Transparency data

DfT: gender pay gap report and data 2020

Published 15 December 2020

In 2017, 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 relevant organisations to publish their gender pay gap by 30 March annually.

This includes:

• the mean and median gender pay gaps
• the mean and median gender bonus gaps
• the proportion of men and women who received bonuses
• 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.

The Department for Transport supports the fair treatment and reward of all our people irrespective of gender; and is committed to being a leader on inclusion in the Civil Service. Our new departmental values: confidence, excellence and teamwork, guide our behaviour and goals and express both what we are proud of in the Department for Transport, and what we aspire to do better.

Building a workforce that reflects the people we serve is one of the Civil Service’s top workforce priorities. Our collective aim is to make the Civil Service the UK’s most inclusive employer. The Civil Service should create opportunities for all in a truly meritocratic way and reward all civil servants fairly.

This report analyses our gender pay gap figures in more detail, makes comparisons with our 2019 data where relevant, and sets out what we are doing to close the gender pay gap in our department.

Reflections from our Permanent Secretary

Transport connects everyone, it builds communities, brings people together across the country and connects us internationally. Our aim as a department is to reflect the people we connect and serve, as well as helping the wider Civil Service become the UK’s most inclusive employer.

We are committed to gender balance across the central department and its 4 executive agencies: the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA), the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA), the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) and the Vehicle Certification Agency (VCA).

Following an improvement in our mean gender pay gap in 2019, this year we have seen an increase in from 13.8% to 15.2%. Given the work we have done within DfT and with the transport sector to support and promote gender diversity, I am very disappointed by this result.

Our history undoubtedly plays a part in our gender pay gap. Our largest agency, the DVLA, employs thousands of people in Swansea, and is a major employer of women. However, many roles are in relatively more junior grades, which has a structural impact on our gender pay gap.

Across the DfT family there is an emphasis on roles in areas like engineering, digital and commercial, which attract additional pay allowances due to market shortages and within which women are, unfortunately, less well represented.

There have been improvements within the central department with the mean gender gap reducing this year to 6.6%, demonstrating that our initiatives to support women to progress in their roles and increase senior representation are making a difference.

I believe we have some great role models in DfT. Following the recent appointment of Loveday Ryder as Chief Executive of the DVSA, all 3 of our motoring agencies are led by women. Within the department, our gender balance in our most senior roles continues to improve.

Alongside this, we have seen success in response to DfT offering support to accessing interviews, with panels considering and accommodating barriers to interviews such as travel, child care and other responsibilities.

We are making progress in other areas too, with a new system of performance bonuses, leading to a significant reduction in the gender bonus gap across the DfT family, and an emphasis on improvements in recruitment processes, to ensure roles reach, and are attractive to, the widest possible pool of talent.

Ensuring our gender pay gap reduces in a meaningful and enduring way will require sustained effort. This report sets out the actions being taken by DfT and its agencies under 3 key headings:

• recruitment and attraction
• supporting women to develop and progress
• minimising the ‘family penalty’ and creating a culture where women can thrive

I believe that by focusing on these themes we can tackle our gender pay gap and ensure that DfT attracts more women, supports their development and helps them to achieve their potential; and above all make DfT a great place to work for everyone.

Bernadette Kelly, Permanent Secretary

Who we are - the DfT family

DfT comprises a core ministerial department and 4 executive agencies. We have a diverse workforce, working across Britain in a wide range of roles, from policy developers to critical front-line services such as the air, marine and rail accident investigation branches, driving examiners, coastguards, engineers and marine surveyors. Across the department we have over 25 professions, which range across all grades including the Senior Civil Service (SCS).

The DfT family consists of:

Department for Transport (Central) (2,929 staff)

Accident Investigation Branches

Small, highly specialised teams of accident investigation specialists, with a combined budget of around £16 million in 2013/14.

Office for Zero Emission Vehicles

Works across government to support the early market for zero emission vehicles.

Government Car Service

Provides a high-quality, secure car service for ministers in government departments.

Centre for Connected & Autonomous Vehicles

Policy unit which ensures that the UK remains a world leader in developing and testing connected and autonomous vehicles. Joint with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).

Executive agencies (12,383 staff)

Driver & Vehicle Licensing Agency (6,290 staff)

DVLA keeps complete and accurate records of drivers and vehicles. Also responsible for Vehicle Excise Duty and helping to ensure the public is protected from uninsured vehicles and drivers.

Driver & Vehicle Standards Agency (4,766 staff)

DVSA improves road safety by settling standards for driving and making sure road users understand and follow standards.

Vehicle Certification Agency (199 staff)

VCA is the UK approval authority for new types of road vehicle, tractors and off-road vehicles, providing testing and certification for vehicles.

Maritime & Coastguard Agency (1,128 staff)

MCA facilitates international maritime trade through development and delivery of government’s maritime safety strategy as well as security and environmental standards. Headquarters in Southampton with operational sites across the UK coastline with 3,500 volunteers supplementing the workforce.

Gender pay gap analysis

Summary gender pay gap and gender bonus gap 2017-20:

	2017	2018	2019	2020
Gender pay gap (mean)	16.9%	15.6%	13.8%	15.2%
Gender pay gap (median)	22.6%	15.6%	13.8%	13.0%
Gender bonus gap (mean)	25.2%	24.2%	17.0%	-3.2%
Gender bonus gap (median)	22.2%	18.3%	15.0%	-7.3%

Gender pay gap (GPG)

The gender pay gap shows the difference in average (mean and median) hourly pay between all men and women in a workforce. An hourly rate comparison is used to look at the pay gap, this takes into account part-time workers.

• our departmental median gender pay gap has decreased by 0.8 percentage points since 2019 from 13.8% to 13.0%
• our departmental mean gender pay gap has increased by 1.4 percentage points since 2019, from 13.8% to 15.2%

Why our mean gender pay gap has increased

There are several factors contributing to this year’s increase in our mean gender pay gap.

The DVSA have seen an increase in the mean GPG due to the recruitment of more males into vehicle testing roles, which is largely a male dominated profession. In addition, more males have been recruited into specialist roles than females, which attract allowances and higher starting salaries to compete with the external jobs market. This has been compounded by a legacy GPG in some of the DfT’s agencies where there is a high proportion of female staff in lower graded administrative roles.

Different levels of gender representation across all grades and across different locations

Overall, the DfT family has an employee population made up of 46% women and 54% men. However, we have different levels of gender representation across all our grades, with higher levels of women at the lower grades. DVLA, who are the largest employer in DfT with almost 6,300 employees, has disproportionately greater numbers of women at lower grades. Staff in DfT’s Agencies are also paid based on our national pay bands, which are lower than London pay bands to reflect the difference in living costs.

The relatively high representation of women in our Senior Civil Service (42%) and on our board (4 out of 7 of our executive are women) does not mitigate the gender imbalance across all grades in the DfT family.

Number of employees by grade and gender within DfT and its agencies

Organisational

Number of employees: 15,362

Gender split:

• male: 54%
• female: 46%

Senior Civil Service level

Number of employees: 194

Gender split:

• male: 58%
• female: 42%

Grade 6 and 7

Number of employees: 1,565

Gender split:

• male: 63%
• female: 37%

Senior and Higher Executive Officers

Number of employees: 3,516

Gender split:

• male: 61%
• female: 39%

Executive Officers

Number of employees: 4,099

Gender split:

• male: 64%
• female: 36%

Administrative Officers and Assistants

Number of employees: 5,988

Gender split:

• male: 41%
• female: 59%

High number of male-dominated specialist and technical roles

Hourly rates used to calculate gender pay include retention and technical allowances that are paid to employees with specialist technical skills and expertise. The workforces in DVSA, MCA and VCA are heavily skewed towards men in roles such as driving examiners, vehicle examiners and maritime surveyors.

Most of these roles require technical qualifications, or prior experience as a mechanic, engineer, pilot or ship’s captain, which drives recruitment towards a narrow, mostly male pool. For example, 93% of engineers in VCA, 87% of enforcement staff and 98% of vehicle examiners in DVSA and 92% of marine surveyors in MCA are male. Many of these roles also attract additional allowances due to market shortages, unsociable working hours or travel. These roles reflect a wider pattern across the transport sector. The DfT family are taking targeted action to close the gap in recruitment and attraction, development and progression and minimising the family penalty.

Where we offer job roles where the pool is less male-dominated - within our London Whitehall department - our gender pay gap is significantly lower.

Gender bonus gap

• the median bonus pay gap has changed from 15% to -7.3%
• the mean bonus pay gap has changed 17% to -3.2%

The gender bonus gap has changed this year in favour of female staff. This is true for both mean and median.

Proportions of male and female employees that received a bonus

• male: 83.6%
• female: 86.1%

The individual Agencies and DfTc each have their own bonus policies. Some have seen changes in their mean and/or median gender bonus gaps since last year, driven by changes in their policies or the work being rewarded. It is therefore difficult to draw out exact drivers of the changes to the overall gender bonus gaps, as they are formed of combinations of actions in the different organisations^{[footnote 1]}.

Mean bonus gap for individual agencies and DfTc

Agency	2018	2019	2020
DfTc	15.4%	-1.3%	-3.1%
DVLA	12.5%	16.1%	11.0%
DVSA	-1.3%	19.5%	14.0%
MCA	40.2%	3.6%	3.4%

Median bonus gap for individual agencies and DfTc

Agency	2018	2019	2020
DfTc	17.1%	-6.2%	-9.1%
DVLA	8.8%	16.6%	18.2%
DVSA	31.2%	-11.1%	21.0%
MCA	60.9%	0.0%	-6.5%

Mean pay gap for individual agencies and DfTc

Agency	2018	2019	2020
DfTc	7.0%	7.9%	6.6%
DVLA	15.2%	14.6%	14.8%
DVSA	6.2%	6.3%	6.5%
MCA	21.2%	19.4%	15.5%
VCA	27.5%	23.5%	27.4%

Median Pay Gap for individual Agencies and DfTc

Agency	2018	2019	2020
DfTc	9.0%	9.7%	7.7%
DVLA	5.3%	7.4%	3.3%
DVSA	2.0%	4.4%	3.2%
MCA	23.1%	13.8%	15.5%
VCA	33.5%	28.1%	31.3%

Male and female employees in each pay quartile

Fourth (upper) quartile:

• male: 65%
• female: 35%

Third quartile:

• male: 65%
• female: 35%

Second quartile:

• male: 55%
• female: 45%

First (lower) quartile:

• male: 34%
• female: 66%

Closing our gender pay gap

Tackling our gender pay gap is something we need to constantly and consistently focus on, ensuring that women of all grades in DfT are given equal opportunities. In addition to encouraging women from young ages to pursue studies and careers in STEM, we must ensure that DfT works to attract and recruit women with those qualifications into our department; offering support to the women already in our organisation, and to ensure all jobs on offer are accessible and desirable to women.

Each area of DfT has a localised gender pay gap action plan which aims to address the specific drivers of the gap, according to each unique operating environment.

Research by the Government Equalities Office (GEO) focused on evidence based actions, to help employers improve gender equality practices in the workplace. Subsequent to this research, we developed a group-wide plan to tackle the GPG based on the following 3 themes:

1. Recruitment and attraction

• across DfT group, all grade 6 & 7 and Senior Civil Service (SCS) jobs are externally advertised by default to reach the widest possible pool of talent, while there is greater emphasis on attraction strategies for all grade 6 & 7 roles with a recommendation to all Deputy Directors to take actions such as producing a video to promote and explain the role
• DfTc offers support to accessing interviews with panel leads considering barriers to interviews such as travel, child care and other responsibilities and offer virtual platforms as an alternative to attending interviews in person
• DVLA has ongoing in place to attract more women into IT and Security and to attract more males into administrative roles
• all roles at MCA are advertised as part-time, job share or with flexible working options and all roles at MCA and VCA are advertised on Working Mum’s websites

2. Supporting women to develop and progress

• DfTc is developing talented women who are disabled or from an ethnic minority background to the Ascend Talent Programme, which seeks to provide talented staff in DfT with the opportunities and tools needed to reach the next step while also engendering the values of the department
• DVLA is supporting ‘Women in IT’ drop-in sessions which gives staff the opportunity to talk to women currently in IT roles and ask questions about how they got into IT, their roles, career aspirations and experience
• DVSA is working with enforcement and staff network groups to develop and pilot a programme for women who want to prepare themselves for promotion to leadership roles
• VCA are running promotional events targeted, in part, at talented female staff in administrative roles who have aspirations to gain a qualification in engineering

3. Minimising the impact of the ‘family penalty’

• Work across DfT group to help raise awareness of the menopause through guidance and support released within DfTc and across the agencies, with VCA appointing a specific menopause ambassador and network
• DfTc is undertaking a targeted campaign around reducing the family penalty to increase the uptake of shared parental leave and support this with the creation of a page on the intranet to simplify information and support for family policies
• DVLA is introducing flexible working arrangements to give staff more flexibility in how they manage their work life balance
• MCA has ongoing promotion of family friendly policies, including flexible working, gender specific health initiatives, domestic abuse and mental health support

Declaration

I confirm that data reported by the Department for Transport 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.

Bernadette Kelly, Permanent Secretary

1. The figures provided in this table show the gender pay gap in line with methodology set out by the Government Equalities Office. Where organisations have a headcount of less than 250 individuals, figures for bonus pay gaps and quartiles have been suppressed. ↩