DCMS gender pay gap report 2022
Published 24 November 2022
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Introduction
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) is committed to reducing the gender pay gap. This is key to delivering on our Diversity and Inclusion strategy and meeting our ambition to be the most inclusive government department by 2025. Our approach to pay and bonuses seeks to reward all staff fairly, regardless of gender. We have prepared this report as part of the legal requirement for public authorities to publish their gender pay gap on an annual basis. Greater transparency and accountability is key to enabling us as an organisation to demonstrate our commitment to equality, attract the best talent and boost staff engagement. Data helps drive action and our report also aligns with the recommendations made from the Inclusive Data Taskforce report published in September 2021.
DCMS has an Executive Agency, BDUK, whose data is included in this report. The National Archives is a DCMS Non-Ministerial Department and will report their gender pay gap data separately. DCMS’ headcount for all employees in scope for the calculations on the 31 March 2022 snapshot date was 2011, an increase of 233 since the previous year. Of this headcount, 1925 employees were identified as ‘full pay relevant employees’ as set out in the regulations, and included in the calculations. This included 54.3% women. On the same date, the Department had 110 full time equivalent Senior Civil Servants (SCS), 52.7% of whom were women.
Gender pay gap 2022
3.3% Mean Reduced from 5.1% in 2021
9.8% Median Increased from 0% in 2021
The gender pay gap shows the difference in pay between men and women in the workforce. If a workforce has a particularly high gender pay gap, this can indicate that there may be a number of issues to deal with, and the individual calculations may help to identify what those issues are.
At DCMS, we have had a consistent focus on reducing our gender pay gap since our first report in 2017, identifying areas that can contribute to improvements such as recruitment, reward and talent management. We are pleased that this year our mean gender pay gap has fallen from 5.1% to 3.3% and the disproportionate number of females in the lowest quartile reduced by 0.9pp since 2021 (figure 1). Recent departmental growth and a change in position for the middle female has led to the increase in our median gender pay gap (0% to 9.8%) and this will become a focus for this years ‘Summary of Actions’ detailed later in the report.
The introduction of a new in year rewards approach has helped us to substantially improve our bonus gap figures (-8.3%) with the lowest mean gender bonus pay gap observed since 2020 (down from -38.1%) and median gender bonus pay gap (-0.2% ) since 2019 (down from 14.7%). The bonus pay gap is still skewed towards women but the gap is closing.
The gender pay gap is different to equal pay. Equal pay is a statutory requirement for employers rendering it unlawful to pay men and women different salaries, who carry out the same jobs, similar jobs or work of equal value.
The gender pay gap is based on hourly pay excluding overtime. Hourly pay is the sum of ordinary pay and any bonus pay that was paid in the pay period which ends on 31/03/2022. The mean gender pay gap is the difference between the average pay for women and average pay for men. The median gender pay gap is the difference between the hourly rate of pay for the middle female and the hourly rate of pay for the middle male.
Figure 1: Pay quartiles
| Gender | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q1 | 59.9% | 40.1% | 100% |
| Q2 | 53.9% | 46.1% | 100% |
| Q3 | 51.8% | 48.2% | 100% |
| Q4 | 51.6% | 48.4% | 100% |
Note: Pay quartiles are calculated by listing the department’s hourly wages in ascending order and then splitting this list into four equal parts, showing the gender balance at each quartile. Those with the lowest hourly wages make up pay quartile 1 and those with the highest hourly wages quartile 4.
Figure 2: Gender balance at each grade
| Staff | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| All staff (1905) | 45.7% | 54.3% | 100% |
| D (10) | 50.0% | 50.0% | 100% |
| C (183) | 34.4% | 65.6% | 100% |
| B (743) | 45.2% | 54.8% | 100% |
| A (650) | 54.8% | 45.2% | 100% |
| A(U) (229) | 44.5% | 55.5% | 100% |
| SCS PB1 (81) | 46.9% | 53.1% | 100% |
| SCS PB2 (24) | 54.2% | 45.8% | 100% |
| SCS PB3 (4) | 25.0% | 75.0% | 100% |
| SCS PB4 (1) | 0.0% | 100% | 100% |
Analysis of gender pay gap
As observed in 2021, DCMS has a higher proportion of women than men overall (Figure 2) and the department continues to have a higher representation of women than men at SCS, with more women than men in 3 out of the 4 grades at this level.
DCMS’ median gender pay gap has increased this year to 9.8% (0% in 2021, one of two government departments to achieve this). This indicates that our middle earning male is now earning a higher salary than the middle earning female, with two main factors contributing to the increase in the median pay gap:
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Growth in the department’s workforce, with the largest increase observed in Grades C, B and A. There were more females than males recruited into Grade C and B roles whilst more males than females were recruited into Grade A roles.
-
An increase in the promotion of females to grade B and from A to AU means the middle female is now positioned in Band B, this is a change from the previous year where the middle earning female was in Band A.
Our mean gender pay gap has improved this year with a reduction of 1.8pp to 3.3%. We believe that reducing the number of females in the lowest quartile of earnings has resulted in the improvement to the gap in mean earnings recorded this year. We can still see an overrepresentation of females in the lowest pay quartile (59.9 v 40.1%) however this has reduced by 0.9% since 2021 (60.8%)
Figure 3: DCMS gender pay gap trend
| GPG | Mean GPG | Median GPG |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 5.60% | 16.60% |
| 2020 | 2.70% | 10.60% |
| 2021 | 5.10% | 0.00% |
| 2022 | 3.30% | 9.80% |
Figure 3 demonstrates the trend in our mean and median pay gaps. From 2019 to 2021 the median was showing a downward trend, however it increased in 2022. We observe a positive trend for the mean which has fluctuated over the years but is currently at the lowest since 2020.
Gender bonus gap analysis
0.2% Mean Reduced from 14.7% in 2021
8.3% Median Reduced from 38.1% in 2021
The department removed end of year performance awards for delegated grades (below SCS) from the 2021/22 financial year and replaced this with an in-year reward scheme. The scheme which launched in October 2021 recognises personal performance, one off performance, responsibility and corporate contribution.
Senior Civil Servants in the department are eligible for an end of year performance award, which is paid at a set value depending on grade and performance level. SCS awards increase based on level of seniority and are paid to SCS staff who receive an ‘exceeded’ rating in their annual appraisal. Although women received a greater number, the average cumulative bonus total for delegated grades was slightly lower for women than men (£943.90 vs £965.25)
Figure 3: DCMS gender bonus gap trend
| GPG | Mean bonus GPG | Median bonus GPG |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 17.30% | 0.00% |
| 2020 | 0.20% | -14.30% |
| 2021 | -14.70% | -38.10% |
| 2022 | -0.20% | -8.30% |
Note: A minus percentage means that the gap favours women i.e in this instance, on average women are receiving higher bonus payments than men.
DCMS has made significant improvements to reduce the gender bonus pay gap with the lowest mean gender bonus pay gap observed since 2020 and median since 2019. In 2021 middle female employees received a 38.10% higher bonus than the middle man; this year they received 8.3% more, a 29.8pp decrease from last year. On average in 2021 females received a bonus worth 14.7% more than received by males (Figure 4) which we see drop to 0.2% this year. It is worth noting that highest earners who attract a higher bonus are women as women make up a higher proportion of senior leaders in the organisation.
DCMS has a non-discriminatory pay strategy and continuously aims to ensure a strong gender balance in the values and proportion of those receiving non-consolidated bonuses. Our new delegated in year reward scheme has contributed to the improvement in the gender bonus gap. The new scheme empowers a greater number of nominators by allowing anyone to nominate any eligible delegated employee for a reward. The new scheme uses a consistent set of criteria and fixed reward values.
Summary of actions
The DCMS Diversity & Inclusion Strategy, which was launched in 2020 contains a range of actions to promote inclusion and gender balance and drive change. In addition to the actions and initiatives raised in our 2020 and 2021 report:
1. We will continue to review and improve our recruitment policies and practices to ensure they promote diversity and inclusion.
- The recruitment team works closely with an external partner Vercida, who support the attraction of female applicants to all opportunities at DCMS. We promote senior opportunities across the department through dedicated email campaigns and they are accessible on our department’s intranet.
- We ensure the use of gender neutral language in all job descriptions and adverts and all interview panels are mandated to have a gender balance.
- We will make better use of our internship schemes and further promote DCMS at universities through career fairs to attract more men into entry level (Grade C) roles.
2. We will continue to encourage engagement with the in year reward schemes whilst ensuring greater transparency through more frequent internal reporting throughout the year.
- DCMS has introduced a 100% In Year Reward scheme utilising spot rate reward values and removing reward value ranges. We have also implemented quarterly peer review reward panels to ensure consistent and diverse decision making. The new scheme aims to reduce the barriers to nomination allowing anyone to submit a reward nomination. We will closely monitor our data to ensure it continues to meet our aims of reducing the gender bonus pay gap.
3. We will actively manage the DCMS talent pipeline to ensure fair and equal outcomes in career progression.
- We are actively managing the strength and diversity of the AU-SCS talent pipeline through mandatory annual talent reviews, talent data collection and succession planning to ensure representation is maintained.
- We are developing an executive coaching package for high potential AU staff from underrepresented groups to receive more focussed support and guidance enabling progression to SCS and ensuring a diverse talent pipeline.
- We will provide underrepresented women access to the Crossing Thresholds 12 month career mentoring programme, supporting them with career development and progression.
Declaration
We confirm that data reported by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport 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.
Sarah Tebbutt, Director for People and Workplace
Sarah Healey, Permanent Secretary
Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport
4th Floor, 100 Parliament Street
London
SW1A 2BQ