Gender Pay Gap Report for 2023 reporting year

Introduction

The gender pay gap (GPG) is defined as the difference between the average pay of men compared to the average pay of women.  The median pay gap is the difference between the midpoints in the ranges of hourly earnings of male and female employees. The gender pay gap is usually bigger if in practice women do more of the less well-paid jobs than men.

Gender pay is not the same as ‘equal pay’.  The college has a long-standing equal pay framework where rates of pay are set according to the role not the individual undertaking the role.  

Gender Pay Gap figures as at 31^st March 2023

This tells us that women earn 89p for every £1 that men earn when comparing median hourly pay.   

Bonus Pay Gap as at 31^st March 2022

We are also required to report on the pay gap in bonus payment.  Teaching staff do not receive a bonus however support staff are entitled to apply for a performance related bonus (SSSP) of £370 (pro rata for part time staff, (subject to satisfactory appraisals) therefore the figures relate to support staff only.    

Pay Quartiles

This is the proportion of male and female when hourly rates are ranked in order from the highest to the lowest and then split into four groups (quartiles) Lower quartile represents the lowest salaries and the upper quartile represents the highest salaries.  

Background information.

The figures in this report are based on the hourly rates of pay for staff employed at the College as at 31^st March 2023 (the snapshot date) and looks at the hourly rate of so called ‘full pay relevant employees.  These are all employees who were earning their normal rate of pay in the period in which the snap shot date fell.  Anyone on unpaid leave, reduced pay due to maternity/paternity leave etc. are excluded from the data. 

The hourly rate of pay for staff is calculated on gross basic pay, management allowances and additional payments. We are however required to calculate the hourly rate after the deduction of any salary sacrifice payments that apply to individual staff (i.e. childcare vouchers).  Overtime pay is not included.

The College employs staff on two different contracts – teaching terms and conditions and support staff terms and conditions.  We have therefore used two different multipliers to calculate the hourly rate – i.e. 32.45 for teaching staff and 37 for support staff.  (Based on standard hours /weeks work as specified in relevant terms and conditions.

Comments.

Women occupy 59% of highest paid jobs and 71% of the lowest paid.

The mean gender pay gap of 7% is an increase from 2022 when our pay gap was 6.2% (but is still lower than 2021 when the gap was calculated at 9.7%).  The current UK GPG is 14.9% for all employees

This increase is explained by the proportional increase of women in our lower quartile (up to 71% from 67%) and the increase of men in the middle quartile.  It is balanced by the increase of women in the upper middle quartile where we now have 59% female (as opposed to 53% in 2022) (see table below)

The ratio in the lower middle quartile remains stable. We continue to have more women than men employed (34%/66%)in the upper middle quarter but the gap has narrowed slightly from last year when we had 27% male and 73% female. We have seen an increase in female managers in our upper quartile where women now comprise 59% of the group, as opposed to 52% last year (male % has dropped from 48% to 41%)   

The percentage of men paid at a higher rate than women is not in line with the ratio of men/women employed by the college The College workforce is 2/3 female and 1/3.

The College workforce reflects national trends and has what could be considered a traditional balance of male/female workers i.e. more females than men in the lower pay bands and more female part time workers particularly amongst administrative staff.  These roles are traditionally paid at lower rates and impacts greatly on our gender pay gap.  

It is also worth noting that given our relatively small size (320) employees small changes in staffing can have a significant effect on our percentage changes and that unlike the national trend we have a higher proportion of female staff in the upper pay quartiles.

When comparing our GPG with other organisations it is worth noting that a significant proportion of the College workforce in the lower quartile are employed in areas that are traditionally contracted out (cleaning/catering) and which may not be included in comparator institutions.    

Bonus pay gap differences

The mean bonus pay gap is only applicable for support staff and for 2023 this shows that women earn 93p for every £1.00 that men earn.  This is because the support staff workforce is predominantly female.

 Approved by

Ian MacNaughton, Principal