Environment Agency: pay gap 2020
Updated 25 March 2024
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1. Foreword
The Environment Agency plays a critical role in protecting and improving our environment.
A healthy and diverse environment enhances people’s lives and contributes to economic growth.
We help people and wildlife adapt to climate change and reduce its impacts, including flooding, drought, sea level rise and coastal erosion.
As part of Defra Group, we work with businesses and industry leaders to help ensure compliance with environmental regulation.
We help to preserve and enhance the quality of our water, land and air impacting people across the UK and beyond.
We are committed to be an equitable, diverse and inclusive organisation where every individual has equality of opportunity to progress and is able to reach their full potential.
We are refreshing the Environment Agencies Equality Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) strategy and action plans.
Which will include our ambition to reduce all our pay gaps and will align with the Defra Group Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy 2020 to 2024.
As an organisation we are accountable and open to challenge and scrutiny.
Our pay gap reporting goes beyond reporting solely on gender equality as required by legislation. We also report our ethnicity, disability, faith and belief and sexual orientation pay gaps.
Whilst it’s encouraging to see reductions in our gender and disability pay gaps, the gender pay gap reduced from 1.9% to 1.4% (0.5% reduction) and the pay gap for disability also decreased from 2.1% to 1.5% (0.6% reduction).
We know there is more to be done to improve our ethnicity pay gap which has remained the same and the sexual orientation pay gap which has widened by 3%.
Alongside pay gap data, it is important to understand how we are performing on equal pay.
We are reviewing our current situation with regard to equal pay and plan to share the findings with trade unions and staff networks as soon as we can.
Transparent data is the first step and is necessary for understanding where we are. It is targets and action that will take us to where we want to be.
We are pleased our pay gaps are comparatively lower than other organisations of similar sizes.
We are working to understand and address reasons for the pay gaps and to actively close them.
Emma Howard Boyd - Chair
Sir James Bevan - Chief Executive
2. Introduction
A pay gap is the difference between the average pay for one group of employees compared to another. This compares all employees, not only those doing the same work.
This is different to equal pay as defined by the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
Equal pay is where individuals performing equal work must receive equal pay unless any difference in pay can be justified.
This report measures full pay relevant employee pay gaps. It does not include employees on reduced pay, for example if they are on maternity leave or sick leave and receiving half pay.
As in our previous pay gap reports we are also reporting on pay gap based on:
- gender
- disability
- ethnicity
- faith and belief
- sexual orientation
We collect this diversity data to understand how inclusive and diverse we are.
Our Defra Group Equality, Diversity and Inclusion strategy 2020 to 2024 explains our commitment to creating a great place to work for all employees.
The Environment Agency employed 10,920 people as of 31 March 2020.
Read our equality and diversity statement for more information about our workforce diversity on GOV.UK.
3. Understanding the key definitions of a pay gap
To help you understand this report, here are some definitions relating to pay gap.
3.1 Ordinary hourly rate
The ordinary hourly rate includes:
- basic pay
- allowances
- shift premium pay
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 look at 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 characteristic (for example, women) and that of another group of full-pay relevant employees (for example, men)
- median pay gap is the difference between the mean hourly rate of full-pay relevant employees from a select characteristic (for example, women) and that of another group of full-pay relevant employees (for example, men)
3.3 Mean and median bonus gaps
Bonuses are one-off payments to reward performance paid as part of annual pay review. They will be in a proportion with the employee's basic pay.
They can also be paid throughout the year as either cash or gift vouchers.
We use 2 calculations to look 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 - some bonus payments such as end of year performance awards are pro-rated for part time workers which can influence bonus pay gaps
3.4 Pay quartiles
We arrange employees by their ordinary hourly pay and then divide the employees into 4 groups, each group is called a quartile.
This tells us where people from each diversity characteristic are in the organisation. For example, the lowest group represents 25% of the lowest earners.
4. Gender pay gap
The Environment Agency recognises gender as not being a binary concept and that some people may not identify with a set gender.
For the purposes of this report we will be reporting only male and female genders as done in wider gender pay gap reporting.
As of 31 March 2020, 43.3% (4,725) of the Environment Agency employees are women. This is an increase of 1% since last year.
The Environment Agency’s mean gender pay gap has reduced from 1.9% in last year to 1.4% this year.
This is lower than the UK national average pay gap of 17.3% and the overall civil service pay gap of 7.2%. Our pay gap has reduced by 0.5% in the last year and by 1.2% since 2017.
| Gender ordinary hourly pay gap | 2019 | 2020 |
|---|---|---|
| Mean gender pay gap | 1.9% | 1.4% |
| Median gender pay gap | 1.2% | -0.8% |
We recognise that more work needs to be done to achieve better gender parity across the organisation.
Especially within specific job families where imbalance in gender representation can lead to gender pay gaps.
Women are underrepresented at every level. Particularly in the lower quartiles and upper quartiles.
The number of women in the most senior levels of the organisation is increasing.
Now making up 42.7% of Executive Managers, an improvement of 7.6% since 2019.
Table 1: Comparison of how women were represented across each quartile in 2019 and 2020
| Gender quartiles | 2019 | 2020 |
|---|---|---|
| Lower quartile | 37.7% | 38.1% |
| Lower middle | 46% | 45.7% |
| Upper middle | 45.4% | 46.6% |
| Upper quartile | 35.9% | 37.7% |
4.1 Bonus pay gap for gender
A lower proportion of women then men received a bonus payment.
| Gender | 2019 | 2020 |
|---|---|---|
| Male | 86% | 86% |
| Female | 87% | 85% |
The mean bonus gap has reduced by 6% since 2018-19 and the median bonus gap reduced by 8.2% in the same period
| Bonus pay gap | 2019 | 2020 |
|---|---|---|
| Mean gender bonus gap | 12.3% | 6.2% |
| Median gender bonus gap | 8.9% | 0.7% |
5. Disability pay gap
As of 31 March 2020, 90% of the Environment Agency's employees have declared whether they have disability or not.
15% (1638) of our employees have declared that they have a disability or a long-term health condition.
Compared the rest of the Defra group where 13.8% of employees have a disability and the wider civil service where 11.7% of employees declared having a disability.
The mean disability pay gap is now 1.5% which has decreased from 2.1% last year.
The median disability gap has also decreased to 0.4% which means since 2017 it has been reduced by 2.5%.
| Pay gap | 2019 | 2020 |
|---|---|---|
| Mean disability pay gap | 2.1% | 1.5% |
| Median disability pay gap | 4% | 0.4% |
Across the pay quartiles the spread of people with disabilities appears to be consistent with slightly more people with disabilities represented in the middle quartiles.
Table 2: Comparison of how people with disabilities were represented across each quartile in 2019 and 2020
| Quartiles | 2019 | 2020 |
|---|---|---|
| Lower quartile | 13.4% | 13.9% |
| Lower middle | 14.5% | 14.8% |
| Upper middle | 14.6% | 15.9% |
| Upper quartile | 14.2% | 14.2% |
5.1 Bonus pay gap for disability
A higher proportion of disabled employees than non-disabled employees received a bonus payment.
| Status | 2019 | 2020 |
|---|---|---|
| Disabled | 88.2% | 89.5% |
| Non-Disabled | 85.3% | 86% |
| Not known | 81.9% | 75.3% |
The mean disability bonus pay gap is 2.9% which means it reduced by over 6% last year. The median bonus gap reduced by 2.2% in the last year as well.
There is no difference between the median disability bonus figure for people with disabilities and those without disabilities.
| Bonus pay gap | 2019 | 2020 |
|---|---|---|
| Mean disabilities bonus pay gap | 9% | 2.9% |
| Median disabilities bonus pay gap | 2.2% | 0% |
6. Ethnicity pay gap
As of 31 March 2020, 97% of Environment Agency employees made an ethnicity declaration.
4.37% (477) of our employees declared being from a Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) background.
Compared with 6% of Defra group overall employees and 12.7% of employees from the wider civil service.
Our ethnicity pay gap is 4.1% which has not changed since last year.
There has been a slight improvement in the median pay gap to 11.3% which is a 0.4% improvement since last year.
| Pay gaps | 2019 | 2020 |
|---|---|---|
| Mean ethnicity pay gap | 4.1% | 4.1% |
| Median ethnicity pay gap | 11.7% | 11.3% |
BAME representation in the Environment Agency has remained stable since last year.
Across the quartiles there is a fairly even spread of BAME representation:
- the lowest representation of BAME employees is in the upper or highest quartile
- BAME representation in the upper middle quartile appears to be improving
Table 3: Comparison of how BAME employees were represented across each quartile in 2019 and 2020
| Ethnicity quartiles | 2019 | 2020 |
|---|---|---|
| Lower quartile | 4.4% | 4.8% |
| Lower middle | 4.6% | 4.7% |
| Upper middle | 3.7% | 4.3% |
| Upper quartile | 3.6% | 3.6% |
6.1 Bonus pay gap for ethnicity
A lower proportion of BAME employees received a bonus payment than other ethnicity groups.
| Ethnicity | 2019 | 2020 |
|---|---|---|
| BAME | 82.4% | 78.1% |
| White | 85.1% | 85.6% |
| Not known | 86.6% | 91.9% |
The mean ethnicity bonus gap has reduced from 4.4% last year to 3.5% this year which means an improvement of 0.9% in one year.
The median bonus gap saw an improvement of 2.3% from last year.
| Bonus pay gap | 2019 | 2020 |
|---|---|---|
| Mean ethnicity bonus pay gap | 4.4% | 3.5% |
| Median ethnicity bonus pay gap | 2.3% | 0% |
This means that the median bonus pay figure is equal for both BAME and white employees.
7. Faith and belief pay gap
As of 31 March 2020, 81% of Environment Agency employees had made a declaration about their Faith and Beliefs.
73% of people in Defra Group and 63% of people in the wider Civil Service declared following a faith or belief.
40% (4,368) of our employees said they follow a faith or belief. 42% of employees declared not to have a faith or belief.
The largest faith and belief group is Christian (33%) followed by other faiths in varying proportions at up to 4%.
Our faith and belief pay gap figure is a negative pay gap of -2.5% in favour of people who declared a faith or belief. This is an improvement of 1.1% from last year.
The median faith and belief pay gap is -4.7% again, in favour of those who declared a faith or belief.
| Pay gaps | 2019 | 2020 |
|---|---|---|
| Mean faith and belief pay gap | -1.4% | -2.5% |
| Median faith and belief pay gap | -1.8% | -4.7% |
Across the quartiles it ranges from 38.9% to 43% of employees who have a declared faith or belief.
This is balanced with the number of people who declared having no faith or belief.
Table 4: Comparison of how people with a faith or belief were represented across each quartile in 2019 and 2020
| Faith and belief quartiles | 2019 | 2020 |
|---|---|---|
| Lower quartile | 40% | 38.6% |
| Lower middle | 37.9% | 38.2% |
| Upper middle | 39.2% | 38.9% |
| Upper quartile | 44% | 43.5% |
7.1 Bonus pay gap for faith and belief
A higher proportion of employees with a faith or belief than employees without a faith or belief received a bonus payment.
| Faith and belief | 2019 | 2020 |
|---|---|---|
| Declared faith or belief | 87% | 87.8% |
| No faith or belief | 84% | 84.3% |
| Not known | 83.1% | 83.4% |
The mean faith and belief bonus gap is 1.3% which has increased from -3.8% last year.
The median faith and belief bonus gap have also slightly increased from 0% last year to 0.7% this year.
| Bonus pay gap | 2019 | 2020 |
|---|---|---|
| Mean faith and belief bonus pay gap | -3.8% | 1.3% |
| Median faith and belief bonus pay gap | 0% | 0.7% |
8. Sexual orientation pay gap
As of 31 March 2020, 84% of Environment Agency employees had made a declaration about their sexual orientation.
74.8% of people in Defra Group and 65.4% of people in wider Civil Service have made a sexual orientation declaration.
3.3% of Environment Agency employees declared being lesbian, gay or bisexual (LGB).
Compared to 4.9% of employees of the Defra group and the wider civil service employees.
Our sexual orientation pay gap analysis does not include Trans individuals. This is because gender reassignment is a separate protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010.
We collect data for gender reassignment separately but because very few employees declare themselves as Trans individuals. We do not have enough data to undertake a separate pay gap analysis.
The median pay gap figure increased by 2.8% to 18.3% since last year.
| Pay gaps | 2019 | 2020 |
|---|---|---|
| Mean sexual orientation pay gap | 4.7% | 7.7% |
| Median sexual orientation pay gap | 15.5% | 18.3% |
LGB representation has increased across all quartiles compared to last year:
- the upper middle quartiles have increased by 1.3% which can have a negative impact on the pay gap
- the largest increase in LGB employees is in the lowest quartiles which has increased by 2.1%
Across the quartiles the percentage of LGB employees ranges from just over 4% in the lowest quartile to slightly over 2.0% in the highest quartile.
Table 5: Comparison of how LGB employees were represented across each quartile in 2019 and 2020
| Sexual orientation quartiles | 2019 | 2020 |
|---|---|---|
| Lower quartile | 2.9% | 4.2% |
| Lower middle | 3% | 3.6% |
| Upper middle | 2.5% | 3.5% |
| Upper quartile | 2% | 2.1% |
Our sexual orientation pay gap currently stands at 7.7%. This gap has widened from the last year by 3%.
8.1 Bonus pay gap for sexual orientation
A higher proportion of LGB employees than heterosexual or where the employee's sexual orientation was unknown received a bonus payment.
| Sexual orientation | 2019 | 2020 |
|---|---|---|
| LGB | 78.7% | 78.7% |
| Heterosexual | 86.2% | 86.3% |
| Not known | 82.2% | 82.4% |
The mean sexual orientation bonus pay gap figure is a negative figure of -2.5% in favour of LGB employees. This is an improvement of 4.5% from last year.
The median bonus pay gap figure is also improved in favour of LGB employees to -3.7%. This is an improvement of 4.1% since last year.
| Bonus pay gaps | 2019 | 2020 |
|---|---|---|
| Mean sexual orientation bonus gap | 2% | -2.5% |
| Median sexual orientation bonus gap | 0.4% | -3.7% |
9. Taking actions to close pay gaps
The Environment Agency is committed to creating an inclusive culture where all employees can be themselves and thrive in the workplace.
We are refreshing our EDI Strategy and Action Plans which will include several initiatives to close pay gaps across our organisation.
We are working in close partnership with Defra colleagues and in alignment with the Defra Group Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy 2020 to 2024.
We also work closely with over 20 diverse employee networks supported by dedicated senior management champions.
We continue to work on programmes and initiatives that are already making a difference through:
- providing active support for employees returning to work following maternity or adoption leave
- offering shared parental leave, job shares, part-time working opportunities and flexible working for all employees
- providing workplace adjustments to support colleagues with disabilities and impairments, for example with mental health problems, how COVID-19 impacts on capacity and capability as well as considering different peoples styles and strengths
- creating a race action plan to improve BAME representation in the Environment Agency and to enable a greater focus on understanding the barriers faced by BAME colleagues
- ensuring the way, we promote and select for talent and development opportunities minimises bias and is as inclusive as possible
- monitoring pay to identify any pay differences and taking action to ensure our processes are fair and transparent
- proactively measuring our diversity data against our annual performance assessments - so that we can become aware of any differences between the different groups of employees
- reviewing how we can improve how we work could have an impact on pay differences
- reviewing and refreshing our approach to recruitment to make sure we recruit from diverse groups at all levels - through anonymising our application processes, use diverse interview panels for selection and recommend that all interviewers have undergone diversity and inclusion training
- monitoring recruitment data throughout the attraction, recruitment and selection processes to identify areas for further improvement to achieve greater diversity in our workforce
- exploring and understanding associated factors and root causes that overlay and underpin all of the pay gaps we measure that include looking at intersectional issues across a range of different characteristics
We will continue to champion increased equitable, diverse and inclusive approaches and shine a light on, and address inequalities faced by different groups through our governance and working with broader Defra Group EDI boards.
10. Declaration
We confirm that data reported by The Environment Agency 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.
Sir James Bevan, Environment Agency Chief Executive