Transparency data

Ofsted: gender pay gap report and data 2022

Published 24 November 2022

Applies to England

Foreword

Ofsted’s aim is to be a force for improvement through intelligent, responsible and focused inspection and regulation. Our work contributes to building a highly educated, productive and safe society in which children and young people can succeed, whatever their background.

As an organisation that holds others to account, it is important that we too are accountable, and are open to challenge and scrutiny. Reporting on the gender pay gap shows how well we achieve equality in our pay structure.

This report provides information on the gender pay gap for the year 2021–22, with data to 31 March 2022 and comparable information for the previous 3 years. The overall picture is of a fair balance of reward between men and women.

We are confident that our policies and initiatives promote equal opportunities for all our workforce and ensure that both sexes can progress in their careers.

I look forward to reporting again in 12 months’ time.

I confirm that the data reported here is accurate and has been calculated according to the requirements of the Equality Act 2010.

Amanda Spielman
Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector

Introduction

The gender pay gap is the difference in the average earnings between all men and women in an organisation. It is different to equal pay, which is about the difference in actual earnings of men and women doing equal work (or work of equal value).

Since April 2017, employers with 250 or more employees have been required to publish information on their gender pay gap. The pay gap must be reported on in 6 different ways:

• the mean gender pay gap
• the median gender pay gap
• the mean bonus gender pay gap
• the median bonus gender pay gap
• the proportion of men and women who received bonuses
• the proportion of men and women according to quartile pay bands

The mean gender pay gap is the difference between the mean hourly rate of pay of male full-pay relevant employees and that of female full-pay relevant employees.^{[footnote 1]}

The median gender pay gap is the difference between the median hourly rate of pay of male full-pay relevant employees and that of female full-pay relevant employees.

Ofsted’s gender profile

The percentage of female staff in Ofsted has increased slightly to 68% (from 67% in 2020–21). This continues to be higher than the Civil Service average of 55%, and the UK average of 51%.

Our spot rate pay model, where a single salary is set for each grade, supports equal pay for equal work. By not having pay ranges, we avoid the pay inequality that can arise from the ability to negotiate salaries or from linking pay to length of service (see Annex A for our grading structure).

Ofsted’s gender pay gap

	2022	2021	2020	2019
Mean gender pay gap	3.6% in favour of men	3.6% in favour of men	4.8% in favour of men	6.6% in favour of men
Median gender pay gap	1.1% in favour of women	8.0% in favour of women	6.2% in favour of women	0.0% in favour of men
Proportion receiving bonus	Men 97% Women 98%	Men 93% Women 91%	Men 78% Women 80%	Men 80% Women 80%
Mean bonus gender pay gap	7.5% in favour of men (an average of £47)	2.1% in favour of men (an average of £13.50)	14.2% in favour of men (an average of £128)	19.5% in favour of men (an average of £193)
Median bonus gender pay gap	9.3% in favour of men (an average of £50)	0% favouring neither men nor women.	14.3% in favour of men (an average of £100)	7.7% in favour of men (an average of £50)

Chart of the proportions of men and women in each pay quartile 2019–22, as at 31 March 2022

^{View data in an accessible table format.}

Analysis of gender pay gap data

This year, Ofsted’s mean gender pay gap has remained the same at 3.6% favouring men and our median pay gap has moved closer to 1.1% favouring women. The mean gender pay gap across the Civil Service in 2022 was 8.5% and the median was 11.3%.

Our mean gender pay gap continues to be lower than the wider Civil Service, however there is no change to figures since 2021. The majority of actual pay differences between men and women at different grades is less than £1 per hour. From our analysis, we believe that the difference is due to the bonus gaps, which slightly favoured men. This has had an impact on our wider mean and median gender pay gaps.

Our mean and median bonus gender pay gaps have increased this year, but are still lower than bonus gender pay gaps in previous reporting years (with the exception of 2020–21). Last year’s report notes that this exception was as a result of temporary changes to our in-year reward scheme in light of COVID-19. Although we can see variances in the use of our reward voucher scheme by gender, we can also see that overall award values vary by business area, position and grade. This suggests that it is not gender in isolation that is determining the average value that is received.

Actions to address the gender pay gap – 2022–23

We are committed to taking forward the following actions in 2022–23:

• further engagement with staff networks when developing and reviewing policies to ensure that we are promoting equal opportunity for our entire workforce
• monitor and analyse the use of our in-year reward schemes, reporting this to our Executive Board and taking forward recommendations to reduce the variance of awards and amounts across business areas and grades
• ensure that our recruitment materials appeal to a diverse audience by having diverse visual representation and inclusive language across all recruitment content

 

Annex A: Ofsted’s grading structures

Administrative, professional and technical (APT) grading structure

Senior Civil Service (SCS) grade equivalent	Grade
SCS	SCS

Civil Service grade equivalent	Grade
Grade 6	Principal Officer
Grade 7	Band A
Senior Executive Officer (SEO)	B1
Higher Executive Officer (HEO)	B2
Executive Officer (EO)	B3
Administrative Officer (AO)	C1

Inspector grading structure

Civil Service grade equivalent	Grade
Grade 6	Senior His Majesty’s Inspector (HMI)
Grade 6	Specialist Advisor
Grade 7	HMI
Grade 7	Regulatory Inspection Manager
SEO	B1
HEO	B2

Annex B: data table for the charts

	Pay quartile lower - male	Pay quartile lower – female
2019	36	64
2020	35	65
2021	38	62
2022	37	63

	Pay quartile lower middle - male	Pay quartile lower middle – female
2019	31	69
2020	36	64
2021	32	68
2022	30	70

	Pay quartile upper middle - male	Pay quartile upper middle – female
2019	23	77
2020	19	81
2021	21	79
2022	21	79

	Pay quartile upper - male	Pay quartile upper - female
2019	46	54
2020	44	56
2021	42	58
2022	43	57

See the chart.

1. ‘Full-pay relevant employee’ means a relevant employee who is not, during the relevant pay period, being paid at a reduced rate or nil as a result of the employee being on leave, according to The Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2017. Throughout this report, references to employees or gender profile includes full-pay relevant employees only. The ‘relevant pay period’, in relation to the relevant employee, means (a) the period in respect of which the relevant employer pays the employee basic pay, whether weekly, fortnightly or monthly, or any other period, or (b) if the relevant employer does not pay the employee basic pay, the period in respect of which the employer most frequently pays the employee one of the elements of ordinary pay mentioned in regulation 3(1) (b) to (e) in The Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2017. ↩