Environment Agency: pay gap 2021
Updated 25 March 2024
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/environment-agency-pay-gap/environment-agency-pay-gap-report-2021
1. Foreword
We are the Environment Agency. We create better places for people, wildlife and the environment. We help society adapt to environmental challenges and we improve and protect the quality of our air, land and water. We work together with local, national and global partners. We strive to make the right decisions today, for the people, wildlife and environment of tomorrow.
Through our people strategy we aspire to place equality, diversity and inclusion at the heart of all we do, making it part of our DNA. We are committed to being a genuinely inclusive organisation, which reflects the diversity of the communities we serve.
Our equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) strategy aligns with the Defra Group equality, diversity and inclusion strategy 2020 to 2024 and states our ambition to eliminate all our pay gaps.
We are accountable and open to challenge and scrutiny. Our 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.
Our gender pay gap has remained at 1.4%, and faith and belief continues to be negative at 1.8% (favouring those who declared a faith or belief). The pay gap for sexual orientation has reduced by 0.6% to 7.1%. However, it has widened for ethnicity (increase of 1% to 5.2%) and disability (increase of 0.5% to 2%).
This report is about the pay gap, but we also regularly undertake equal pay reviews. These inform our pay review approaches, which are targeted towards greater pay equality for all staff.
Whilst our pay gaps are comparatively lower than other organisations of similar sizes, that gives us no cause for complacency. As part of our wider commitment to fairness and equity to all our staff, 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
The Environment Agency employs 10,775 people as of 31 March 2021.
A pay gap is the difference between the average pay for one group of full pay relevant employees compared to another.
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 receiving half pay. This report includes 10,332 full pay relevant employees.
A pay gap 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.
Read our equality statement on GOV.UK for more information about our workforce diversity.
3. Understanding the key definitions of a pay gap
To help you understand this report, here are some definitions relating to pay gaps.
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 the 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 pay gap, the:
- mean or 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 full-pay relevant employees (for example, men)
- median pay gap (which can be thought of as the middle point) is the difference between the median hourly rate of pay of full-pay relevant employees (for example, women) and that of full-pay relevant employees (for example, men)
3.3 Mean and median bonus gaps
Bonuses (this includes local recognition awards and unconsolidated pay awards) refer to one-off payments to reward performance. It is paid as part of the annual pay award as a proportion of basic pay or throughout the year as either cash or gift vouchers.
It’s important to note some bonus payments such as end of year performance awards are pro-rated for part-time workers which can influence bonus pay gaps.
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
This is achieved by ordering employees by their ordinary hourly pay and then dividing the employees into 4 groups each group represents a quartile.
This provides an indication of where people from each diversity characteristic are placed in the organisation. For example, the lowest quartile represents 25% of the lowest earners.
4. Gender pay gap
The Environment Agency recognises gender is not a binary concept, and some people may not identify with a set gender. For the purposes of this report and in line with broader gender pay gap reporting, only male and female genders have been included.
As of 31 March 2021, women make up 43.7% (4,704) of the Environment Agency employees. The Environment Agency mean gender pay gap is 1.4%. This is the same as last year.
The Environment Agency pay gap is significantly lower than the wider civil service pay gap which is 7.8%.
The Environment Agency pay gap is low compared to other organisations and the national average hourly pay gap.
We need to do more work to achieve better gender parity across the organisation and within specific job families. This is where imbalance in gender representation can lead to gender pay gaps.
Table 1: Comparison of the mean and median gender pay gap for 2019, 2020 and 2021
| Gender | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mean gender pay gap | 1.9% | 1.4% | 1.4% |
| Median gender pay gap | 1.2% | - 0.8% | - 0.9% |
Across the pay quartiles, women are underrepresented at every level, particularly in the lower and higher quartiles. Representation of women in each quartile reduced from the previous year except for the highest quartile where representation increased from 37.7% to 44.8%
Female representation at the most senior levels in the organisation is increasing. Women now make up 44.9% of executive managers, an improvement of 9.8% since 2019.
Table 2: Comparison of how women were represented across each quartile in 2019, 2020 and 2021
| Quartiles | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lower quartile | 37.7% | 38.1% | 35.5% |
| Lower-middle | 46% | 45.7% | 26.4% |
| Upper-middle | 45.4% | 46.6% | 36% |
| Upper quartile | 35.9% | 37.7% | 44.8% |
4.1 Bonus pay gap for gender
The mean bonus pay gap is 5.6%, a reduction of 0.6% from last year. There is no difference between the median bonus pay gap value for men and women
Table 3: Comparison of the percentage of male and female employees who received a bonus in 2019, 2020 and 2021
| Gender | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Male | 86% | 85.7% | 89.4% |
| Female | 87% | 85.2% | 90.6% |
The mean bonus gap has reduced by 8.3% since 2017 and the median bonus gap reduced by 8.3% in the same period.
Table 4: Comparison of the mean and median gender bonus gap for 2019, 2020 and 2021
| Gender | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mean gender bonus gap | 12.3% | 6.2% | 5.6% |
| Median gender bonus gap | 8.9% | 0.7% | 0% |
5. Disability pay gap
As of 31 March 2021, 91% of Environment Agency employees made a disability declaration. 15% (1,598) of our workforce declared they had a disability or a long-term health condition. Compared with 14.1% disability representation across the Defra group and 13.6% across the wider civil service.
The Environment Agency’s disability pay gap currently stands at 2%. This has increased from 1.5% in 2020. The median disability gap has also widened from 0.4% to 1.3%.
Table 5: Comparison of the mean and median disability pay gap for 2019, 2020 and 2021
| Pay gap | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mean disability pay gap | 2.1% | 1.5% | 2% |
| Median disability pay gap | 4% | 0.4% | 1.3% |
Across the pay quartiles representation of disabled people has increased in the lower 2 quartiles. This is an increase of 3.4% in the lower quartile and 0.8% in the lower-middle quartile.
Disability representation has also decreased in the higher quartiles. This includes a reduction of 1.3% in the upper-middle quartile and 1.4% in the upper quartile. This has negatively impacted our disability pay gap.
Table 6: Comparison of how people with disabilities were represented across each quartile in 2019, 2020 and 2021
| Quartiles | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lower quartile | 13.4% | 13.9% | 17.3% |
| Lower-middle | 14.5% | 14.8% | 15.6% |
| Upper-middle | 14.6% | 15.9% | 14.6% |
| Upper quartile | 14.2% | 14.2% | 11.9% |
5.1 Disability bonus pay gap
The mean disability bonus pay gap 4.8% has widened from the previous year by 1.9%.
Table 7: Comparison of the percentage of disabled, non-disabled and those who did not declare, who received a bonus in 2019, 2020 and 2021
| Bonus gap | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Disabled | 88.2% | 89.5% | 91.4% |
| Non-disabled | 85.3% | 86% | 90.6% |
| Not known | 81.9% | 75.3% | 81.9% |
There is no difference between the median disability bonus figure for people with disabilities and those without disabilities.
Table 8: Comparison of the mean and median disability bonus gap for 2019, 2020 and 2021
| Bonus gap | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mean disability bonus gap | 9% | 2.9% | 4.8% |
| Median disability bonus gap | 2.2% | 0% | 0% |
6. Ethnicity pay gap
As of 31 March 2021, 97% of Environment Agency employees made an ethnicity declaration. 4.4% (480) of our workforce declared being from a Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (B.A.M.E ) background. Ethnic minority representation in the Environment Agency has remained steady since 2020.
This is compared with 6.5% ethnic minority representation across the Defra group and 14.3% within the wider civil service.
The Environment Agency ethnicity pay gap is at 5.1% and has widened by 1% from the previous year. The median pay gap has increased by 5.4% to 16.7%.
Table 9: Comparison of the mean and median ethnicity pay gap for 2019, 2020 and 2021
| Pay gap | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mean ethnicity pay gap | 4.1% | 4.1% | 5.1% |
| Median ethnicity pay gap | 11.7% | 11.3% | 16.7% |
Across the quartiles, B.A.M.E representation has decreased in the lower quartiles. This includes a 1.4% decrease in the lower quartile and a 2.3% decrease in the lower-middle quartile.
B.A.M.E representation in the higher quartiles has increased by 1.7% in the upper-middle and by 2.5% in the upper quartile.
Table 10: Comparison of how B.A.M.E employees were represented across each quartile in 2019, 2020 and 2021
| Quartiles | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lower quartile | 4.4% | 4.8% | 3.4% |
| Lower-middle | 4.6% | 4.7% | 2.4% |
| Upper-middle | 3.7% | 4.3% | 6% |
| Upper quartile | 3.6% | 3.6% | 6.1% |
6.1 Ethnicity bonus gap
The mean ethnicity bonus gap increased from 3.5% in 2020 to 6.4% in 2021.
Table 11: Comparison of the percentage of B.A.M.E, white and those who did not declare, who received a bonus in 2019, 2020 and 2021
| Ethnicity | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|
| B.A.M.E | 82.4% | 78.1% | 87.5% |
| White | 85.1% | 85.6% | 90% |
| Not known | 86.6% | 91.9% | 91.5% |
There is no difference in the median bonus gap value for ethnic minority and white employees.
Table 12: Comparison of the mean and median ethnicity bonus gap for 2019, 2020 and 2021
| Bonus gap | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mean ethnicity bonus gap | 4.4% | 3.5% | 6.4% |
| Median ethnicity bonus gap | 2.3% | 0% | 0 |
7. Faith and belief pay gap
As of 31 March 2021, 82% of Environment Agency employees have made a faith and belief declaration. This compares to 76% of people in the Defra group and 63% of people in the wider civil service.
The Equality Act (2010) defines ‘belief’ to include any religious or philosophical belief and also includes a lack of a particular belief.
Around 40% (4,252) of our employees said they follow a faith or belief, 42% said they did not follow a faith or belief.
The largest faith and belief groups in the Environment Agency were Christian (33%). Other faiths in varying proportions make up the remaining 7% of people who declared a faith or belief.
The Environment Agency faith and belief pay gap figure is a negative pay gap of minus 1.8% in favour of people who declared a faith or belief. This is an increase of 0.7% from the previous year.
The median faith and belief pay gap is minus 4.6%, again, in favour of those who declared a faith or belief.
Table 13: Comparison of the mean and median faith and belief pay gap for 2019, 2020 and 2021
| Pay gap | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mean faith and belief pay gap | -1.4% | -2.5% | -1.8% |
| Median faith and belief pay gap | -1.8% | -4.7% | -0.1% |
Across the quartiles there is a fairly even range of between 31% to 44% of employees with a declared faith or belief. This is broadly proportionate to the number of people who declared having no faith or belief.
Table 14: Comparison of how people with a faith or belief were represented across each quartile in 2019, 2020 and 2021
| Quartiles | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lower quartile | 40% | 38.6% | 44.4% |
| Lower middle | 37.9% | 38.2% | 44.6% |
| Upper middle | 39.2% | 38.9% | 37.7% |
| Upper quartile | 44% | 43.5% | 31.4% |
7.1 Faith and belief bonus pay gap
The mean faith and belief bonus gap has reduced from 1.3% in 2020 to 0.7% this year.
Table 15: Comparison of the percentage of employees who either declared a faith or belief, no faith or belief and those who did not declare a faith or a belief, who received a bonus
| Faith and belief | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Declared faith and belief | 87% | 87.8% | 91.4% |
| No faith and belief | 84% | 84.3% | 89.7% |
| Not known | 83.1% | 83.4% | 87.1% |
There is no difference in the median faith and belief bonus gap between people who declared a faith or belief and those who did not.
Table 16: Comparison of the mean and median faith and belief bonus gap for 2019, 2020 and 2021
| Bonus gap | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mean faith and belief bonus gap | -3.8% | 1.3% | 0.7 |
| Median faith and belief bonus gap | 0% | 0.7% | 0 |
8. Sexual orientation pay gap
As of 31 March 2021, 85% of Environment Agency employees have made a sexual orientation declaration.
Compared with 76% of people in Defra group and 69.3% of people in wider civil service made a sexual orientation declaration.
3.5% of Environment Agency employees declared being lesbian, gay or bisexual (LGB). This compares with sexual orientation representation rates across the Defra group and in the wider civil service are at 5.6%.
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.
Very few employees declared themselves as Trans, so we did not have enough data to undertake a separate pay gap.
The Environment Agency sexual orientation pay gap currently stands at 7.1%. The gap has reduced by 0.6% from last year. The median pay gap figure has increased by 2.6% and is now at 20.9%.
Table 17: Comparison of the mean and median sexual orientation pay gap for 2019, 2020 and 2021
| Sexual orientation | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mean sexual orientation pay gap | 4.7% | 7.7% | 7.1% |
| Median sexual orientation pay gap | 15.5% | 18.3% | 20.9% |
Across the quartiles, the proportion of LGB employees has reduced in the lower quartiles. This includes a 2.3% reduction in the lower quartile and a 1.3% reduction in the lower-middle quartile. LGB representation in the upper-middle quartile improved by 0.5% and the upper quartile improved by 3.5%.
Table 18: Comparison of how LGB employees were represented across each quartile in 2019, 2020 and 2021
| Quartiles | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lower quartile | 2.9% | 4.2% | 1.9% |
| Lower-middle | 3% | 3.6% | 2.3% |
| Upper-middle | 2.5% | 3.5% | 4% |
| Upper quartile | 2% | 2.1% | 5.6% |
8.1 Sexual orientation bonus gap
The mean sexual orientation bonus pay gap is negative at minus 4.2% in favour of employees who have declared an LGB background. This an improvement of 4.5% from last year.
Table 19: Comparison of the percentage of employees who either declared to be LGB, heterosexual and employees who did not declare their sexual orientation, who received a bonus
| Sexual orientation | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|
| LGB | 78.8% | 78.7% | 85.6% |
| Heterosexual | 86.2% | 86.3% | 90.9% |
| Not known | 82.2% | 82.4% | 85.7% |
Similarly, the median bonus LGB figure is also in favour of LGB employees at minus 7%.
Table 20: Comparison of the mean and median sexual orientation bonus gap for 2019, 2020 and 2021
| Bonus gap | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mean sexual orientation bonus gap | 2% | -2.5% | -4.2% |
| Median sexual orientation bonus gap | 0.4% | -3.7% | -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.
A key objective of our people strategy is our aspiration to ensure equality, diversity and inclusion becomes part of our DNA.
We aim to ensure our approach to our people:
- is truly inclusive throughout their employee life cycle
- maximises our opportunities to increase the diversity of our workforce to represent the communities we serve
We are currently developing the Environment Agency’s EDI strategy for 2022 to 2025 and action plan. This incorporates existing and planned cross-cutting actions that will deliver intersectional benefits, alongside targeted actions for individual protected characteristics
We are working in close partnership with our Defra colleagues and our EDI strategy aligns with the Defra Group Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy 2020 to 2024.
We proactively measure diversity data at various points along the employee life cycle, from attraction of employees right through to employees exiting the organisation.
Using this data and information effectively means we can make evidence-based decisions that will move us towards becoming a more inclusive organisation.
9.1 Key objectives and actions
We are working collaboratively with our employee networks, EDI portfolio leads and Defra EDI team. This is to develop and implement a range of actions across the whole employee life cycle, focusing on the following key objectives and actions:
Tackling exclusion and discrimination to become a more inclusive organisation
- continued implementation of the race action plan and big conversation
- mandatory respect at work training completed by all employees
- publication of refreshed grievance, dispute and resolution policy
- continued collaboration with our employee networks and review of how the networks are organised, supported and resourced
Providing equity of opportunity so all employees have fair opportunities to develop, progress, realise their potential and have their performance recognised
- performance ratings analysis has been conducted with recommendations on how to eliminate bias
- a new exit interview process has been developed and offered to all leavers to enable assessment of trends and improve retention of staff
- plans to review existing career development options in the Environment Agency and identify best practice to be taken forward, such as targeted career support for particular groups
Being inclusive and equitable in our recruitment by utilising more inclusive attraction and recruitment practices
- increased external advertising and recruitment, starting with national recruitment campaigns
- utilisation of new tools to ensure adverts are inclusive and attractive for all
- improved inclusive process for advertising expressions of interest for short-term vacancies
- updated guidance published to support and equip recruiting managers to conduct inclusive recruitment
- launched pilots of summer internship programmes for B.A.M.E students
We:
- take advice from external experts and best practice organisations
- benchmark (for example, using Business in the Community (BiTC) and the Stonewall Workplace Equality Index)
- work in partnership with others pursuing greater equity, diversity and inclusion in the environmental sector and profession
We are establishing a more strategic and integrated approach to EDI delivery across the organisation, with a greater focus on coordinated communications and engagement.
This aims to ensure all employees have visibility of:
- the challenges we face in EDI
- the actions that we can all support to improve inclusivity
- the work towards eliminating pay gaps across protected characteristics
We will continue to:
- champion increased equitable, diverse and inclusive approaches and shine a light on
- address inequalities faced by different groups through our governance and working with the 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