Transparency data

UKEF gender pay gap report 2017 to 2018

Published 19 December 2018

1. Gender pay gap

Last year, 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 30 March 2018 [and then 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.

This report sets out the figures in more detail and what we are doing to close the gender pay gap in the organisation.

2. Gender make-up of the Department

As of 31 March 2018, the department had 305 employees, of whom 38% were women (compared to 36% in 2016 to 2017). 6% of UK Export Finance (UKEF) employees were graded Senior Civil Servants (SCS); of these 24% were women (compared to 20% in 2016 to 2017).

3. UKEF’s gender pay gap

UKEF uses Civil Service grades ranging from Administrative Assistant (administrative level grade) to SCS (executive level grade). Grades vary according to the level of responsibility that staff have. Each grade has a set pay range with pay gaps in between grades.

In 2018, the national median gender pay gap was 17.9% (8.6% for full time staff only) and 23.8% for the private sector (14.7% for full time staff only). This means the Civil Service median gender pay gap of 12.2% and the median gender pay gap at UKEF’s is significantly lower than the average in the overall economy.

• Mean pay gap (ordinary pay): 15.25%
• Median pay gap (ordinary pay): 12.22%

In the last 12 months both UKEF’s mean pay gap and median pay gap have reduced. The mean pay gap has reduced from 15.97% to 15.25% and the median pay gap has reduced from 16.26% to 12.22%.

UKEF has a relatively small number of employees, therefore SCS have a significant impact on mean and median pay. If the SCS population is excluded from the calculation the mean pay gap is reduced to 8.71% and the median pay gap to 10.85%.

4. Bonus pay

UKEF’s performance awards were paid as a set value depending on grade and performance level.

• Mean pay gap (bonus pay): 20.57%
• Median pay gap (bonus pay): 25.09%

This shows that there is a bonus pay gap between men and women using the both the mean and median average. This is due to the larger number of male employees at higher grades; however, the mean bonus pay gap has reduced from 22.36% in 2016 to 2017 to 20.57% in 2017 to 2018.

Again, SCS bonus pay distorts UKEF figures. If the SCS population is excluded, the mean level of bonus pay is marginally in favour of women, with the figure changing from 20.57% to -0.07%

4.1 Percentage of men and women paid a bonus

• Males paid a bonus: 41%
• Females paid a bonus: 47%

The difference between male and female employees receiving a bonus was small. However, marginally more men as a percentage of the male workforce received a bonus compared to their female counterparts (47% of men, 41% of women).

5. Pay by quartiles

The gender split across UKEF is 62% male and 38% female. The percentage of female employees in UKEF has increased from 36% in 2016 to 2017 to 38% in 2017 to 2018.

5.1 Hourly pay quartiles

The gender split in the lower quartile remains fairly even (46% female to 54% male), while the lower middle quartile has become more balanced with 42% female to 58% male as compared to 28% female to 72% male in 2016 to 2017. Both upper middle quartile and upper quartile have stayed consistent with the figures reported in 2016 to 2017.

Gender	Lower quartile	Lower middle quartile	Upper middle quartile	Upper quartile
Male	54%	58%	66%	70%
Female	46%	42%	34%	30%

6. Work on closing the gender pay gap

In October 2017, the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy was published. This important document sets out new programmes and initiatives to realise our ambition to become the UK’s most inclusive employer by 2020. The Civil Service, including UKEF, wants to create a diverse and representative workplace – one that will attract talented people from all backgrounds, and give everyone, including those already working for us, the opportunity to achieve their potential.

In support of this, UKEF has developed its own Diversity & Inclusion Action Plan that focuses on four themes: Effective Leadership, Skilled People, Improved Outcomes and A Great Place to Work. The UKEF D&I Action Plan is linked to the overarching People Plan, with a link to the Values and Behaviours strand. The People Plan is a vision to make UKEF a GREAT place to work across seven cross cutting themes.

The department and the senior leadership team are committed to closing our gender pay gap. In addition to the above, the Department has adopted a number of initiatives to reduce the gender pay gap, these include:

• In 2017 UKEF became a signatory to the Women in Finance Charter. By becoming a signatory UKEF are publicly affirming our commitment to improving gender diversity in the Department. We have set ourselves a primary target of increasing female representation at SCS grades in the Department to 30% by 2020. This will have a significant impact on reducing the gender pay gap. We also aspire to improving overall female representation in our workforce to 40% over the same time period.
• Continue to refine our recruitment processes, focusing on attracting women into the Senior Civil Service and anonymising the application process to reduce unconscious bias. At the SCS level, we have mandated that the “long list” of candidates must have a minimum level of female representation. At a non-SCS level who are trialling a broader range of careers site to attract a larger number of female applicants.
• A new assessment methodology is to be rolled out. The Success Profiles framework moves recruitment away from using a purely competency-based system of assessment. It introduces a more flexible framework which assesses candidates against a range of elements using a variety of selection methods. This will give the best possible chance of finding the right person for the job, driving up performance and improving diversity and inclusion. The elements that can be assessed to find the best candidate for the role are: behaviours, strengths, ability, experience and technical.
• SCS members have a mandatory objective relating to diversity and inclusion in their objectives.
• Continue to provide active support for women returning to work following maternity or adoption leave. We offer shared parental leave, as well as job share and part time opportunities, and have guidance to help line managers ensure those returning from parental/adoption leave feel supported and welcomed. To support this work UKEF has adopted the Working Forward pledge which aims to make workplaces the best they can be for pregnant women and new parents.
• Ongoing talent management and support for female staff progression, through programmes such as Crossing Thresholds and sponsoring attendance at the Civil Service Women into Leadership conference.
• UKEF has an active staff Gender Network which is supported by senior level sponsors within the Department. The network plays a strong role in championing gender diversity issues at UKEF.
• The annual performance management system is in the process of being revised and it is envisaged that the percentage of staff eligible for a bonus will increase significantly from circa 28% to circa 50%.

7. Staff included in the Gender Pay Gap data

1. Information is based upon individuals employed by UKEF on 31st March 2018.
2. Contractors (off payroll workers) are out of scope for this report.
3. Information prepared and published December 2018.
4. We confirm that data reported by UKEF is accurate and has been calculated according to the requirements and methodology set out in the Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties and Public Authorities) Regulations 2017.

Shane Lynch Director of Resources, UKEF