Transparency data

Coal Authority gender pay gap report 2021

Published 30 March 2022

1. Foreword

This is the Coal Authority’s third gender pay gap report and covers the period April 2020 to March 2021. Our board remains committed to addressing this important issue and reporting openly and clearly on our progress and remaining challenges.

We are now able to compare data for gender across those 3 years.

Compare this report against our Coal Authority gender pay gap report 2019.

Compare this report against our Coal Authority gender pay gap report 2020.

This shows that we are moving in the right direction overall, with the pay mean reducing by 1.97% since 2018/19 and the median by 5.28%, although progress slowed slightly in 2020/21 (pay mean reduced by 0.04% and median reduced by 0.28% between the 2019/20 and this 2020/21 report). Our gender pay gap for 2021 is a mean of 19.93% and a median of 26.21%.

We recognised in 2019 that this is a journey and that there would be some bumps in the numbers as we progress. 2020/21 was a challenging year with more limited opportunities for recruitment and development and we are aware that the impacts of COVID-19 often fell disproportionately on women and care givers. We put in place a range of wellbeing measures to support our staff through this challenging year and have continued our focus on diversity and inclusion, including all the action and progress measures identified in last year’s gender pay gap report.

Let me be clear that our commitment to reducing our pay gap is unwavering and we are taking further steps to improve it. I am pleased to see a movement of women through our pipelines and into more management and senior roles – especially the 6.63% increase of women in the upper middle quartile. This shows that our recruitment and development approaches are working and they will be a continued focus for us in the years ahead.

This year we have also included information on pay gaps for ethnicity, disability and sexual orientation in the organisation.

These calculations are impacted by current low representation in the organisation and by low self-reporting and disclosure rates. We don’t want to hide behind excuses though and believe transparency will help us to achieve greater progress.

We have used the approaches stated in the UK Government regulations for calculating gender pay gaps to report the ethnicity, disability and sexual orientation pay gaps and hope that more bespoke guidance will be available in future. We will continue to work with partners to share best practice and improve our reporting over time and to take clear action to attract, retain and develop more staff across all under-represented areas to ensure that we truly are a ‘great place to work for everyone.

For ethnicity our mean pay gap is 6.74% and our median 13.80%. This needs focus. The mean performance related pay (bonus) pay gap is 31.33% mean and 8.60% median and fewer ethnically diverse people received performance related pay than white colleagues (36% compared with 64%). We will put specific work and controls in place to understand and address this.

We will continue work to attract, recruit and retain more ethnically diverse staff at all levels and to develop them through the organisation. We will also encourage everyone to feel comfortable to confidentially self-disclose diversity data to improve the accuracy of our reporting and to enable us to put clear actions in place. We will continue to work with our Race Equality Network and to raise up voices across and outside of the organisation to inform and challenge our progress.

For disability our mean pay gap is -0.10% and our median 0.97% and the data shows that a higher proportion of disabled colleagues received performance related pay than non-disabled employees. However our performance related pay / bonus pay gap is 12.83% mean and 7.06% median so there is more to do. We are not complacent and recognise that representation and self-reporting data in this area is low. We will continue to remove barriers for our disabled and neuro-diverse colleagues and are delighted that we have a new Accessibility staff network to work with and be challenged by as we make further progress in this area.

For sexual orientation our mean pay gap is negative -39% while our median pay gap is 4.88%. This reflects low numbers of staff identifying as lesbian, gay or bisexual and relatively high representation (across the numbers of LGB+ staff overall) in senior roles in the organisation. This is also reflected in the performance related pay/bonus figures of mean -58.47% and median 41.97%. We are not complacent and recognise that representation and self-reporting data in this area is low. We will continue to remove barriers for our lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender colleagues and work with our Rainbow network to make further, sustainable progress in this area.

Next year we will aim to publish our 2022 report sooner after year end and certainly before September 2022. This will enable more timely analysis and swifter action to be taken.

We know that we can only achieve our mission of making a better future for people and the environment in mining areas by being inclusive. As always I invite you to help, to share best practice, to hold us to account and to challenge where you think we can do better.

Lisa Pinney MBE, chief executive and diversity champion

2. Introduction

A pay gap shows the difference in average pay between one group of employees compared to another. Pay gaps are different to equal pay, which relates to pay differences between employees who carry out the same jobs, similar jobs or work of equal value. Employees must legally receive equal pay, unless any differences in pay can be justified.

We support the fair treatment of all our colleagues and are committed to removing inequality for all groups. This year we have introduced pay gap reporting for ethnicity, disability and sexual orientation, in additional to our gender pay gap. This report analyses our findings in more detail and sets out what we are doing to close our pay gaps for these diversity characteristics.

3. Understanding the key definitions of a pay gap

Our pay gap analysis for all diversity characteristics has been calculated in accordance with government regulations for calculating gender pay gaps. We have used the following definitions and calculations within our report.

3.1 Ordinary hourly rate

The calculation for ordinary hourly rate includes;

• basic pay

• allowances

It does not include:

• employees on maternity leave, long term sick leave, or other types of reduced pay

• overtime

The calculation for ordinary hourly rate uses contractual weekly hours. This compares employees’ hourly pay, regardless of whether they work full-time or part-time.

3.2 Mean and median hourly pay gaps

We use 2 calculations to analyse our ordinary hourly pay gap:

• mean (average) pay gap is the difference between the mean hourly rate of full-pay relevant employees from a select diversity characteristic

• median pay gap is the middle value if all hourly rates were stacked up from lowest to highest

3.3 Mean and median bonus gaps

The Coal Authority does not pay bonuses. Instead, we operate a performance-related pay system that is designed to grow and develop our organisation and our people. The system is designed to be unbiased and is calculated on a percentage of pay, which is linked to an individual’s annual performance review score. We regularly analyse performance scores and related payments to assess and remove bias in all our processes.

Within this report we use 2 calculations to analyse at our bonus gap:

• Mean bonus pay gap - is calculated by adding all the bonus values together and then dividing the total by how many people were paid

• Median bonus pay gap - is the middle value if all the bonuses were stacked up from lowest to highest

The median pay gap is less affected by outliers – a few individuals at the top or bottom of the range.

You will notice that where we have very low numbers of staff who have declared a particular protected characteristic (ethnicity, disability or sexual orientation) there can be a significant difference between the two different pay gaps. We have published them for transparency and to ensure that we are focused on improving the representation, development and reward for those groups. Over the next year we will work to improve self-reporting and declaration and improve the data quality as well as to focus on recruitment, development and decision making to improve the information in our pay gap reports and to drive improvements so that we really are a great place to work for everyone.

3.4 Pay by quartiles

For each of the diversity characteristics we arrange employees by their ordinary hourly pay and then divide the employees into 4 ‘quartile’ groups, which tell us that what level of the organisation colleagues are at.

4. Gender pay gap data

For the purposes of this report, we will be reporting on only male and female genders, as set out in Government regulations for calculating gender pay gaps. We know that gender is not binary and that some of our colleagues may not identify as male or female. We support the fair treatment and reward of all colleagues, irrespective of gender and we continue to promote inclusivity for our non-binary, Trans and intersex colleagues.

As at 31 March 2021 41% of the Coal Authority’s employees are women. Although overall we have seen an increase in the number of female employees in the last year, the proportion of men and women has remained the same.

Our gender split at 31 March 2021 was: Male 160 (59%) Female 112 (41%).

Our gender split at 31 March 2020 was: Male 155 (59%) Female 107 (41%).

4.1 Ordinary pay

The comparison of mean and median pay within the organisation continues to show a gap in favour of men, although this has reduced slightly compared to our 2020 analysis. This is driven by having a larger proportion of female employees within lower grade administrative roles, in comparison to technical professional roles, which are higher paid.

Our mean gender pay gap is 19.93%, which is a reduction of 0.04% from the previous year. Our mean gender pay gap has reduced by 1.97% in total since our first report in 2019.

Our median pay gap is 26.21%, which is a reduction of 0.28% from the previous year. Our median gender pay gap has reduced by 5.28% in total since our first report in 2019.

Mean hourly rate 2021
Male	£22.68
Female	£18.16
Mean gender pay gap	19.93%

Mean hourly rate 2020
Male	£22.29
Female	£17.84
Mean gender pay gap	19.97%

Median hourly rate 2021
Male	£21.86
Female	£16.13
Median gender pay gap	26.21%

Median hourly rate 2020
Male	£21.13
Female	£15.52
Median gender pay gap	26.49%

4.2 Bonus pay

A high proportion of our female colleagues are in roles at lower pay grades, which increases our mean and medium gender bonus pay gap, in the same way it drives our mean and medium gender ordinary pay gap.

A higher proportion of men than women received a bonus payment. Of all colleagues who received a bonus, 52% were male and 48% were female. We will continue to analyse the distribution of our bonus payments and investigate any trends.

Our mean bonus pay gap has reduced by 0.75% this year.

Our median bonus pay gap has increased by 12.84% this year.

Mean bonus payment 2021

Percentage difference 20.34%

Mean bonus payment 2020

Percentage difference 21.09%

Median bonus payment 2021

Percentage difference 20.58%

Median bonus payment 2020

Percentage difference 7.74%

Staff receiving a bonus in 2020/21

• Male 52%

• Female 48%

Staff receiving a bonus in 2019/20

• Male 51%

• Female 49%

4.3 Pay by quartiles

Our hourly rate quartile distribution shows we have a high proportion of women within the lower quartiles, however this year we have been seen an increase of male colleagues in the lower and lower middle quartiles and an increase of women in upper middle quartile.

It is encouraging to see an increase in 6.63% of women in the upper middle quartile, which reflects an improvement of attracting and developing women into more senior and technical roles. This will be a continuing focus for us at the Coal Authority.

The pay by quartiles at 31 March 2021 was:

Quartile	Male	Female
Lower quartile	29.41%	70.59%
Lower middle quartile	62.50%	37.50%
Upper middle quartile	68.75%	31.25%
Upper quartile	75%	25%

The pay by quartiles at 31 March 2020 was:

Quartile	Male	Female
Lower quartile	29.23%	70.77%
Lower middle quartile	59.09%	40.91%
Upper middle quartile	75.38%	24.62%
Upper quartile	72.73%	27.27%

5. Ethnicity pay gap data

This is our first year of voluntarily publishing our ethnicity pay gap, which is the average difference in hourly rates of pay between our white and minority ethnic colleagues. Reporting on our ethnicity pay gap will help us to take direction action on improving racial equality and diversity at the Coal Authority and monitoring our progress.

As of 31 March 2021, 1% of our colleagues declared being from a minority ethnic background. We recognise that this is a very low representation and we are committed to better understanding and addressing the inequalities and barriers faced by colleagues and candidates from ethnically diverse backgrounds, to ensure our employment and development opportunities are inclusive for everyone.

We are taking steps to improve how we capture diversity data and increase self-reporting and disclosure rates for ethnicity, which will help us improve the quality of our data and accuracy of our analysis. As of 31 March 2021, 80% of colleagues had made an ethnicity declaration, however 36% of those who had made a declaration have stated ‘prefer not to say’ or not made an ethnicity declaration.

Our ethnicity profile as at 31 March 2021:

Ethnicity	Employees	Percentage
White Combined	169	62.13%
Minority Ethnic	4	1.47%
Prefer not to say	47	17.28%
Not stated	52	19.12%

5.1 Ordinary pay

The comparison of mean and median pay within the organisation shows a gap in favour of white colleagues. We recognise that minority ethnic colleagues are significantly underrepresented within the Coal Authority and the impact that this has on our pay gap analysis.

We are committed to increasing the ethnic diversity of the Coal Authority and reducing our ethnicity pay gap through the delivery of our equality, diversity and inclusion priorities, specific race equality initiatives and investing further in our people.

Our mean ethnicity pay gap is 6.74% and our median pay gap is 13.80%.

Mean hourly rate 2021
White Combined	£21.06
Minority Ethnic	£19.64
Mean ethnicity pay gap	6.74%

Median hourly rate 2021
White Combined	£20.65
Minority Ethnic	£17.80
Mean ethnicity pay gap	13.80%

5.2 Bonus pay

Overall we have an underrepresentation of colleagues from ethnically diverse backgrounds at all levels of the organisation, which drives our mean and medium ethnicity bonus pay gap, in the same way it impacts our mean and medium ethnicity ordinary pay gap. We will continue to analyse the distribution of our bonus payments and investigate any trends.

A lower proportion of minority ethnic colleagues received a bonus than white colleagues. Of those colleagues who have made an ethnicity declaration, 64% of white colleagues received a bonus payment, in comparison to 36% of minority ethnic colleagues.

Our mean ethnicity bonus pay gap is 31.33% and our median ethnicity bonus pay gap is 8.60%.

Ethnicity split of staff receiving a bonus in 2020-21

Ethnicity	Percentage
White Combined	64%
Minority Ethnic	36%

Ethnicity Bonus Pay Gap in 2020-21

Bonus pay gap 2021	Percentage
Mean ethnicity pay gap	31.33%
Median ethnicity pay gap	8.60%

5.3 Pay by quartiles

The hourly rate quartile distribution shows a low representation of colleagues from minority ethnic backgrounds across all levels of the organisation. We have a low representation of minority ethnic colleagues within the lower middle quartiles and upper quartile and no representation within the lower quartile or upper middle quartile.

We are committed to addressing underrepresentation of minority ethnic colleagues at all levels of the Coal Authority. We understand that becoming a more diverse and representative organisation, through attracting and developing diverse talent, will enable us to be the most effective organisation and deliver the best possible services to our communities.

The pay by quartiles at 31 March 2021 was:

Quartile	White Combined	Minority Ethnic
Lower quartile	100.00%	0.00%
Lower middle quartile	93.02%	6.98%
Upper middle quartile	100.00%	0.00%
Upper quartile	97.67%	2.33%

6. Disability pay gap data

This is our first year of voluntarily publishing our disability pay gap, which is the average difference in hourly rates of pay between our disabled and non-disabled colleagues. Reporting on our disability pay gap helps us to drive our equality, diversity and inclusion priorities and commitments and make progress on disability equality, at all levels of our organisation.

As of 31 March 2021, 66% of colleagues have made a disability declaration, with 4% declaring that they have a disability or a long-term health condition and 62% declaring that they do not have a disability. Overall, 35% of colleagues have not made a disability declaration or have selected ‘prefer not to say’. We are taking steps to improve the self-reporting and disclosure rates across all of the protected characteristics and improve accuracy of our data and analysis.

Our disability profile as at 31 March 2021:

Disability status	Employees	Percentage
Disabled	11	4.04%
Not Disabled	168	61.76%
Not known/Not stated	93	34.20%

6.1 Ordinary pay

The comparison of mean and median pay within the organisation shows a gap in favour of disabled colleagues and we are very pleased to highlight that our pay gap is relatively small.

Our mean disability pay gap is -0.10% and our median is 0.97%

Mean hourly rate 2021
Disabled	£20.85
Not Disabled	£20.83
Mean disability pay gap	-0.10%

Median hourly rate 2021
Disabled	£20.51
Not Disabled	£20.71
Mean disability pay gap	0.97%

6.2 Bonus pay

A higher proportion of disabled employees received a bonus than non-disabled employees. Of those colleagues who have made a disability declaration, 51% of disabled colleagues received a bonus payment, in comparison to 49% of non-disabled colleagues, which is a positive indicator of disability equality at the Coal Authority.

We are committed to continuing to removing barriers for our disabled colleagues and promoting equality.

Our mean disability bonus pay gap is 12.83% and our median disability bonus pay gap is 7.06%.

Disability split of staff receiving a bonus in 2020-21

Disability status	Percentage
Disabled	51%
Not Disabled	49%

Disability bonus pay gap in 2020-21

Bonus Pay Gap 2021	Percentage
Mean disability pay gap	12.83%
Median disability pay gap	7.06%

6.3 Pay by quartiles

Although we have a low proportion of disabled colleagues at the Coal Authority, the hourly rate quartile distribution shows that people with a disability are fairly evenly represented at all levels of the organisation.

Overall we recognise that disabled colleagues are underrepresented at the Coal Authority and are taking steps to address this by removing barriers to employment, promoting development opportunities and improving accessibility in all areas of our organisation.

The pay by quartiles at 31 March 2021 was:

Quartile	Not Disabled	Disabled
Lower quartile	93.33%	6.67%
Lower middle quartile	93.62%	6.38%
Upper middle quartile	95.24%	4.76%
Upper quartile	93.33%	6.67%

7. Sexual Orientation pay gap

This is our first year of voluntarily publishing our sexual orientation pay gap, which is the average difference in hourly rates of pay between heterosexual colleagues and lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB+) colleagues. We are using the + (plus) symbol to reflect inclusion of other sexual orientation identities, including pansexual and asexual.

As of 31 March 2021, 3% of our colleagues declared being LGB+.

59% of our colleagues had made a sexual orientation declaration as of 31 March 2021, however the overall response rate shows 42% have stated ‘prefer not to say’ or have not stated their sexual orientation. We are taking steps to improve the disclosure dates for sexual orientation, to improve accuracy of our data analysis and understanding of sexual orientation equality at the Coal Authority.

We collect data for gender reassignment separately and are currently unable to undertake pay gap analysis for trans colleagues, as we currently do not have enough data to undertake this analysis.

Our sexual orientation profile as of 31 March 2021:

Sexual Orientation	Employees	Percentage
Heterosexual	152	55.88%
LGB+	7	2.57%
Prefer not to say	59	21.69%
Not stated	54	19.85%

7.1 Ordinary pay

The comparison of mean and median pay within the organisation shows a mean pay gap in favour of LGB+ colleagues. This positively reflects that we have high representation of LGB+ colleagues in senior leadership positions, which are higher paid.

Our mean sexual orientation pay gap is -28.05% in favour of LGB+ colleagues and our median pay gap is 4.85% in favour of heterosexual colleagues.

Mean hourly rate 2021
Heterosexual	£21.00
LGB+	£21.00
Mean sexual orientation pay gap	-39.00%

Median hourly rate 2021
Heterosexual	£20.68
LGB+	£19.67
Mean sexual orientation pay gap	4.88%

7.2 Bonus pay

A slightly higher proportion of heterosexual colleagues received a bonus than LGB+ colleagues. Of those colleagues who have made a sexual orientation declaration, 51% of heterosexual colleagues received a bonus payment, in comparison to 49% of LGB+ colleagues.

The mean sexual orientation bonus pay gap is -58.47 in favour of LGB+ colleagues, which reflects a relatively high representation of LGB+ colleagues within leadership positions. The median sexual orientation pay gap is 41.97%, in favour of heterosexual colleagues.

Our sexual orientation split of staff receiving a bonus in 2020-21

Sexual orientation	Percentage
Heterosexual	51%
LGB+	49%

Sexual orientation Bonus Pay Gap in 2020-21

Bonus Pay Gap 2021	Percentage
Mean sexual orientation pay gap	-58.47%
Median sexual orientation pay gap	41.97%

7.3 Pay by quartiles

The hourly rate quartile distribution shows that LGB+ colleagues are represented at all levels of the organisation. We are committed to ensuring equality for our LGB+ colleagues and increasing diversity LGB+ colleagues at all levels of our organisation.

The pay by quartiles as of 31 March 2021 was:

Quartile	Heterosexual	LGB+
Lower quartile	95.00%	5.00%
Lower middle quartile	95.00%	5.00%
Upper middle quartile	97.50%	2.50%
Upper quartile	94.87%	5.13%

8. Our progress

Our people are at the heart of the Coal Authority and we are committed to creating a truly diverse and inclusive organisation, where our people can thrive and reach their full potential. We understand that a diverse organisation, where our colleagues reflect the communities we serve, will enable us to deliver the best possible services to our communities and be an employer of choice.

This year we have continued to focus on our gender pay gap and making progress on our equality, diversity and inclusion journey. This includes building on the steps we reported on in our 2020 report and the commitments that we made for 2020/21. We have:

• established a diversity and inclusion steering group with a senior (director level) chair to help us champion our differences and ensure diversity and inclusion is considered across all aspects of the work we do

• continued to focus on intersectionality and inclusion – we continue to work to become a more actively anti-racist organisation and have worked with colleagues to establish a Race Equality Network alongside our other staff networks

• continued to learn from others – including High Speed 2, the Intellectual Property Office, British Geological Survey and the Association of Chief Executives’ diversity and inclusion group

• developed and implemented a diversity calendar of events, which includes a rolling programme of activities and celebrations, aimed at developing colleague awareness, understanding and engagement

• continued to empower our women’s network, women in STEM group, staff engagement group and other staff networks to have a voice that is heard at all levels of the organisation and can shape decision making

• developed our metrics to be able to provide more information on pay gaps or other metrics relating to more protected characteristics in our 2021 report. Ethnicity, disability and sexual orientation have been added to this report

We have also:

• further developed our training and development opportunities for women through improved approaches to mentoring and coaching, alongside access to a range of training and events

• reduced our core hours to offer more flexibility for our colleagues and promoted a range of flexible working options to have a positive impact balancing work and home life

• increased representation of female STEM leaders and senior role models

• focused on creating an inclusive and supportive workplace for people experiencing the menopause, through awareness raising events and launch of a menopause toolkit for managers

• established our race equality network to improve awareness and understanding of the positive influences realised by racial and ethnic diversity and how we can improve the diversity of our organisation

• developed an antiracism action plan to help drive our work in becoming an actively anti-racist organisation and actively ensuring racial equality and inclusion

• established our accessibility network to help us create a supportive, barrier-free working environment for disabled and neurodiverse colleagues

• continued to empower our women’s network, women in STEM, and men’s network, who have focused a range of events and awareness sessions on gender equality, female leadership and progression, and female personal safety

• further developed our metrics to enable us to carry out pay gap analysis for other diversity characteristics

• continued to ensure a range of options for gender appropriate PPE for all our colleagues

• introduced Mx as a title option on our job application forms in recognition that gender is not binary

9. Next steps

We are pleased to continue to make progress on our gender pay gap this year, alongside introducing pay gap reporting for ethnicity, disability and sexual orientation. We recognise there is still much more to be done to reduce our pay gaps and continue to cultivate a truly diverse and inclusive organisation, where our differences make us stronger and more effective. Increasing our diversity and better reflecting the diversity of our communities will continue to be a priority for us over the coming year. During 2021/22 we will:

• develop a dedicated equality, diversity and inclusion strategy, which underpins our commitments to being ‘a great place to work for everyone’

• employ a dedicated equality, diversity and inclusion specialist to help us take our commitments to the next level

• deliver a campaign to increase disclosure rates across the protected/diversity characteristics to improve quality of our data analysis and pay gap reporting

• create a diversity dashboard to help us monitor progress and delivery of our equality, diversity and inclusion priorities

• develop a recruitment plan which will help us increase attraction of diverse talent, bring new skills, perspectives and identities into the organisation and address underrepresentation of LGB+, disability and racial diversity

• continue to drive our work to become a more actively antiracist organisation, including providing opportunities for colleagues to build confidence in having conversations about race and tackling racial inequality

• introduce further measures and controls to better understand and address disparities in performance related pay for minority ethnic, disabled and lesbian, gay and bisexual colleagues

• introduce regular menopause cafes which continue to provide support for colleagues impacted by the menopause and help us create an inclusive working environment

• review all our people-related polices to ensure they are consistently and actively promoting inclusive, respectful and family friendly practices supportive of all our colleagues, irrespective of background or identity

• provide training and development opportunities for our diversity network leads and members to further enhance the impact and voice of our networks and ensure there is a diverse set of perspectives at the forefront of our organisation

• continue to implement our diversity calendar and rolling programme of activities, events and celebrations to create learning and engagement opportunities for all our colleagues