DBS Gender Pay Gap Report 2021
Published 28 March 2022
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1. Background
Gender pay gap is a comparison of the average pay for all males and females, across all jobs. The comparison within the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) is shown throughout this report.
If an organisation has a particularly high gender pay gap, this can indicate that there may be issues to address, and the individual calculations may help to identify what those issues are.
The Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties and Public Authorities) Regulations 2017 stipulate that all businesses, public sector organisations, and third sector organisations with over 250 employees must publicly report on the average pay differences between their male and female employees.
The regulations require employers to publish:
- their mean gender pay gap in hourly pay
- their median gender pay gap in hourly pay
- their mean bonus gender pay gap
- their median bonus gender pay gap
- the proportion of males and females receiving a bonus payment
- the proportion of males and females in each pay quartile
As a public sector body, we are required to publish this pay gap information within 12 months, taking the ‘snapshot date’ of 31 March annually. Due to a change in IT systems at DBS, data for 31 March is unavailable so to fulfil our reporting requirement, the snapshot date used in this report is 9 April 2021.
Our calculations follow the legislative requirements as set out in the Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties and Public Authorities) Regulations 2017, except for the alternative snapshot date explained above. All staff who were deemed to be relevant employees at 9 April 2021 are included. All data relating to salary is at 31 March 2021.
This information will be published on the DBS website for a minimum of 3 years, and will be published by 31 March 2022.
This report fulfils DBS’ reporting requirements, analyses the figures in more detail, and updates the action plan produced last year, which sets out what we are doing to close the gender pay gap in our organisation.
The purpose of gender pay gap reporting is to achieve greater gender equality in terms of pay across the UK, and increase pay transparency. This differs from equal pay which deals with differences between males and females who carry out the same roles.
DBS recognises that gender identity is not limited to the categories of male and female, and although gender pay gap regulations require DBS to report on all staff as male or female, DBS appreciates that some colleagues may not identify within this gender binary. DBS welcomes and values colleagues of all gender identities.
To be included as a full pay relevant employee (this includes part-time employees), the employee must be paid their full usual pay during the pay period in which the snapshot date falls. If the employee is paid less than their usual rate because of being on leave for that period, they should not be counted as a full pay relevant employee. For example, if an employee is paid Statutory Sick Pay or Statutory Maternity Pay that is less than their usual pay, they will not be counted as a full pay relevant employee.
2. Workforce profile
As at 9 April 2021, DBS employed a total of 1063 employees (by headcount). 645 (61%) of the workforce identified as female and 418 (39%) of the workforce identified as male. This is the same profile as at 3 March 2020 when the equivalent figures were 1048 employees, of which 637 (61%) were female and 411 (39%) were male.
Figures 1 and 2 show a breakdown of the 1,063 relevant employees in DBS on 9 April 2021.
Figure 1: DBS workforce information by gender
| Grade | Female | Male |
|---|---|---|
| Administrative Officer (AO) | 185 (58%) | 135 (42%) |
| Executive Officer (EO) | 209 (66%) | 107 (34%) |
| Higher Executive Officer (HEO) | 171 (62%) | 107 (38%) |
| Senior Executive Officer (SEO) | 42 (51%) | 40 (49%) |
| Grade 7 | 23 (56%) | 18 (44%) |
| Grade 6 | 10 (71%) | 4 (29%) |
| Senior Civil Servant (SCS) | 5 (42%) | 7 (58%) |
Figure 2: Distribution of DBS workforce numbers by gender
| Grade | Female | Male |
|---|---|---|
| Administrative Officer (AO) | 185 | 135 |
| Executive Officer (EO) | 209 | 107 |
| Higher Executive Officer (HEO) | 171 | 107 |
| Senior Executive Officer (SEO) | 42 | 40 |
| Grade 7 | 23 | 18 |
| Grade 6 | 10 | 4 |
| Senior Civil Servant (SCS) | 5 | 7 |
Figures 1 and 2 show that:
- 86% of the workforce is employed at AO, EO, and HEO level
- at AO grade, 58% of employees are female and 42% are male
- at EO grade, 66% of employees are female and 34% are male
- at HEO grade, 62% of employees are female and 38% are male
- at SEO grade, 51% of employees are female and 49% are male
- at Grade 7, 56% of employees are female and 44% are male
- at Grade 6, 71% of employees are female and 29% are male
- for 2021, in Grade 7, Grade 6, and SCS roles, 57% of employees were female at these grades (38 out of 67) - this is similar to 2020, when there were 35 female employees out of a total of 60 (58%)
3. Mean gender pay gap
As at 31 March 2021, the mean hourly rate for male employees was £15.31 per hour and for female employees it was £14.71 per hour. This means that males earned an average of 60 pence per hour more than females, compared to earning an average of 53 pence more per hour than female in 2020.
The mean difference recorded at DBS for 2021 is 3.93%. The gap reduced from 2017 to 2019 from 5.50% to 2.00% and has increased since then, from 2.00% in 2019 to 2.90% in March 2020. This is shown in Figure 3.
Figure 3: Mean pay gap
| Year | Mean |
|---|---|
| 2021 | 3.93% |
| 2020 | 2.90% |
| 2019 | 2.00% |
| 2018 | 3.50% |
| 2017 | 5.50% |
We calculated our pay gap using a method set by the Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties and Public Authorities) Regulations 2017. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) use a different method for calculating the UK wide pay gap and therefore the two are not directly comparable. However, for context, the gap at DBS is considerably less than the national public sector mean pay gap, which is 14.9% (Office for National Statistics – provisional 2021 figure).
4. Median gender pay gap
As at 2021, the median hourly rate of pay for males was £13.34 per hour and for females, it was £13.22 per hour. This means that males earned an average of 12 pence per hour more than females, which equates to a difference of 0.93%.
This is considerably less than the national public sector median pay gap which is 15.4% (Office for National Statistics - provisional 2021 figure). The figures for 2021 show an improvement on 2020, when the median hourly pay was 48 pence less for females and 39 pence less for males.
5. Proportion of male and female employees receiving bonuses
DBS offers in-year reward and recognition awards to employees. These are awarded in the form of vouchers or through salary. Both are included for the purpose of gender pay gap calculations.
Out of 645 female employees, 335 received a bonus which equates to 52%. Out of 418 male employees, 235 received a bonus which equates to 56%.
6. Gender bonus gap
The mean gender bonus gap (difference between males and females ) is 5.6% with females being awarded more, and the median gender bonus gap is 0.00%. This is shown in Figure 4.
Figure 4: Mean and median bonus gap
| Year | Mean bonus gap | Median bonus gap |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | -6.0% | 0.0% |
| 2020 | 36.6% | 36.6% |
| 2019 | 11.3% | 0.0% |
| 2018 | 7.0% | -50.0% |
| 2017 | 7.2% | 36.8% |
7. Hourly pay quartiles
DBS employed 1,063 employees as at 9 April 2021, which means there are 266 employees per pay quartile (265 for the lower quartile).
The hourly rates that represent each quartile are as follows:
- Upper - relates to hourly rates of £15.37 and above
- Upper middle - relates to the hourly rates of £13.23 to £15.37
- Lower middle - relates to the hourly rates of £11.73 to £13.23
- Lower - relates to hourly rates up to £11.72
The gender split per quartile is detailed below :
- In the upper quartile, there are 150 female employees (56%) and 116 male employees (44%)
- In the upper middle quartile, there are 166 female employees (62%) and 100 male employees (38%)
- In the lower middle quartile, there are 171 female employees (64%) and 95 male employees (36%)
- In the lower quartile, there are 158 female employees (60%) and 107 male employees (40%)
The highest percentage of females is in the lower middle quartile (64%), whilst the highest for males is in the upper quartile (44%).
The lowest percentage of females is in the upper quartile (56%) and the lowest percentage of males is in the upper quartile (44%).
The data highlights that, within the three lowest quartiles, the proportion of male and female employees compares closely to their workforce representation across all three quartiles, with the difference no more than 2%.
On average, there is a slightly higher proportion of male employees in the highest pay quartile than female employees compared to their workforce representation (approximately 4%).
In the highest pay quartile, 38 (42.86%) of the 67 Grade 7, Grade 6, and SCS staff are female, which is lower than their workforce representation. The gap narrows at Grade 6 where 71% of posts are occupied by females.
8. Actions
DBS is committed to improving the equality of its pay and reward strategy and will look to continue to address any issues in relation to gender. DBS regularly monitors equality within its workforce and also has a wider equality, diversity, and inclusion plan which endeavours to ensure that fair and equitable practices exist for both employees and customers.
There is scope to make further improvements. These are outlined in the following actions:
Equal pay audit
DBS will continue to conduct an annual equal pay audit to identify any potential areas for improvement and considerations for the annual pay award.
We will continue to publish gender pay gap information and we are committed to learning from good practice in other organisations as part of our journey. The gender pay gap data will be analysed on an annual basis, a comparison of figures will be completed year on year and the DBS Strategic Leadership Team will continue to review and monitor this data and the completion of actions within the plan.
DBS has the ability, within the frameworks set by HM Treasury and Cabinet Office, to determine its pay and grading structures for grades AO to Grade 6. As such, DBS conducts an annual review of pay for staff in grades below SCS. Analysis is conducted to ensure that changes to grading structure do not impact on gender equality. This analysis is separate to the gender pay gap and does not follow the same methodology. The report looks at annual salary paid for all staff and compares the gaps across all grades, this gives further insight on the impact on gender pay gap.
Attract, retain, and develop
DBS will continue work to implement a new pay policy, working within government controls. This pay policy will, where possible within government controls, allow us to address discrepancies in pay and then build a sustainable model for the future. This will result in our people having the opportunity to move through pay scales as they develop their skills. We will work with the Home Office and wider government to deliver this. We will work within the wider Home Office family of organisations and the Cabinet Office, in future years, to standardise the reporting of the gender pay gap so better comparisons can be made.
DBS will continue to work hard to achieve representation across all protected characteristics in its workforce, at all grades, through its recruitment and attraction plans.
Conclusion
The gender pay gap within DBS is relatively small at 3.93%. DBS compares favourably to the UK mean gender pay gap of 14.9%[footnote 1]. While there have been small increases in the DBS gender pay gap over the past 3 years, it remains much lower overall than reported in 2017. Analysis demonstrates that this is partly due to the profile of employees changing, in particular, more male employees holding senior positions and more female representation in junior roles.
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Source: Office for National Statistics annual survey of hours and earnings (ASHE) – provisional figure for 2021 ↩