Transparency data

DIT gender pay gap report 2021 to 2022

Updated 28 November 2022

Executive summary

This report is published in line with Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties and Public Authorities) Regulations 2017. This requires all organisations with more than 250 employees to annually publish their Gender Pay Gap (GPG) and Gender Bonus Pay Gap (GBPG).

The GPG is a high-level snapshot of pay within an organisation and shows the difference in the average pay between men and women in a workforce as of a specific reference date. The GBPG is the difference in bonus pay for men and women in a workforce. Both these calculations are completed following methodology that uses 31 March 2022 as a reference date, to determine the figures for the 2022 report.

In March 2022, the Department for International Trade (DIT) GPG was 5.45% for the mean and 9.71% for the median, which is a decrease in the GPG of 0.31 and 1.14 percentage points respectively. The GBPG was 7.64% for the mean and 4.0% for the median. This is an increase in the GBPG of 8.4 percentage points for the mean (up from -0.8% in March 2021) and of 4 percentage points for the median.

The reduction of the overall GPG reflects positive progress being made in the department across areas of recruitment, talent and pay and reward. The remaining GPG is mainly driven by the proportion of women in each grade compared to men. Grades below SEO contain the highest proportion of women and more senior grades, with the exception of the SCS 1 grade, contain a higher proportion of men.

It is disappointing to see an increase in the Gender Bonus Pay Gap. The proportion of men and women overall who received a bonus between April 2021 and March 2022 was similar at all grades. However, the fact that more men than women were employed at senior grades this year has resulted in gender bonus pay disparity. This is particularly noticeable at Senior Civil Service level.

DIT is an inclusive employer, and we are proud of our employee offer which includes:

• flexible, smarter and job-share working arrangements to empower colleagues to make the right decision about where, when, and how to work
• short- and long-term overseas opportunities
• talent progression
• staff networks who provide peer support and advice around parental and caring responsibilities, gender, ethnic minority, social mobility, disability, and LGBT issues
• professional development opportunities

However, DIT is seeking to go beyond the standard employee offer. We are a dynamic and global organisation focused on an important agenda of high-profile work, delivering increased trade and prosperity to the UK. We are specifically focused on building an employee value proposition and recruitment brand which attracts the best diverse candidates to a range of roles in both the UK and overseas. This will support us to improve diverse representation at our most senior grades. We are committed to supporting our workforce in their career development and building a culture which reflects the DIT spirit – a working environment that is expert, enterprising, engaged and inclusive.

Introduction

The Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties and Public Authorities) Regulations 2017 covers all government departments and came into force on 31 March 2017. Departments are required to publish their GPG taken on the snapshot date of 31 March 2022. GPG figures include:

• the percentage of men and women in each hourly pay quarter
• the mean and median GPG based on hourly pay
• the percentage of men and women receiving a bonus in the 12 months up to 31 March 2022
• the mean and median gender bonus gaps

DIT’s GPG calculations include employees in post on 31 March, UK based overseas employees and employees that received full pay for the month of March.

Organisational context

About the department

The Department for International Trade (DIT) champions open and fair global trading to drive growth. The department negotiates trade deals, helps businesses to export, drives inward and outward investment and works to improve international trading standards.

We help shape the future of trade and investment by securing world-class free trade agreements and reducing market access barriers, benefitting both consumers and businesses. We also encourage economic growth across the UK through attracting and retaining inward investment, and support UK businesses to take advantage of trade opportunities to facilitate UK exports. We promote the UK globally to enhance our reputation as a top destination for foreign investment.

Our workforce

DIT was established in 2016 and has since seen considerable growth in its population to create the department, now reaching 4,819 full-time employees (FTE) as of March 2022. DIT has experienced a fluctuating gender pay and gender bonus gap as the department has matured and grown.

As of 31 March 2022, 47.8% of the GPG reportable DIT workforce are female, and 52.2% are male. The department uses 11 Civil Service job grades from the most junior (Administrative Officer), to the most senior at SCS grades.

Table 1: Population used in 2022 GPG calculations – relevant full paid employees

Grade	Female	Male	Total
AO	15	9	24
EO	142	104	246
Fast Stream	16	19	35
HEO	285	272	557
SEO	264	344	608
Grade 7	402	441	843
Grade 6	141	183	324
SCS 1	61	67	128
SCS 2/3/4	18	31	49
Total	1,344	1,470	2,814

Table 2: Population used in 2022 GBPG calculations – relevant employees who received a bonus

Grade	Female	Male	Total
AO	10	5	15
EO	90	79	169
Fast Stream	13	10	23
HEO	197	187	384
SEO	196	238	434
Grade 7	336	324	660
Grade 6	113	144	257
SCS 1	33	33	66
SCS 2/3/4	6	13	19
Total	994	1,033	2,027

Our diversity and inclusion approach

DIT’s Inclusion Framework was published internally in April 2021 and sets out our vision to be a more diverse and inclusive international department. It details action required to achieve the transformation we want under the 3 pillars of Governance and Accountability, Employee Experience and Supporting our Trade Delivery. We are keen to ensure high levels of accountability and transparency in our approach to diversity and inclusion. The inclusion framework is aligned with the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy: 2022-2025, published in February 2022. This strategy aims to build a more inclusive Civil Service which delivers for all of our people, contributing to the delivery of A Modern Civil Service.

Gender Pay Gap Report

Gender pay gap definition

The GPG is a measure of the comparative hourly wage of men and women in an organisation at a single point in time. It is affected by how many women there are at each grade and their relative position on the pay scale. If a workforce has a particularly high GPG, this can be due to a variety of factors and deeper analysis is required to determine what the cause may be in different organisations.

The GPG 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 gender pay gap

The 2022 mean GPG (the difference between men’s and women’s average hourly pay) is 5.45% and the median is 9.71%. In monetary terms, the mean hourly difference in ordinary pay is £1.44 compared to £1.48 in 2021 and the median hourly difference is £2.41 compared to £2.68 in 2021.

Figure 1 – the mean and median pay by gender

Table 3 – the mean and median GPG and reportable GPG population, snapshot in March each year (2019 to 2022)

Year	Mean	Median	Reportable GPG employee population
2019	5.5%	12.9%	1,793
2020	6.5%	15.9%	2,242
2021	5.8%	10.8%	2,628
2022	5.5%	9.7%	2,814

Gender bonus pay gap

Until the 2021 to 2022 performance year, DIT offered end of year performance awards to staff who receive the highest performance ratings and operated an in-year reward scheme to recognise strong contributions throughout the year. From April 2022, DIT has moved to a system of exclusively in-year rewards.

The GPG for ordinary pay is calculated as a ‘snapshot’ at the end of March 2021, it includes any bonus payments paid in that month. The gender differential in bonus pay is calculated to consider all bonus payments made in the year up to that point. Therefore, this analysis includes all in-year reward payments and end of year bonus payments made from 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022. End of year performance awards and in-year awards at DIT are not pro-rated for part-time staff (so these staff receive the full value of the bonus). Therefore, the gender bonus pay gap is not affected by number of part-time staff in either gender.

The mean gender bonus pay gap (GBPG) increased from -0.8% in 2021 to 7.64% in 2021 – a cash difference between men and women of £76.18. The median GBPG (difference between the employee in the middle of the range of male bonus and their female counterpart) has increased from 0% in 2021 to 4% in 2022.

Table 4 – the mean and median GBPG since March 2019 (with reportable population)

Year	Mean	Median	Reportable GPG employee population
2019	2.5%	0.0%	1,009
2020	7.3%	0.0%	1,278
2021	-0.8%	0.0%	1,627
2022	7.6%	4.0%	2,027

Table 5 – the proportion of total employees receiving a bonus since March 2019 by gender

Year	Overall proportion of women receiving a bonus	Overall proportion of men receiving a bonus
2019	58%	55%
2020	59%	55%
2021	61%	59%
2022	70%	68%

Pay quartile distribution

Table 5 shows, for ordinary pay, the proportion of men and women that are in each pay quartile, arranged in order of hourly pay rate. The proportion of women in the lowest quartile has increased by 5 percentage points since March 2021 and under-representation of men in these roles contributes towards the GPG. Although female percentages have increased since March 2021 for the ‘upper middle’ quartile, there is still a higher percentage of men in the top 3 quartiles.

Table 6 – Breakdown by pay quartile, split by Gender, March 2022

Pay quartile	Female headcount	Female percentages	Male headcount	Male percentages	Headcount
Lower	386	55%	318	45%	704
Lower Middle	314	45%	389	55%	703
Upper Middle	348	49%	356	51%	704
Upper	296	42%	407	58%	703
Total	1,344	48%	1,470	52%	2,814

Analysis of pay gap

This section examines some of the underlying reasons behind the decrease in DIT’s GPG in 2022.

Hourly wage

An important contributing factor to the GPG is the pay disparity between men and women at each grade. Overall, the difference in the average hourly rate of pay for men and women has decreased when compared to 2021 with the mean hourly rate increasing by £0.13 for women and £0.06 for men. However, the mean hourly rate was still higher for men than women at all grades except AO (Administrative Officer) and SEO (Senior Executive Officer).

Figure 2: Mean hourly gender pay gap by grade

Figure 2 shows the mean hourly rate for men and women by grade. Differences in hourly wages range from -0.6% at SEO to 10.1% at SCS 2/3/4 level. This year, there have been decreases in the pay gaps for all grades except EO which increased and HEO which did not change. Notably, at AO grade the gap has changed from 3.7% in favour of men to 0.4% in favour of women. The median hourly wage has also improved, increasing for women by £0.40 to £22.44 for women and by £0.13 to £24.85 for men.

Gender distribution and grade-gender composition

The GPG is also driven by the number of men in grade compared to the number of women. If the proportion of men and women at each grade is adjusted to be consistent with DIT’s overall GPG reportable population then the mean GPG decreases by approximately 66%.

Figure 3: Headcount of each gender within grade (and comparison to March 2021)

Figure 3 shows the headcount of each gender within each grade and the change in the net difference between men and women in each grade since 2021 (a line to the right indicating an increase in the ratio of men and vice versa). Overall, there are 186 more employees included in the March 2022 ordinary GPG population compared to March 2021. This includes 118 more women and 68 more men.

As of March 2022, grades below SEO contain the highest proportion of women excluding SCS 1 which contains a representative proportion of women compared to the overall GPG population. The between grade contribution (which refers to the proportion of males and females across grades) has the biggest impact on the GPG and is responsible for 66% of the mean GPG. This is higher than 2021, when the between grade contribution accounted for 58% of the GPG. This indicates that we need to do more to ensure that the representation of men and women is the same across all grades.

In contrast, the within grade contribution (the difference between mean hourly wages within the same grade) has decreased from 42% to 34% of the overall GPG. This indicates that gender pay disparity within grades contributed less to the overall GPG in 2022 compared to 2021.

Analysis of bonus gap

As of March 2022, both the mean and median gender bonus gap have increased. The median bonus gap has increased above 0% for the first time since 2017. When considering the entire GPG population, the proportion of men and women who received a bonus between April 2021 and March 2022 was similar at all grades; 68% of men and 70% of women. Also, men and women at SCS grades were equally likely to have received a bonus.

The gender bonus gap is driven by disparity of bonus values within grades and the gender distribution across the recipient population. Of the £76.18 mean gender bonus gap, £15.03 is related to the pay disparity within grades and £61.15 is related to the gender distribution of bonus recipients across grades.

Bonus pay disparity

The largest contributions to the mean gender bonus gap are related to SCS and Grade 6 roles. There has been a significant shift in the bonus difference at Grade 6 from being in favour of women to men since 2021, with a 22% increase from -20% to 2% in March 2022.

Figure 4 shows the difference in mean bonus between men and women by grade. Whilst there is a difference in favour of women at SCS 2/3/4 which is greater than the difference in favour of men at SCS 1, there were 66 relevant employees who received a bonus at SCS 1. This is compared with 19 at SCS 2/3/4. Therefore, the GBPG for the full SCS population is in favour of men.

Figure 4: Difference in mean bonus between men and women by grade:

Note. Positive values represent cases where the mean bonus for men is higher than the mean bonus for women.

Bonus pay distribution

The uneven distribution of men and women across grades is the biggest driver of the gender bonus gap. As shown in Figure 5, the ratio of men to women has increased for SCS, Grade 6 and SEO grades. Compared to March 2021, there has been a decrease in the proportion of SCS women in the bonus recipient population, relative to men. The average bonus received by SCS 2/3/4 across all reportable staff (£5,431.12) is approximately 7 times that of the mean bonus received at delegated grades (£763.88). Therefore, an increase in reportable SCS men is likely to increase the bonus difference more substantially than increases in the delegated grade population.

Figure 5: Headcount of each gender within grade (and comparison to March 2021) within the gender bonus gap reportable population

Targeted action to reduce and close the gender pay gap

Since 2020, interventions to reduce the GPG in DIT have fallen under our GPG action plan, which is delivered through the Inclusion Framework and aligned to the actions described in guidance published by the Government Equalities Office entitled ‘Actions to close the GPG’.^{[footnote 1]}

Under the first pillar of the action plan, attracting diverse talent into DIT, we have worked to progress our programme of equality, diversity, and inclusion in recruitment. This has included a focus on improving female engagement with DIT’s employer brand and refreshing independent panel member training.

Under the second pillar, retaining brilliant women, we have focused on monitoring the distribution of allowances and in year rewards by diversity and inclusion characteristics.

Work under the final pillar, building a strong future talent pipeline, has centred on supporting the progression of women, including those overseas, through encouraging participation in talent programmes, including the targeted Women in Trade and Crossing Thresholds programmes. The action plan is overseen by the department’s GPG Taskforce, which brings together senior representatives from across the department with the DIT Gender Network and HR Colleagues to ensure the progression of GPG interventions.

Next steps

We must continue to focus on reducing our GPG, ensuring women at all grades are given equal opportunities and working towards gender parity in the department.

Our next steps are:

• moving to an exclusively in-year award system for delegated grades which is regularly monitored for diversity and inclusion outcomes
• targeting delegated and SCS pay awards to balance out differentials within grade as far as we are able within the framework set by the Cabinet Office
• monitoring the effectivity of DIT’s site on the job platform Vercida which promotes diversity via the numbers of clicks through to job adverts
• evaluate the Independent Panel Member (IPM) training suite for further improvements and continue to increase the number of IPMs across DIT, particularly overseas
• continuing to track requests for higher starting salaries and Recruitment and Retention Allowances by gender
• reviewing our approach to smarter and flexible working, providing support for parents and carers, and a supportive environment that enhances health and wellbeing
• supporting social mobility through apprenticeships and outreach work in Places for Growth locations, including visiting schools, colleges, and local organisations to create interest in careers in DIT

• actively encourage women to participate on talent programmes and developing clear career pathways

• continue developing content for our external sites (LinkedIn, Civil Service Careers) to attract more women to apply for roles in DIT, with a particular focus on senior women overseas
• refreshing the Places for Growth Equality Impact Assessment, creating an action plan to mitigate potential negative diversity impacts following Places for Growth implementation

Calculations and quality statement

Our calculations have followed the legislative requirements of the Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties and Public Authorities) Regulations 2017. The data reported is accurate as of 31 March 2022, as extracted by our service providers, UK Shared Business Services and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) in line with the Cabinet Office Guidance.^{[footnote 2]}

DIT’s workforce is based across the UK and overseas, on the OneHMG platform. As per the regulations, the March 2022 GPG analysis includes staff deemed to be full paid relevant employees based in the UK, on DIT payroll. It also includes overseas Civil Servants paid in the UK on the OneHMG platform. Country Based Staff who are employed locally overseas, contractors, and agency workers are not included. Most Fast Stream staff working at DIT are centrally recruited and employed by Cabinet Office. This group are included in analysis of the GPG for the Cabinet Office rather than DIT.

Part-time staff are included in the analysis, as the ordinary pay is calculated on an hourly pay rate. On the gender bonus pay gap, part-time staff are equally included as any end of year performance awards and in-year awards in DIT are not prorated for part-time staff.

Bonus data includes all end of year bonuses made for the 2020/21 performance year as well as in-year rewards made between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022. The GPG gap includes bonuses paid in the month of March, while all bonuses paid in the year 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022 (inclusive) are included in the gender bonus pay gap calculations.

Our report is also in line with the recommendations made from the Inclusive Data Taskforce report published in September 2021.^{[footnote 3]}

Declaration

We confirm that data reported by the Department for International Trade 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.

Rebecca Woodward, HR Director

1. https://gender-pay-gap.service.gov.uk/?_ga=2.65181998.1417229367.1660416001-1219245872.1633342491 ↩

2. https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/gender-pay-gap-reporting ↩

3. https://uksa.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/the-authority-board/committees/inclusive-data-taskforce/inclusive-data-taskforce-report-leaving-no-one-behind-how-can-we-be-more-inclusive-in-our-data/ ↩