% level

Rounding

Where rounding has been used, totals and sub-totals have been rounded separately and may not equal the sums of their rounded parts. When rounding to the nearest 10, numbers ending in ‘5’ have been rounded to the nearest multiple of 20 to prevent systematic bias.

All percentages are calculated from headcount totals (part time equivalent to one person), from unrounded figures and are shown to 1 decimal place.

Salaries have been averaged and rounded to the nearest pound sterling for presentation purposes.

Clarifications

Statistical Significance Testing is used in section 3.2, testing for the relative differences in female proportions within promotion groups for each grade, comparing them to the female proportion of the lower grade from which they were promoted. The test is called a two-proportions z-test and only needs to be conducted on the female proportion, as we are considering the proportion as females divided by the sum of males and females in each case.

This is different to the significance test methodology used prior to 2012 which compared the promotion rates of male to females. It has been determined that this method is not the most appropriate and can be distorted by the fact that male and female rates are not independent of each other, whereas the proportion of females in the promotion group is independent of the proportion of females within the lower grade group. This can be assumed to be true where the factors that influence promotion are equally distributed for men and women. Therefore, a statistical test result of significant ([s]) suggests that either gender or a factor that is gender biased is having an influence on promotion.

5.2 Grade Structures

Since 1 April 1996 all departments and agencies have had delegated responsibility for the pay and grading of their employees, except for those in the Senior Civil Service (SCS). As of April 2022, Analysis Civilian will begin reporting grades as per the civil service-wide structure.

The MOD grades are shown here against levels broadly equivalent (in terms of pay and job weight) to the civil service-wide grades.

Civil Service grades	MOD Industrial grades
EO - Executive Officer	Skillzone 4
AO - Administrative Officer	Skillzone 3
AA - Administrative Assistant	Skillzone 2 & Skillzone 1

5.3 Source Data

Diversity and personnel data for MOD Main personnel in this report has been taken from the Human Resources Management System (HRMS). This has been directly sourced to Analysis Civilian on a monthly basis since April 2004.

From February 2022 onwards, Analysis Civilian will begin receiving diversity and personnel data from a new HR system called MyHR.

To derive Top Level Budgetary Area splits, Analysis Civilian use budgetary UINs and attribute people according to the budgetary area that pays them, using the Standing Data System hierarchy from Financial Management Information Systems.

Promotion and pay data in this report is sourced from Defence Business System’s (DBS) and Civilian Harmonised Integrated Payroll System’s (CHIPS) data base respectively, and is provided to Analysis Civilian on an annual basis after the pay award has been fully implemented (usually as at 1 October).

Variables in the DBS dataset includes those receiving a promotion in the relevant period, the date of that promotion, the grade they were promoted from and the new grade they have been promoted into as well as the length of service in grade prior to promotion. Annualised basic salary and pay grade as at 1 October 2020 are variables in the CHIPS database.

5.4 Data Revisions and Exclusions

Data revisions are handled in accordance with the MOD’s Official Statistics Revisions and Corrections Policy.

The analyses conducted within this report requires exclusions. The population in this report is summarised in the table below:

Ministry of Defence Civilian Group	Included
MOD Main TLBs
UK Strategic Command	✔
Navy Command	✔
Army Command	✔
Air Command	✔
Defence Infrastructure Organisation	✔
Head Office and Corporate Services	✔
Defence Nuclear Organisation 1	✔
Trading Fund and Executive agencies
Defence, Equipment & Support Bespoke Trading Entity (DE&S) 2	✘
UK Hydrographic Office	✘
Defence Electronics Components Agency	✘
Defence Science & Technology Laboratory	✘
Other MOD Civilian Areas
Royal Fleet Auxiliary personnel	✘
Locally Engaged Civilians	✘
Grades
Broader Banded Non-Industrial Grades	✘
Industrial Grades	✔
Analogue Grades	✘
Ministry of Defence Police	✘
Ministry of Defence Fire Service	✘
Ministry of Defence NHS	✘
Ministry of Defence Teachers	✘
Civilian Medical Practitioners	✘
Civilian Dental Practitioners	✘
Senior Civil Servants (those paid above Band B1)	✘
Other Groups
Personnel on Zero Pay 3	✘
Personnel with missing or no salary data	✘

¹ Defence Nuclear Organisation (DNO) also includes personnel in the Submarine Delivery Agency (SDA). While DNO is considered MOD Main, SDA is considered a Trading Fund and Executive Agency. Due to data issues splitting out these personnel, some SDA personnel may be included.

² MOD Main no longer includes Defence, Equipment and Support (DE&S) since 1 July 2015 and it has been reported as a bespoke trading entity ever since. Due to the size and makeup of DE&S, its removal from MOD Main may have an impact on several variables which means that direct comparison with outputs prior to 2015 are not consistent.

³ Personnel on Zero Pay not being paid by the MOD as at 1 October 2021, are excluded from the salary analysis, but are included within the lower grade population in the promotion analysis; due to the fact that someone can be promoted from Zero Pay into a paid position.

Further exclusions in addition to those listed above are made for the promotions analysis:

• Personnel not permanently promoted between 1 October 2020 to 30 September 2021
• Personnel promoted into or between Senior Civil Service grades
• Other personnel whose pay falls outside the pay band scales, such as Apprentices and some Retained grades; although those on broader banded pay scales, such as Fast Streamers are included
• Personnel who move from a Trading Fund / Executive agency post into a MOD Main post.

5.5 Data Quality and Management

This report follows the MOD’s Official Statistics quality management process which consists of 3 elements:

• Regularly monitoring and assessing quality risk via an annual assessment.

• Providing a mechanism for reporting and reviewing revisions/corrections to Official Statistics.

• Ensuring Background Quality Reports (BQRs) are publishing alongside reports and are updated regularly.

As this is not an Official Statistic, the BQR element of the list above has been integrated here in the Background Notes section.

Length of service in substantive grade was calculated by counting the number of months each staff member has been in their current substantive grade as at 1 October 2021, going back to 1 January 2000 which is the earliest date month-by-month data is available. Due to data quality issues with LOS in substantive grade, this is the best method available.

The limitations of the calculation are that it ignores any temporary promotions which may not align some staff member’s current grade with their current pay rate, underestimating salary comparisons. Additionally, staff that have been on the same grade since 1 January 2000 maybe have underestimated LOS in substantive grade since as counting begins from the 1 January 2000 and not earlier.

5.6 Data Validation

Data validation is conducted as part of the acceptance of the monthly extract prior to it being made available to the production team through the civilian SQL data base. More detailed validation is then undertaken on the breakdowns of individual fields (including ethnicity, gender, TLB, grade), and comparisons between the current and previous month’s figures. Unusual variations are identified and investigated to identify explanations/reasons for the changes. In instances where our investigations detect data issues, we act with DBS to correct the data.

5.7 Timelines, Coherence and Comparability

Analysis Civilian aim to finalise the Equal Pay Audit at the start of next year’s financial year i.e. April.

Data in this report is compiled on the date when the pay award for that year is fully implemented (usually as at 1 October). Due to this, this report’s finalisation date is heavily dependent on when the pay award is fully implemented which may not necessarily be as at 1 October of the respective year. Therefore, a risk may arise on following the timeline of this report if a late pay award is implemented, as was the case in 2019’s Equal Pay Audit where data for personnel as at 1 April 2020 was used.

Data in this report is fully comparable with data for 2016, 2017 and 2018 in terms of MOD Main departments. There was a severe Pay Award delay in the 2019 report, so the data in this report is not fully comparable with the 2019 Equal Pay Audit. However, for all years after 2019 to current, reports are comparable.

5.8 Confidentiality and Security

Confidentiality

All published outputs are counts of individuals in particular groupings. Disclosure control is applied to statistical or numeric information to safeguard the confidentiality of individuals. ‘Disclosure control’ refers to the efforts made to reduce the risk of disclosure, such as applying statistical methods to protect ‘Personally Identifiable Information’ (PII) in aggregate data tables. These safeguards can take many forms (for example, data suppression, rounding, recoding etc.).

Security

All staff involved in the production process have signed the Data Protection Act; all MOD, Civil Service and data protection regulations are adhered to. These data are stored, accessed, and analysed using the MOD’s restricted network and IT systems, and the access to raw data is password protected.

Defence Statistics Policies.

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