Corporate report

HM Revenue and Customs Gender Pay Gap - 2014

Published 18 February 2016

The gender pay gap

The purpose of the gender pay gap is to demonstrate due regard to equality and that HMRC’s pay system complies with the Equality Act 2010 by being fair, transparent and values the entire workforce, sending positive messages about our organisational values and ways of working. It also demonstrates to our employees and potential employees a commitment to equality.

In line with government legislation, under Section 78 of the Public Sector Equality Duty, HMRC voluntarily publishes its gender pay gap annually.

The gender pay gap is the difference between the average basic pay (excluding allowances) of women and men in HMRC. The difference is expressed as a percentage of the average basic pay for men.

Where the percentage difference shown is less than 0, then women have the lead and where it is greater than 0, then men have the lead.

We have measured the pay gaps using both mean[footnote 1] averages and median[footnote 2] averages. The dataset has been based on basic pay as at 30 September 2014, which includes the 1 June 2014 pay award. Allowances and other payments such as overtime have been excluded.

The total headcount is 65,028 and excludes the Senior Civil Service where separate pay arrangements apply.

Data in Tables 1 (mean) and 2 (median) shows the overall gender pay gap, and indicates that men receive a base pay that is on average 12% higher (mean), or 24% higher (median) than women.

Table 1: Mean basic pay by gender

Grade Women Men Difference
Grades AA - G6 £24,878 £28,346 +12%

Table 2: Median basic pay by gender

Grade Women Men Difference
Grades AA - G6 £19,974 £26,227 +24%

These comparisons takes no account of grades, location pay scales or full-time/part-time status.

Although women represent 58% of our workforce, the proportion of women in each grade decreases with seniority of grade. In contrast, the proportion of men in each grade increases with seniority of grade.

Tables 3 and 4 below illustrates the mean and median by grade, which is more representative. Based on the mean, the gaps show minor differences of less than 3%, whereas the gap based on the median show gaps between 0% - 5%.

Table 3: Mean basic pay by grade and gender

Grade Women Men Difference
Admin. Assistant £16,447 £16,373 0%
Assistant Officer £19,555 £19,299 -1%
Officer £25,671 £25,643 0%
Higher Officer £31,419 £31,812 1%
Senior Officer £38,015 £38,773 2%
Band T £28,560 £28,721 1%
Grade 7 £51,673 £52,371 1%
Grade 6 £65,085 £66,279 2%

Table 4: Median basic pay by grade and gender

Grade Women Men Difference
Admin. Assistant £16,227 £16,227 0%
Assistant Officer £19,974 £19,664 -2%
Officer £26,227 £26,227 0%
Higher Officer £30,953 £32,622 5%
Senior Officer £37,941 £39,643 4%
Band T £27,458 £27,503 0%
Grade 7 £50,436 £52,697 4%
Grade 6 £65,140 £67,094 3%
  1. The arithmetic mean is the most typically used measure of the ‘average’ of a set of values. This is calculated by dividing the sum of the values by the number of values 

  2. In comparison with mean, median is another way to find the ‘average’ of a set of values. This is calculated by ordering the values and taking the central value as the average