Revenue and Customs Digital Technology Services gender pay gap report 2022
Published 1 December 2022
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Introduction
As the Revenue and Customs, Digital Technology Services’ (RCDTS) HR Director, I am pleased to publish our 2022 gender pay report.
We’re an organisation that recognises and value’s individuals and their differences, whether visible or invisible and our people strategy and plan helps us focus on understanding our workforce and becoming an employer which has an increasingly dynamic, diverse, and inclusive population.
Over the last 12-month reporting period we have conducted significant work to embed our people strategy and help us better understand our people. As a result of this ongoing work, we have seen further improvements to our equality and diversity declaration data, helping us to ensure our people are representative of the society we serve.
Despite this work we have seen an increase in both the mean and median gender pay gaps from last year. Our mean gender pay gap with contractors excluded is now 9.2% up from 7.5%, whilst our median is now 15.6 % up from 8.5%.
As an organisation our gender pay continues to be influenced by changes in workforce distribution, and the number of men to women in the organisation. Our observed growth in median contractors included is entirely accredited to this change as we have more men that are contractors joining in comparison to women.
As in previous years, we report with our contractors included which continues to have a large impact on our reported statistics due to the high pay of contracting employees and the increased number of such contractors that are men.
Our gender pay gap statistics, with contractors included is 19.2% on the mean down from 19.6 % whilst our median increased to 23.1% from 15.2 %.
This year we saw an increase to our mean bonus pay gap from -0.2% to 2.7% and our median decrease from 15% to 11.5%. This is due to our pay gaps remaining sensitive to small fluctuations in variances in cumulative bonus value and the gender make-up of the organisation.
Breda O’Connor, RCDTS HR Director
Gender pay gap versus equal pay
The gender pay gap is different to the equal pay gap.
The gender pay gap shows the difference in the mean and median average pay between all relevant men and women in the workforce, regardless of grade or role. A high gender pay gap can indicate there may be inequalities to deal with, and the individual calculations may help to identify what those issues are.
An equal pay gap will show any pay difference between men and women who carry out the same or similar jobs or work of equal value.
RCDTS strives to achieve fair reward of all our people irrespective of gender, through our values of:
- being professional
- acting with integrity
- showing respect
- being innovative
We use an objective job evaluation system to determine the relative grade of jobs within our grading structure. We continue to use a market defined approach to determine SPOT rates which we use to recruit specialist digital and technology skills within a competitive market that are assigned regardless of gender.
This report sets out our headline:
- gender ratio
- hourly rates
- bonus pay
Overview
In 2017, the UK government introduced world-leading legislation that made it statutory for organisations with 250 or more employees to report annually on their gender pay gap.
Private and voluntary sector organisations are covered by the Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2017 (‘the Regulations’) which came into force on 6 February 2017.
The Regulations require relevant organisations to publish their gender pay gap information annually. This includes:
- the mean and median gender pay gaps
- the mean and median gender bonus pay gaps
- the proportion of men and women who received bonuses
- the proportions of men and women in each pay quartile
The gender pay gap is a measure of the difference between men and women’s average earnings across an organisation of the labour market. It is expressed as a percentage of earnings for men.
The gender pay gap is different to equal pay, equal pay legislation deals with unlawful pay differences between men and women (as noted above).
That means they carry out the same job, similar jobs, or work of equal value.
The gender pay gap shows the difference in the mean and median average pay between all relevant men and women in the workforce, regardless of grade or role. As noted above, a high gender pay gap can indicate there may be issues to address, calculations may help to identify what those issues are.
We are committed to the principle of equitable pay for all employees.
Elements used in the calculation include allowances and payroll giving, whereas voluntary salary sacrifices for childcare vouchers and cycle to work schemes are excluded.
RCDTS gender pay gap data supplied is correct for all people in post within RCDTS and in scope of the Regulations on 5 April 2022. Calculations follow the legislative requirements, and we confirm the data reported is accurate.
For individuals that come into the organisation through recruitment we continue to use a the previously noted widely recognised methodology to evaluate roles.
All roles in the organisation fall within one of 5 main grades: A to C through to G.
All of these bands are within an associated pay range consisting of a minimum and maximum rate of basic pay.
Organisational structure and workforce composition
This report provides the gender pay gap data in RCDTS as at 5 April 2022 and covers 870 employees including contractors.
For salaries we used a snapshot date of 5 April 2022.
For bonuses we captured data for the 12-month period from 6 April 2021 to 5 April 2022
We have included data for 133 contractors who fall within scope of the Regulations and for whom we have been able to obtain the relevant information.
RCDTS continues to retain a large TUPE contingent which has a considerable impact on our workforce notably of our 749 employees in post on the 5 April 2022; 318 had reserved rights to alternative pay arrangements protected by TUPE.
Organisation structure and pay
Headcount change
Since 5 April 2021, our organisation has seen a decrease in its permanent non-contractor workforce by 30 employees decreasing to 749 employees.
Our gender composition for these staff at the snapshot date excluding contractors was:
Table 1: workforce composition 2021 versus 2022; contractors excluded
| Gender | 2021 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|
| Men | 633 | 602 |
| Women | 146 | 147 |
Table above shows a reduction in the total population of the organisation. Women make up 19.6 % of the organisation’s workforce at 147 employees, which is an increase from 2021.
Gender ratio
Our gender pay gap is dependant mostly on our gender ratio because RCDTS continues to have a much higher proportion of men than woman across our workforce.
Table 2: gender ratio 2021 versus 2022; contractors excluded
| Gender ratio | 2021 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|
| Men | 81.3 % | 80.4 % |
| Women | 18.7 % | 19.6 % |
Table above shows the gender ratio, percentage of women to men year versus year.
Gender ratio shows that women make up 19.6 % of the contractor excluded workforce at 147 employees, which is an increase from 2021, and men make up 80.4 % at 602 employees. The reduction of men in the workforce has meant we have seen an improved workforce composition with a redistribution towards women.
Table 3: workforce by grade 2021 versus 2022; contractors included
| Grade | Men 2021 | Men 2022 | Women 2021 | Women 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A-C | 195 | 187 | 48 | 50 |
| D | 161 | 147 | 51 | 42 |
| E | 196 | 184 | 34 | 40 |
| F | 67 | 71 | 11 | 13 |
| G | 14 | 13 | 2 | 2 |
| Contractors | 115 | 90 | 18 | 31 |
| Total | 748 | 692 | 164 | 178 |
Table 3 shows the changes to the organisation’s workforce composition by grade between reporting periods. With the contractors re-introduced it shows an increase in women and a decrease in men.
Contractors excluded, we see a significant increase in the number of women at band E and a further small increase in the number of women with increased seniority, band F, working in the organisation compared to 2021 which is a driver of our mean improvement’s contractors excluded.
Table 4: women as a percentage per grade, contractors excluded
| Grade | Headcount by grade | Men | Percentage of men | Women | Percentage of women |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A-C | 237 | 187 | 78.90% | 50 | 21.10% |
| D | 189 | 147 | 77.80% | 42 | 22.20% |
| E | 224 | 184 | 82.10% | 40 | 17.90% |
| F | 84 | 71 | 84.50% | 13 | 15.50% |
| G | 15 | 13 | 86.70% | 2 | 13.30% |
| Total | 749 | 602 | 80.40% | 147 | 19.60% |
Table 4 shows gender composition across our grades.
There remains a significantly greater number of men than woman at the more senior end of the range towards our band F and G population, which has higher pay. We have however seen improvements in the number of the women in the workforce at more senior grades since 2021 despite an increase in the Band F representation from men.
Ordinary hourly pay
Table 5: mean average, including contractors
| Year | Mean pay gap |
|---|---|
| 2021 | 19.6% |
| 2022 | 19.2% |
Table 5 shows the mean hourly pay for women including contractors of £19.92 and for men of £24.65, a gap of 19.2 %. This is a decrease of 0.4 % from 2021.
The mean hourly rate has decreased due to the average pay for women increasing. The increase in the number of women contractors has contributed to the increase in the women’s hourly rate due to the women contractors being more highly remunerated members of the workforce.
The decrease in the number of men contractors combined with the increase in the number of women contractors and the recruitment of 2 women at Band F have contributed to the organisation seeing a reduction in the mean hourly rate pay gap by 0.4%.
Table 6: median average, including contractors
| Year | Median pay gap |
|---|---|
| 2021 | 15.2% |
| 2022 | 23.1% |
Table 6 shows the median hourly rate including contractors for women of £16.07 and for men of £20.91, a gap of 23.1%. An increase of 7.9% from 2021.
The median remains high due to the continued inclusion of contractor pay.
RCDTS has seen an increase of 7.90% in the median hourly pay gap from 2021. Men contractors make up 86.70% of contractors in RCDTS. Despite the increase in the number of women contractors by 13 in the organisation since the 2021 report, there remains a greater number of more highly remunerated men than women, driving the increase in the median gender pay gap, when contractors are included.
Table 7: change in women by grade, including contractors
| Grade | Men 2021 | Men 2022 | Women 2021 | Women 2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A-C | 195 (80.20%) | 187 (78.90%) | 48 (19.80%) | 50 (21.10%) | |
| D | 161 (75.90%) | 147 (77.80%) | 51 (24.10%) | 42 (22.20%) | |
| E | 196 (85.20%) | 184 (82.10%) | 34 (14.80%) | 40 (17.90%) | |
| F | 67 (85.90%) | 71 (84.50%) | 11 (14.10%) | 13 (15.50%) | |
| G | 14 (87.50%) | 13 (86.70%) | 2 (12.50%) | 2 (13.30%) | |
| Contractor(s) | 115 (86.50%) | 90 (74.4%) | 18 (13.50%) | 31 (25.6%) | |
| Total | 748 (82.00%) | 692 (79.54%) | 164 (18.00%) | 178 (20.46%) |
Table 7 shows the changes in gender composition by band from 2021.
The percentage of contractors that are women increased by 6.44 %. As these women are some of the most highly remunerated contingents within the population the increase is a major driver of our mean change when including contractors.
We continue to retain a greater percentage of men within the population 79.54 % compared to women 20.46 % contractors included, due to this, the organisation continues to see a high mean and median hourly pay.
Table 8: mean, excluding contractors
| Year | Mean Pay Gap |
|---|---|
| 2021 | 7.5% |
| 2022 | 9.2% |
Table 8 shows the mean hourly rate for women of £19.62 and for men of £21.62, a gap of 9.2 %. An increase of 1.7 % from 2021.
Table 9: median, excluding contractors
| Year | Median pay gap |
|---|---|
| 2021 | 8.5% |
| 2022 | 15.6% |
Table 9 shows the median hourly rate for women of £17.28 and for men of £20.48, a gap of 15.6 %. An increase of 7.1 % from 2021.
Excluding contractors, the organisation has seen an increase in both the mean and median hourly gender pay gaps.
For our workforce, average calculations continue to be impacted by the distribution of men and women and where they are distributed within the population. This can be seen in the below table on grade and seniority.
Table 10: women in workforce 2021 versus 2022, including contractors
| Grade | Men | Women | % of Women in workforce in 2021 | % of Women in workforce in 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A-C | 187 | 50 | 32.88% | 28.09% |
| D | 147 | 42 | 34.93% | 23.60% |
| E | 184 | 40 | 23.29% | 22.47% |
| F | 71 | 13 | 7.53% | 7.30% |
| G | 13 | 2 | 1.37% | 1.12% |
| Contractors | 90 | 31 | 12.33% | 17.42% |
| Total | 692 | 178 | 100% | 100% |
If we were to line all employees men and women in order of highest to lowest remunerated, we would see most women focused on the lower end of the spectrum. This is because over 50% of women remain in junior positions throughout the organisation, (predominantly Band A to D).
Despite seeing an increase of 2 women at band F, since the last report, there has been a greater increase in the number of men at the same grade. This has been the driver in the increase of our median gender pay gap (contractors excluded), as roles within these pay grades are more highly remunerated.
If we were to see a greater increase of women at our more senior grades bands F and G, than men we would see a decrease in the mean and median gender pay gaps.
Likewise, if the number of women employed at bands F or G were to reduce resulting in fewer higher remunerated women in the workforce, we would see a further increase in the gender pay gap due to the reduced number of women with higher remuneration to pull up the mean average.
The growth in the number of women contractors, who have higher remuneration has demonstrated the disproportionate effects these changes can have on our mean average, as when we include our contractors, we see a decrease of 0.4 % in our mean gender pay gap.
Table 11: proportion of men and women by pay quartiles, excluding contractors 2021 and 2022
| Quartile | Women % 2021 | Men % 2021 | Women % 2022 | Men % 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First (lower) quartile | 21.0% | 79.0% | 25.1% | 74.9% |
| Second quartile | 19.5% | 80.5% | 20.7% | 79.3% |
| Third quartile | 21.5% | 78.5% | 17.6% | 82.4% |
| Fourth (upper) quartile | 12.9% | 87.1% | 15% | 85% |
Table 11 shows a comparison of the proportion of relevant male and female employees in each pay quartile excluding contractors.
We have seen an increase of 5.8% in the number of women in the first quartile and a 4.5% increase in the number of women in the 4th quartile. We have also observed a decrease in the number of women in the second and third quartiles by 1.7 % and 2.1 % respectively since 2021. Quartiles are formed by ranking relevant employees in order from lowest earning in the first quartile to highest earning in the fourth quartile.
Whilst we have seen changes in the make-up of the workforce, and an increase in the number of women in the organisation, and an increase of women in the fourth quartile, we haven’t observed a positive change in the median gender pay gap. This is because most of the women in the organisation remain positioned in our least senior grades, with lower remuneration and, as a result, we have seen the greatest increase in the first quartile.
Bonus pay
RCDTS follows a widely recognised approach within the sector to pay and reward and we continue to utilise a non-consolidated performance budget to award staff for good and exceptional performance.
There are 4 reward schemes:
- Simply Thanks: £20 for appreciation of good work and positive behaviours
- Recognition Awards: up to £300 for exceptional short-term performance
- Goals Achieved Award: up to £250 per quarter for sustained performance leading to achievement and delivery of goals
- High Performance Award: up to £620 per quarter for exceptional effort and achievement with demonstrable evidence of achievement over time
Table 12: men and women who received a bonus
| Year | Men | Women |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 604 | 591 |
| 2022 | 103 | 141 |
Table 12 shows the proportion of men and women who are full pay relevant employees paid a bonus in the 12 months ending 5 April 2022 in comparison to those in the 12 months ending 5 April 2021.
The number of bonus payments made to men decreased by 2.2% in 2022 and payments for women increased by 36.9%. The number of bonus payments made to the workforce overall as a percentage has increased since 2021.
Table 13: men and women cumulative bonus amount
| Bonus value | Women 2021 | Women 2022 | Men 2021 | Men 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 2022 | 2021 | 2022 | |
| 250 < | 22 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| 251 - 500 | 12 | 5 | 17 | 12 |
| 501 - 1000 | 27 | 57 | 54 | 204 |
| 1001 - 2000 | 23 | 57 | 408 | 273 |
| 2001 - 3000 | 17 | 19 | 101 | 77 |
| 3001 - 4000 | 2 | 3 | 16 | 6 |
| 4000 + | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Total | 103 | 141 | 604 | 591 |
Table 13 shows the cumulative amount of bonus payments made to men and women in grouped or bucketed values.
Table 14: men and women mean bonus pay gap
| Gender | 2021 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|
| Men | £1095.00 | £1363.70 |
| Women | £1097.00 | £1327.04 |
| Mean | -0.2% | 2.7% |
Table 14 shows the mean bonus payments for women of £1327.04 and £1364.00 for men. There is an increase 2.5% from 2021.
Table 15: men and women median bonus pay gap
| Gender | 2021 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|
| Men | £900.00 | £1300.00 |
| Women | £770.00 | £1150.00 |
| Mean | 14.4% | 11.5% |
Table 15 shows the median bonus pay for women of £1150.00 and £1300.00 for men. This is a decrease of 2.9% from 2021.
RCDTS has seen an increase in the mean bonus pay gap and a decrease in the median bonus pay gap.
For the mean, we have seen a small increase in the mean bonus pay gap between periods. This is due to the higher number of the higher value awards being received by men within the organisation. As in previous years the mean bonus pay gap remains highly sensitive to fluctuations from a small number of high value awards. This year’s mean bonus pay gap has been influenced by one man receiving over £4,000 and no women receiving a cumulative bonus of a similar value as well as changes in workforce composition to the number of women in comparison to men.
The median has been similarly influenced resulting in a reduction in the median bonus pay gap. This reduction is a result of the increase in the number of women receiving more higher value payments compared to 2021.
Progress since 2021 report
Flexible working
The organisation has continued to recognise the importance of flexible working in enabling employees to balance family commitments with work.
We continue to look favourably on flexible working arrangements at the recruitment stage, and requests at all levels of the organisation provided that the needs and objectives of both the organisation and the employee can be met.
We have continued to collect and analyse diversity data and encouraged staff to complete online declarations so that the information can be used to make positive interventions across the organisation. In response we have seen an increase in our declaration rates, with an increase of 50 % in the carers category, enabling RCDTS to continue to promote the support available to all staff with staff with caring responsibilities.
We have continued to offer a wide range of flexible working options including reduced hours, compressed hours, job share, flexi time, working from home and annualised hours. RCDTS has also introduced hybrid working, which allows employees to combine home and office working improving flexibility for all.
We will continue to support people who wish to work more flexibly, across all grades, by advertising our roles as job-share, reduced hours, or flexible working patterns where possible.
Learning and career development
RCDTS understands the importance of diversity and recognise that our people don’t all want the same things from their careers. We provide a wide range of learning opportunities to support our people be the best they can be and to progress their career.
There are currently more men in our senior roles Band F and G.
We offer all RCDTS employees with aspirations to progress in their career the opportunity to apply for a place at an annual woman into leadership conference and recently made this learning more accessible to all through the implementation of the Skillsoft learning platform, which provides several women into leadership online training courses and resources. We also offer funded places for a select number of women to attend a women into leadership conferences.
We continue to provide individuals with training and development opportunities to progress though the organisation into more senior roles and have several training and development routes available to our people, such as the SPRING, LEAP and ASCEND schemes. We actively promote these programmes to our employees particularly encouraging applications to the LEAP programme, which is aimed at helping to support progression through the grading bands, helping to improve our workforce representation at more senior grades.
We have continued to utilise industrial placement and apprenticeships to stimulate opportunity and attract new talent into the organisation where we can nurture individuals into the leaders of tomorrow. We now also offer the option for our industrial placements to convert to permanent employees, helping to retain knowledge and skills gained during the placements in the organisation.
Recruitment processes
Continuing to focus on equality, we have now implemented and embedded the new applicant tracking system, which ensures blind recruitment remains standard business operating procedure. All applications are anonymised to ensure a more equitable process for all, and vacancy holders do not receive gender information when sifting applications.
The applicant tracking system has provided MI functionality, allowing the organisation to pull detailed reports. Data from this system can be used to highlight disadvantages within the recruitment process and across the organisation providing the information enabling us to target interventions to resolve issues in future recruitment campaigners.
We have also implemented diverse interview panels to continue to diversify the workforce.
Health and wellbeing
RCDTS has actively promoted health and wellbeing sessions to employees and scheduled bespoke sessions for by our external partners covering gender appropriate courses including Menopause awareness session. This offering alongside our wellbeing portal ensures that RCDTS employees have access to relevant support at the time of need. The portal offers easy access to a wide range of resources which help enable individuals to remain in the workforce.
Specific actions
RCDTS supports the fair treatment and reward of all people irrespective of gender. Our pay policy and conditions of employment are consistent with this principle.
1.We will continue to support and encourage flexible working across all pay bands in RCDTS, with the majority of roles offering hybrid working and by advertising our roles job-share, reduced hours, or flexible working patterns where possible, reviewing and promoting our flexible working policies to build a more inclusive workforce.
2.We continue to monitor the distribution of our bonus schemes for gender and grade to identify and address bias outcomes. We now work closely with business management teams providing regular MI and will continue to work with them to encourage fair and non-bias award distribution.
3.We will analyse the results of the RCDTS People survey and analyse diversity data provided to identify disparities and actively seek to address if they arise.
4.We will continue to utilise industrial placement and apprenticeship schemes to create opportunity and attract and grow new talent into our organisation.
5.We will promote utilisation of our learning and development package and encourage training and development discussions through our performance and development processes. RCDTS will continue to provide individuals with training and development opportunities, to help employees with career progression into more senior roles.
6.We will continue to use our recruitment platform to review recruitment data and where MI reports highlight concerns, we will seek ways to address issues and create parity within our recruitment process. We will use the data from the portal to enable us to attract and retain people regardless of gender or socio-economic background.
7.We will also continue to use diverse recruitment panels throughout the recruitment and selection process to encourage diverse recruitment into our workforce.
Declaration
We confirm that data reported by RCDTS 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.
Annex
Including contractors
| Detail | % |
|---|---|
| Mean gender pay gap: ordinary pay | 19.2% |
| Median gender pay gap: ordinary pay | 23.1% |
| Mean gender pay gap: bonus pay in the 12 months ending 31 March | 2.7% |
| Median gender pay gap: bonus pay in the 12 months ending 31 March | 11.5% |
| Proportion of male employees paid a bonus in the 12 months ending 31 March | 98.2% |
| Proportion of female employees paid a bonus in the 12 months ending 31 March | 95.9% |
Proportion of male and female employees in each quartile
| Quartile | Female | Male |
|---|---|---|
| First (lower) quartile | 29.4% | 70.6% |
| Second quartile | 21.2% | 78.8% |
| Third quartile | 17.4% | 82.6% |
| Fourth (upper) quartile | 13.8% | 86.2% |
Total staff
Female: 178
Male: 692
Total: 870