Transparency data

MOD Gender Pay Gap reporting year 2019

Published 23 January 2020

Ministry of Defence Civil Servants (including MOD Agencies) and UK Armed Forces Report (snapshot taken 31 March 2019)

Background

What is Gender Pay Gap Reporting

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^{[footnote 1]} ; the mean and median gender bonus gaps; the proportion of men and women who received bonuses; and 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, broadly similar jobs or work of equal value. It is unlawful to pay people unequally because they are a man or a woman.

Building a diverse and inclusive 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 by 2020. The Civil Service and MOD Diversity and Inclusion Strategies outline how we plan to achieve this. The Civil Service should create opportunities for all in a truly meritocratic way and reward all civil servants fairly, regardless of gender, ethnicity or any other personal characteristic.

The Ministry of Defence supports the fair treatment and reward of all staff irrespective of gender. The Department is committed to developing a more inclusive culture within Defence and a diverse workforce at all levels.

This report sets out information fulfilling the Department’s reporting requirements, analyses the figures in more detail and describes what we are doing to close the gender pay gap in the organisation.

Declaration

We confirm that data reported by the Ministry of Defence 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.

Chief of Defence People: Lt Gen Richard Nugee

MOD Permanent Secretary: Stephen Lovegrove

Headlines

UK National gender median pay gap 2019 was 17.3%^{[footnote 2]} , MOD compares favourably with this:

Gender Pay Gap:

MOD Civil Servants

Median pay gap of 10.5%, down 0.4 percentage points from last year. Mean pay gap of 9.6%, down 0.9 percentage points from last year.

UK Armed Forces

Median pay gap of 0.46%, up 0.37 percentage points from last year. Mean pay gap of 0.88%, up 0.07 percentage points from last year.

Bonus Pay Gap:

MOD Civil Servants

Median bonus gap of 1.6%, down 5.6 percentage points from last year. Mean bonus gap of 17.8%, a rise of 3.4 percentage points from last year.

UK Armed Forces

Median bonus gap of 0%, no change from last year. Mean bonus gap of 18.03%, a rise of 6.91 percentage points from last year.

Analysis

The MOD has several agencies^{[footnote 3]} whose staff have been included in these figures, as required by the legislation. These are Defence Electronics & Components Agency (DECA), Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S)^{[footnote 4]} , Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA), Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), and the UK Hydrographic Office (UKHO).

Table 1 MOD Civilian personnel, by agency, and gender proportion, as at 31 March 2019

As at 31 March 2019, the MOD civilian personnel headcount was 55,400.

Within MOD Main (defined as: Top Level Budgets^{[footnote 5]} plus DE&S (including the Defence Nuclear Organisation)), which make up 87%^{[footnote 6]} of the total, the proportion of Senior Civil Servants who are women was 30.6% up 2.2 percentage points from last year.

UK Armed Forces

The UK Armed Forces are defined as: Royal Navy and Royal Marines, Army (including Gurkhas), Royal Air Force. These all include their respective Reserve forces.

Table 2 MOD UK Armed Forces, by service, and gender proportion, as at 31 March 2019.

Gender Pay Gap

Defence has traditionally been a male dominated organisation. As with other industries, the MOD struggles to recruit women into Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) roles. However, a range of activities to promote opportunities for women in defence take place annually, including increasing outreach, particularly with a STEM focus, and the recent signing of the Women in Defence Charter.

MOD Civil Servants

As at 31 March 2019 the Department is reporting a median pay gap of 10.5%, down 0.4 percentage points, and a mean pay gap (i.e. the difference between average salaries for men and women) of 9.6%, down 0.9 percentage points from last year. The reduction in the Mean and Median gender pay gap in 2019 compared with 2018 is as a result of the changes in the proportion of male and females in each of the pay quartiles.

Positively, there has been an increase in the proportion of women in all but the bottom two grades. Over the past seven years, MOD has made good progress in increasing the proportion of women in managerial grades, which has helped to reduce the gender pay gap. There is still a greater proportion of women at the minimum of each pay scale. Pay progression^{[footnote 7]} was removed in 2010. MOD pay awards since 2013 have provided greater increases to individuals at the bottom end of each pay scale in order to shorten the gap between the top and bottom of each pay scale. This has advantaged female staff (more of whom are at the bottom of the pay scale) and has allowed MOD to reduce the gender pay gap each year since 2013. We will continue to look for ways in which this may be reduced yet further.

MOD UK Armed Forces

As at 31 March 2019 the Department is reporting a median pay gap of 0.46%, a rise of 0.37 percentage points, and a mean pay gap of 0.88%, a rise of 0.07 percentage points from last year.

There are far fewer women in the other ranks^{[footnote 8]} than men. Proportionally there are more women in the Officer ranks than in other ranks. The single services continue to promote career opportunities to young women through a range of channels including innovative television adverts, sponsorships, career fairs and STEM events. All roles across the armed forces, including Ground Close Combat roles, are now open to women.

In 2017 when defence published its first armed forces gender pay gap report narrative the issue was not about the gender pay gap but about the overall numbers of women in the Armed Forces and their seniority. As female representation increases within the military, over time this will result in the mean/median GPG figures diverging, reflecting the fact that the Services remain largely bottom-fed organisations where all improvements in female recruiting will initially serve to drive up numbers in the bottom quartile and so pull down the female averages compared to the male.

Overall, the Department’s position compares favourably with the UK’s national gender pay gap of 17.3%^{[footnote 9]} for 2019, but highlights that the MOD still has further to go. We will continue to look for ways in which this may be reduced yet further^{[footnote 10]}.

Bonus Pay Gap

MOD Civil Servants

For the financial year 2018/19, there was a median bonus pay gap of 1.6%, down 5.6 percentage points and a mean bonus pay gap of 17.8% a rise of 3.4 percentage points. 55.8% of male employees (a rise of 2.0 percentage points) and 56.9% of female employees (a rise of 2.6 percentage points) were paid a bonus.

The changes to the bonus systems in 2017 have resulted in a greater proportion of staff receiving an award, with a more even split between males and females getting bonuses. Women are more likely to receive a bonus than their male counterparts however the value of bonus payments to women is lower than those awarded to men. The difference in bonus payment levels is statistically significant; the Performance Management teams continue to monitor these differences (see below) and make interventions as necessary.

MOD Main (defined as: Top Level Budgets^{[footnote 11]}): The 2018/19 in-year reward scheme allowed staff to be rewarded for high performance against one or more of their objectives and for demonstrating excellent behaviours. The scheme allows all staff (below Senior Civil Servants) the opportunity to receive 5 awards, up to a total value of £5000, in any financial year. This is monitored by the Performance Management team who receive management information reports on usage of the scheme outlining total spend, the number of awards given and the average value of awards each quarter. The team also receives a diversity report which breaks down the data by a number of characteristics, including gender.

Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S): Through the end of year performance management process, more employees than in 2018 were eligible for a performance award. All eligible employees (those assessed as good or above relative to their peers) received a performance award. Performance award levels varied according to grade within the organisation and were paid as a one-off non-pensionable lump sum payment in July 2018. To ensure fairness and consistency of decision making, particularly for employees from underrepresented groups, an audit of performance commentary and ratings was completed by the Performance Management team in HR.

MOD UK Armed Forces

For the financial year 2018/19, there is a median bonus pay gap of 0%, no change^{[footnote 12]} and a mean bonus pay gap of 18.03%, a rise of 6.91 percentage points, from the previous year. The percentage of personnel receiving a bonus was 20.33% of males and 23.35% of females, representing a decrease from last year of 0.92 percentage points and 0.81 percentage points respectively. There are no performance-related bonuses for the Armed Forces. There are, however, a range of other payments which fall within the legislation’s definition of a bonus, and which mainly support recruitment and retention rather than rewarding good performance. The mean gap reflects the fact that higher bonus payments are made to professions where women are still heavily under-represented e.g. submariners, pilots, engineers. All roles in the Armed Forces have now been opened up to women (including those that receive the higher value payment), over time we would expect see a decrease in the mean bonus pay gap.

Pay quartiles

The pay quartiles data shows the proportion of men and women that are in each pay quartile, when we arrange staff in order of hourly pay rate.

For MOD Armed Forces, pay scales are a function of rank, seniority and qualification and are gender blind. However, the armed forces are 89% male and the MOD recognises that more needs to be done to recruit, progress and retain women. Work to address this continues (see section named pay quartiles) so that women have a better understanding of the range of career options available to them in the armed forces.

Actions

The Ministry of Defence is committed to continuing to reduce its gender pay gap and has a range of initiatives in place to do this, including:

Diversity and Inclusion Strategy and guidance

• the department-wide Diversity and Inclusion Strategy, puts inclusion at the heart of the organisation to make it everyone’s normal business and examine barriers to progression and ways to overcome those barriers

• MOD have been working with the Cabinet Office’s Behavioural Insights Team to get a better understanding of the causes of MOD’s gender pay gap and the actions MOD could take to reduce it

• the MOD, including the British Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force (RAF), signed the Women in Defence Charter in September 2019.

Flexible Working

• support for all civilian staff returning to work: through shared parental leave, job sharing, part time opportunities, ‘Keeping in Touch’ and flexible working arrangements. The department has also updated its guidance on supporting staff returning from maternity or adoption leave. The armed forces have also established Maternity Divisional Officer posts around the UK to support staff during pregnancy/maternity. The MOD is part of the Sodexo Childcare voucher scheme and we have a number of onsite nurseries

• the armed forces already have a range of Flexible Working opportunities in place. From April 2019, regular service personnel have been able to request fixed periods of part-time working, or limited separation, as long as operational requirements have allowed it. We are exploring how to make it easier for people to transfer between the regulars and reserves to make the most of opportunities within the reserves to work on a full-time, part-time or voluntary basis.

Development Programmes and Support

• helping women progress in their careers: through talent management schemes such as the Future Leaders Scheme, the Senior Leaders Scheme^{[footnote 13]} and the Crossing Thresholds programme ^{[footnote 14]}

• mentoring, reverse mentoring and shadowing opportunities are provided to encouraging staff to maximise their potential.

Staff Networks

• providing support from staff networks: the Department’s Civilian and Military Gender networks run upskilling events and other activities to support women in the workplace.

Champions and Allies

• Senior Gender Champions and Allies act as role models for inclusion in both the Armed Forces and the Civil Service and provide support to the networks.

Recruitment and Outreach

• the UK Armed Forces continue to promote career opportunities to young women through a range of channels including innovative television adverts, sponsorships, career fairs and STEM events. All roles across the armed forces, including Ground Close Combat roles, are now open to women.

• improving the recruitment process to reduce unconscious bias. The Civil Service Recruitment Toolkit was launched in January 2018 to support and upskill recruiting managers on the end-to-end recruitment process (includes guidance on using gender neutral language). Mandated minimum qualifications have been removed

• Senior Civil Servants speaking and participating in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths events alongside industry, Civil Service and military colleagues

• anonymising the Civil Service job application process, and encouraging diverse recruitment panels and staff engagement panels (in line with Cabinet Office guidance). For Senior Civil Servant vacancies, the MOD Permanent Secretary must give express permission for interviews to progress to the next stage if there is an all male shortlist

• attracting women into the Senior Civil Service: we are working on targeted recruitment campaigns to improve job adverts and job descriptions, using gender neutral language, advertising more widely to encourage more women to apply and making better use of social media

• pay progression^{[footnote 15]} (for Civil Servants) was removed in 2010. Over the past 6 years, MOD has made good progress in increasing the proportion of women in managerial grades, helping to reduce the gender pay gap. MOD pay awards since 2013 have provided greater increases to individuals at the bottom end of each pay scale in order to shorten the gap between the top and bottom of each pay scale. This has advantaged female staff (more of whom are at the bottom of the pay scale) and we have thus been able to reduce the gender pay gap each year since 2013.

1. Based on average hourly pay ↩

2. The UK National Median figure quoted as 17.3% is for 2019 as quoted in the Annual Survey of Household Earnings (ASHE). ↩

3. Agencies’ in this context is a collective term: Dstl and DECA are Excutive Agencies; UKHO is a Trading Fund; RFA is the civilian manned fleet which supports Royal Navy ships; and DE&S is a Bespoke Entity. ↩

4. The Defence Nuclear Organisation is included in DE&S figures. ↩

5. The major organisational groupings of the MOD directly responsible for the planning, management & delivery of departmental capability. ↩

6. There are over a hundred grades that have gone into these calculations (Royal Fleet Auxiliary, Medical, Teachers, Police, Fire), of these 87% can be mapped to the Civil Service grade structure and from this we have calculated our proportion of Civil Servants that are women. The proportion of Senior Civil Servants who are female was determined from MOD Main (Top Level Budgets) and Defence Equipment & Support, whose grade structure alignment allows SCS to be identified. ↩

7. The Department moved away from time-served progression with effect from 2010. Since that time, any increase to pay has been through the annual pay award. ↩

8. Other Ranks in the Armed Forces refer to personnel who are not commissioned officers. The ranks for the Royal Navy and Royal Marines are: Warrant Officer Class 1 and 2, Chief Petty Officer, Colour Sergeant, Petty Officer, Sergeant, Leading Rate, Corporal, Lance Corporal and Able Rate. For Army these ranks are: Warrant Officer Class 1 and 2, Staff Sergeant, Sergeant, Corporal, Lance Corporal and Private. For RAF these ranks are: Warrant Officer, Flight Sergeant, Chief Technician, Sergeant, Corporal and Aircraftmen/women. ↩

9. The UK National Median figure quoted as 17.3% is for 2019 as quoted in the Annual Survey of Household Earnings (ASHE). ↩

10. See the actions section of this document. ↩

11. The major organisational groupings of the MOD directly responsible for the planning, management & delivery of departmental capability. ↩

12. The median bonus payment is £1,759. This is the standard amount given as an ‘annual bounty payment’ to Reservists and accounts for 19.4% of female bonuses and 12.6% of male bonuses because of where this amount falls in the range of bonus payments, the median is the same. It is worth noting that 64% of female bonuses are less than or equal to £1,759, compared to 52% for males. This was very similar to last year which is why there is no change. ↩

13. Senior Leaders Scheme. ↩

14. Crossing Thresholds programme. ↩

15. The department moved away from time-served progression with effect from 2010. Since that time, any increase to pay has been through the annual pay award. ↩