Transparency data

NDA group gender pay gap report: 2022 to 2023

Published 26 March 2024

Across the NDA group, our leaders are committed to creating great places to work and inclusive working environments. This includes ensuring we have female representation at all levels across our organisations and supporting women in their professional growth.

This report summarises the gender pay gap for the NDA group as a whole, and within the individual organisations that make up the group:

• Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA)
• Sellafield Limited
• Magnox Limited
• Dounreay Site Restoration Limited (DSRL)
• Low Level Waste Repository Limited (LLWR)
• Radioactive Waste Management Limited (RWM)
• Nuclear Transport Solutions (NTS)

This report deals with figures from 2022/23. During that time, although RWM and LLWR were known collectively as Nuclear Waste Services, the two organisations remain separate legal entities and for the purpose of this report are detailed individually. DSRL is also listed separately as its staff moved into Magnox Limited, as part of the creation of Nuclear Restoration Services, after the reporting period.

What is a gender pay gap?

A gender pay gap is the difference in the pay between all men and women in a workforce. In April 2017, the government introduced gender pay gap reporting for all companies with more than 250 employees.

This report shows the gap on a mean (average when you add up all the numbers and divide them by the number of values) and median (mid-point when all of the numbers are listed in numerical order) basis.

Gender pay 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.

NDA group gender pay gap

The average 2022-2023 gender pay gap when looking across the whole of the NDA group is 11.5% mean and 12.8% median. This compares with an average across the group of 11.7% mean and 11.4% median in 2021-2022. The mean result has continued to decrease, while the small increase in median is the result of changes with two of the NDA group’s operating companies, including a complex pay settlement for one company and some internal reorganisation within another. Overall, there is a continuing decreasing trajectory in the majority of NDA group companies.

NDA

Number of employees	% male employees	% female employees
367	44%	56%

NDA gender pay gap

Pay gap:	Mean gap	Median gap
NDA gender pay gap	35.0%	30.9%
NDA gender bonus gap	51.6%	60.5%

NDA pay by quartiles

Women make up 76% of the lower quartile of the NDA pay and 26% of the upper quartile. The proportions of male and female NDA employees in each pay quartile:

Quartile:	Male %	Female %
Lower quartile	23.9%	76.1%
Lower middle quartile	51.1%	48.9%
Upper middle quartile	75.0%	25.0%
Upper quartile	74.2%	25.8%

Sellafield

Number of employees	% male employees	% female employees
10,889	70%	30%

Sellafield gender pay gap

Pay gap:	Mean gap	Median gap
Sellafield gender pay gap	12.7%	13.7%
Sellafield gender bonus gap	12.2%	0.0%*

* SL median bonus is 0% because of a flat rate bonus paid to 98% of the workforce

Sellafield pay by quartiles

Women make up 45% of the lower quartile of the Sellafield Ltd pay and 18% of the upper quartile. The proportions of male and female Sellafield Ltd employees in each pay quartile:

Quartile:	Male %	Female %
Lower quartile	55.0%	45.0%
Lower middle quartile	63.0%	37.0%
Upper middle quartile	81.0%	19.0%
Upper quartile	82.0%	18.0%

Magnox

Now known as Nuclear Restoration Services

Number of employees	% male employees	% female employees
2,570	74%	26%

Magnox gender pay gap

Magnox pay gap:	Mean gap	Median gap
Magnox gender pay gap	3.5%	3.8%
Magnox gender bonus gap	-4.3%	4.4%

Magnox pay by quartiles

Women make up 27% of the lower quartile of the Magnox Ltd pay and 20% of the upper quartile. The proportions of male and female Magnox Ltd employees in each pay quartile:

Quartile:	Male%	Female%
Lower quartile	72.9%	27.1%
Lower middle quartile	73.7%	26.3%
Upper middle quartile	71.5%	28.5%
Upper quartile	79.8%	20.3%

Dounreay Site Restoration Limited (DSRL)

Since this reporting period, DSRL staff have transferred to become part of Magnox Ltd.

Number of employees	% male employees	% female employees
1,377	68%	32%

DSRL gender pay gap

Pay gap:	Mean gap	Median gap
DSRL gender pay gap	8.6%	6.8%
DSRL genderbonus gap	16.0%	8.7%

DSRL pay by quartiles

Women make up 37% of the lower quartile of the DSRL pay and 24% of the upper quartile. The proportions of male and female DSRL employees in each pay quartile:

Quartile:	Male%	Female%
Lower quartile	63.5%	36.6%
Lower middle quartile	64.5%	35.5%
Upper middle quartile	68.4%	31.6%
Upper quartile	76.0%	24.0%

Low Level Waste Repository Limited (LLWR)

Now known as Nuclear Waste Services.

Number of employees	% male employees	% female employees
359	*50%	50%

LLWR gender pay gap

Pay gap:	Mean gap	Median gap
LLWR gender pay gap	11.5%	12.0%
LLWR gender bonus gap	23.7%	0.0%

LLWR pay by quartiles

Women make up 66% of the lower quartile of the LLWR pay and 37% of the upper quartile. The proportions of male and female LLWR employees in each pay quartile:

Quartile:	Male %	Female%
Lower quartile	34.0%	66.0%
Lower middle quartile	46.0%	54.0%
Upper middle quartile	58.0%	42.0%
Upper quartile	63.0%	37.0%

Radioactive Waste Management Limited (RWM)

Now known as Nuclear Waste Services.

Number of employees	% male employees	% female employees
389	55%	45%

RWM gender pay gap

Pay gap:	Mean gap	Median gap
RWM gender pay gap	19.2%	27.5%
RWM gender bonus gap	27.0%	32.4%

RWM pay by quartiles

Women make up 69% of the lower quartile of the RWM pay and 31% of the upper quartile. The proportions of male and female RWM employees in each pay quartile:

Quartile:	Male%	Female%
Lower quartile	31.0%	69.0%
Lower middle quartile	55.0%	45.0%
Upper middle quartile	66.0%	34.0%
Upper quartile	69.0%	31.0%

Nuclear Transport Solutions (NTS)

Number of employees	% male employees	% female employees
582	76%	24%

NTS gender pay gap

Pay gap:	Mean gap	Median gap
NTS gender pay gap	13.0%	29.0%
NTS gender bonus gap	22.0%	27.0%

NTS pay by quartiles

Women make up 42% of the lower quartile of the NTS pay and 24% of the upper quartile. The proportions of male and female NTS employees in each pay quartile:

Quartile:	Male%	Female%
Lower quartile	58.0%	42.0%
Lower middle quartile	77.0%	23.0%
Upper middle quartile	95.0%	5.0%
Upper quartile	76.0%	24.0%

Addressing the gender pay gap

Attracting and retaining a diverse workforce is a continuing priority for the NDA group, including reducing, with the aim of ultimately closing, the gender pay gap.

We’re proud of some of the good progress being made in areas of our group and are focused on achieving accelerated and consistent success across all our organisations. We know we’ve got much more to do and we’re working hard to deliver our goals with regards to diversity and inclusion, including female representation.

We’re committed to attracting more women into our sector and specifically into the NDA group organisations, to supporting women to succeed in their careers within the NDA group, and to securing more female representation at a senior level.

Our Diversity and Inclusion programme includes many interventions focused on female representation including:

Developing female leaders

To date nearly 239 women across the group have taken part in our Women’s Development Leadership Programme which was launched in 2021 to support mid-career women to progress into leadership roles.  This includes:

• A senior programme for talented mid-career women with potential for top leadership roles
• The step up, step across (SUSA) programme for mid-career professionals who are looking to take a step up into their first leadership role

Since the start of the programmes, 43 participants have been promoted, 6 have taken on secondments and 19 have changed roles. This continues our commitment to achieving gender balance, focussing on addressing under-representation of women in senior roles and retaining and developing diversity within our talent pipeline.

Supporting returners

NTS has partnered with ‘Women Returners’ and has launched its first returners programme to support those who have been out of the workplace for 18 months or more to flexibly re-start their career and develop their skills and experience.

This contributed towards NTS being named winner of the Medium Organisation Award at the Northern Power Women Awards 2023. A panel of judges awarded NTS the accolade based on its work to support current female employees and its work to attract more female into the organisation.

NTS awards and NTS Women Returners Programme

Going forward we will see more of our operating companies launch career returner programmes as part of our drive to improve diversity and tackle barriers to progression.

Diverse talent acquisition

One of our main aims is to inspire and attract a diverse range of individuals into the NDA group and increase the number of people recruited and employed from underrepresented groups, specifically women, ethnic minorities, LGBTQ+ and people with disabilities as outlined in our NDA Inclusion Strategy 2025.

Diverse recruitment action plans are being developed and implemented across the group with a focus on gender balance, including the introduction of tools to develop inclusive job adverts and job descriptions which are free from gender biased language.

In recent months, we’ve also launched a new careers website, ndagroup.careers, bringing together all opportunities across different parts of the NDA group on one site for the first time. Digital advertising is helping to reach new audiences and attract potential recruits to the group.

The NDA group is also supporting a new national sector-wide awareness and attraction campaign. Known as Destination Nuclear, a number of organisations across the sector are working together to raise the profile of opportunities with the key message that whatever you do, you can do nuclear.

NDA group careers website

Destination Nuclear advert

Early careers

In 2021 we updated our Early Careers Strategy which aims to drive equality of opportunity and recruit from outside our traditional pool of candidates through widening school engagement and participation, pre-apprenticeship programmes and enhanced recruitment campaigns.

A new NDA group graduate programme was launched in 2022, along with the piloting of a small group-wide intern programme to attract candidates with disabilities.

The graduate recruitment programme, which recruited during 2022/23, enabled the NDA to welcome its largest and most diverse cohort of graduates to date. The scheme exceeded aspirations for diversity goals due to be achieved by 2025, with 47% of graduates being female, 26% identifying as an ethnic minority, 18% as LGBTQ and 13% reporting being a person with a disability. The number of graduate opportunities available within the NDA group is expected to double in 2024, with a large-scale recruitment and assessment event recently taking place highlighting the opportunities available.

NDA Energus Graduate Programme

NDA Energus Graduate Programme

Gender balance network

Membership of the NDA group’s Gender Balance Network continued to grow in 2022/23, rising by 29%. The network provides a vital source of support and expertise, sharing experience and insights, providing mentoring opportunities and collaborating with other networks to help identify and address diversity issues. It also works with schools to promote Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) careers, collaborates with other networks and helps to identify and address diversity issues. Results from our Employee Engagement survey shows a more favourable response from women by nearly 3% in the theme of Diversity and Inclusion.

Members also support education and awareness raising opportunities throughout the calendar year such as Women in Engineering and International Women’s Day, using them as an opportunity to amplify messages on positive action for women and demonstrate how we are making progress.

Inetrnational Womens Day

Partnership working

We have strong partnerships across the sector working with The National Skills Strategy Group (NSSG), chairing the Equality Diversity & Inclusion workstream which provides an opportunity to champion gender balance in the workplace.

We are a corporate member of Women in Nuclear UK and support a number of events, together  driving forward our common aim of improving diversity and gender balance in the UK’s nuclear industry.

Women in Nuclear conference

Supporting women in the workplace

Across the NDA group we are committed to ensuring our workplaces are safe, accessible and promote health and wellbeing, so everyone feels respected, included and able to perform at their best.

In 2021 we launched our new employee network Meno Hub, a space to connect with colleagues, share experiences, and access resources and support.  Membership of the Meno Hub has continued to grow, climbing 139% in 2022/23.

The NDA group has recently been highly commended in the best support group category and Gill Thomas, Meno Hub co-chair won the community award at the prestigious 2023 Menopause Friendly Employer Awards.  The awards celebrate the fantastic achievements that Menopause Friendly Members throughout 2022/23 are making to change the lived experience of people going through menopause.   The best support group judging panel recognised the Meno Hub’s passion and determination. They were particularly impressed by the events, webinars, monthly ‘drop-in and talk’ sessions available to staff.

More recently, in early 2024, the NDA has achieved Menopause Friendly Accreditation in recognition of the ongoing work to build an inclusive culture and put in place the right support for colleagues affected by menopause. The accreditation, established by Henpicked, recognises high standards and proven practices that embrace menopause in the workplace. It is industry-recognised and the only accreditation that sets clear standards which must be met. It is considered by many as a mark of excellence for menopause in the workplace. Henpicked highlighted in their feedback: “There was a sense that the workforce is listened to, and leaders respond to their thoughts, ideas and concerns.

We continue to partner with expert organisations, engaging with subject matter experts who help and support our people through our educational events and support apps.

Menohub awards