Natural England gender pay gap report 2017
Published 19 December 2017
Applies to England
© Crown copyright 2017
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Background
Earlier this year, 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 organisations to publish their gender pay gap data by 30 March 2018 (and then annually), including:
- mean and median gender pay gaps
- the mean and median gender bonus gaps
- the proportion of men and women who received bonuses
- 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. 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, similar jobs or work of equal value. It is unlawful to pay people unequally because they are a man or a woman.
Natural England supports the fair treatment and reward of all staff irrespective of gender. The Defra group equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) strategy 2017 to 2020 sets out:
- our ambition to be a top performing organisation with a diverse range of talent
- our commitment to creating a culture where everyone can bring their whole self to work and their uniqueness is truly valued
This report fulfils Natural England’s reporting requirements, analyses the figures in more detail and sets out what we are doing to close the gender pay gap in the organisation.
Context
Natural England uses a staff framework ranging from Support Adviser to Chief Executive Officer (CEO), this follows a similar structure to Civil Service grading as follows:
| Natural England staff framework | Civil Service grade equivalent |
|---|---|
| Support Adviser | Administrative Officer |
| Adviser | Executive Officer |
| Lead Adviser, Specialist, Group Coordinator | Higher Executive Officer |
| Senior Adviser, Senior Specialist, Team Leader | Senior Executive Officer |
| Principal Adviser, Principal Specialist, Manager | Grade 7 / Grade 6 |
| Director | SCS Pay Band 1 |
| Chief Officer | SCS Pay Band 2 |
| Chief Executive Officer | SCS Pay Band 3 |
Levels of role vary according to the level of responsibility that people have. Each role level has a pay group and each pay group has a set pay range with specific pay points:
- minimum - the recruitment threshold or starting salary
- midpoint - between the pay group minimum and the target rate
- target rate - the rate of pay for someone who, over a period of time, is demonstrating all the required capabilities for their role, ways of working and contribution expected of them at this level of the organisation
- higher performance ceiling - the maximum rate of pay
People are expected to move through the pay range for their pay group. The longer the period of time that someone has been in a pay group the more we would expect them to earn irrespective of their gender.
Natural England currently employs apprentices, and we have differentiated the pay of those in year 1 of their contract and those in year 2. This is because first-year apprentices were paid in line with government guidelines at the time before a rule change in the following year, which Natural England has also applied. To present combined gender pay figures for the 2 sets of apprentices would suggest a significant gender pay gap when there isn’t one. Showing these two groups separately demonstrates the actual real position.
| Grade (increasing seniority) | Number of men (% of workforce) | Number of women (% of workforce) | % female |
| Apprentice (year 1) | 1 (0%) | 4 (0.2%) | 80% |
| Apprentice (after year 1) | 3 (0.1%) | 2 (0.1%) | 40% |
| AO | 132 (6.1%) | 148 (6.8%) | 54% |
| EO | 160 (7.4%) | 253 (11.6%) | 61% |
| HEO | 344 (15.8%) | 458 (21.1%) | 57% |
| SEO | 233 (10.7%) | 252 (11.6%) | 52% |
| G7 | 97 (4.5%) | 62 (2.9%) | 39% |
| SCS 1 | 7 (0.3%) | 5 (0.2%) | 42% |
| SCS 2 | 4 (0.2%) | 0 (0%) | 0% |
| SCS 3 | 1 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 0% |
| Board Members | 8 (0.4%) | 2 (0.1%) | 20% |
55% of Natural England’s workforce are women.
29% of Natural England’s Senior Leadership Team and Directors (SCS equivalent) are women
Gender pay gap
| Mean gender pay gap | Median gender pay gap |
|---|---|
| 10.9% | 13.2% |
The gender pay gap figures are based on hourly pay rates.
Bonus pay gap
| Mean gender bonus gap | Median gender bonus gap |
|---|---|
| 20% | 0% |
Natural England’s performance awards were paid as a set value depending on the performance rating awarded under guidelines set out in the Natural England performance management system, irrespective of grade or gender. Bonuses were pro-rated for people who work part-time.
Proportion of men and women receiving a bonus
| Men | Women |
|---|---|
| 87% | 89% |
Pay by quartile
| Hourly pay quartile | Women | Men |
|---|---|---|
| Lower quartile | 56% | 44% |
| Lower middle quartile | 66% | 34% |
| Upper middle quartile | 58% | 42% |
| Upper quartile | 39% | 61% |
The lower quartile of people comprises 56% females and the upper quartile comprises 39%. As 55% of Natural England’s people are women, this illustrates that the pay gap is largely as a result of a higher concentration of women in more junior roles and fewer females in more senior roles. This is particularly demonstrated by:
- Principal Specialist/ Principal Adviser/ Manager - 61% male, 39% female
- Chief Officer - 100% male, 0% female
- Board Member - 80% male, 20% female
The CEO (SCS 1 equivalent) and Board Members group both show widened gender pay gap by virtue that the CEO and Chair are male.
Working to reduce the gender pay gap
Natural England is committed to improving its gender pay gap and delivering a number of initiatives through its EDI strategy to support women in the workplace.
There is active support for women returning to work following maternity or adoption leave. We offer shared parental leave, job share, part-time opportunities and flexible working. We equally offer these opportunities to men to enable all employees to fulfil their caring responsibilities irrespective of gender.
Natural England intends to have all its people managers undertake training to help support the process of performance ratings, which are made mid-year and at year end and ensure that there is no unconscious bias when determining ratings. These ratings are subject to monitoring on a number of characteristics, including gender.
We help women to progress their careers through schemes such as:
- Positive Action Pathway - a talent programme for under-represented groups
- Crossing Thresholds - a year-long career development programme for Women in the Civil Service, recently opened up to Non-Departmental Public Bodies
- Natural England Future Leadership Scheme
We provide a range of employee led networks supported and championed by Natural England’s senior leadership and EDI teams. Natural England’s gender champion aims to help women reach their full potential by providing advice and support, contributing to policy development and establishing good practices.
We monitor pay to identify any pay differences and take targeted action, where appropriate and where budget constraints allow.
We have improved the recruitment process through anonymised application processes, ensuring that all interviewers have undergone unconscious bias training and using diverse interview panels for selection. Recruitment data is monitored through the attraction, recruitment and selection process to identify areas for further improvement in recruiting a diverse workforce.