Gender Pay Gap Reporting 2023

The Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties and Public Authorities) Regulations 2017 set out the requirement for all public sector bodies with over 250 employees to publish and report specific figures about their gender pay gap. Similar legislation was also set out for private sector employers to provide information relating to their own gender pay gaps.  The gender pay gap is the difference between the average earnings of males and females, expressed relative to male earnings. Organisations will have to repeat this process on an annual basis.

Implications of Regulations

The regulations set out that public sector organisations must publish and report the following information on an annual basis:

• Average gender pay gap as a mean average
• Average gender pay gap as a median average
• Average bonus gender pay gap as a mean average
• Average bonus gender pay gap as a median average
• Proportion of males receiving a bonus payment and proportion of females receiving a bonus payment
• Proportion of males and females when divided into four groups ordered from lowest to highest pay

Results

The calculations below include all police officers and police staff. Calculations have been based upon the March 2021 pay period, which is the date in which the relevant snapshot date fell (30 March 2021) as per the legislation.

Measure 1: Quartile Pay Bands

The proportion of male and female full-pay relevant employees in the Lower, Lower Middle, Upper Middle, and Upper pay bands.

Quarter	Male	Female
Lower Quartile	44.1%	55.9%
Lower Middle Quartile	45%	55%
Upper Middle Quartile	53.3%	46.7%
Upper Quartile	69.3%	30.7%

                                                                                         

Measure 2: Mean gender pay gap

This measure is the difference between the mean (average) hourly rates of pay for male and female full pay relevant employees

Average gender pay gap as a mean average = 10.44%

Mean male hourly pay = £19.35

Mean female hourly pay = £17.33  

Measure 3: Median gender pay gap

This is the difference between the median hourly rate of pay of male and female full-pay relevant employees

Gender pay gap as a median = 19.3%  

Median male hourly pay = £20.62    

Median female hourly pay = £16.65  

Measure 4: Mean bonus gap

This is the difference between the mean bonus paid to male relevant employees and that paid to female relevant employees

Average (mean) bonus paid to male employees = £274  

Average (mean) bonus paid to female employees = £255.40   

Average bonus gender pay gap as a mean average = 6.79%  

Measure 5: Median bonus gap

This is the difference between the median bonus paid to male relevant employees and that paid to female relevant employees

Median bonus paid to male employees = £250  

Median bonus paid to female employees = £150

Average bonus gender pay gap as a median average = 40%

Measure 5: Bonus proportions

The proportions of male and female relevant employees who were paid bonus pay during the relevant period

Proportion of males receiving a bonus payment = 0.61%  

Proportion of females receiving a bonus payment =1.8%

Analysis

Analysis shows that Suffolk Constabulary’s Gender Pay Gap 10.44% is largely owing to the structural make-up of the total workforce:

• within the constabulary, on average, police officers are paid more than police staff employees;
• there are more police officers than police staff employees; and
• as there are significantly more male police officers than female police officers it has the effect of exacerbating the constabulary’s gender pay gap

There has been a positive increase in the number of new female officers, thus skewing the female pay figures towards the lower end due to a higher number joining on the initial (lower) pay point. The constabulary is not able to influence police officer pay as this is set nationally. All police staff roles are job evaluated which according to a scheme made of 13 factors, including the knowledge required to carry out the role, the responsibilities of the role and the demands placed on the post holder.

Whilst the comparison between officers and staff exacerbates the constabulary’s gender pay gap, underlying this there remains a ‘traditional’ gender pay gap, which is reflective of the proportions of officers and staff within each quartile as detailed above, in that:

• the difference between the mean (average) hourly rates of pay for male police officers and female police officers is 2%
• the difference between the mean (average) hourly rates of pay for male police staff and female police staff is 58%
• the difference between the mean (average) hourly rates of pay for male PCSOs and female PCSOs is 93%

The difference between mean and median is because the mean pay data takes greater account of the (relatively) small number of individual high earners that pull the mean pay for females towards the mean pay for males. There has been an increase in the number of female officers compared to previous years, which has also had a positive impact on closing the gender gap.

The legislation also requires the constabulary to report on their Bonus Gender Pay Gap. Bonuses for police officers are paid for unpleasant tasks and police regulations allow between £50 and £500. Police staff bonuses (known as honorariums) are for additional work or responsibilities. Given the number of bonus payments paid is quite small, the figures provided should be used with some caution. The difference between the mean and the median is due to a small number of large honorarium payments made to male members of staff which the median takes less account of.  It is important to note that both the mean and median has gone down since last year’s reporting.

Conclusion

The constabulary continues to work to address the gender pay gap, however it is reassuring that over the past year the gap has narrowed for both officers and staff, showing we are moving in the right direction. Key measures remain in place to continue this work, including the following:

• Unless there are significant business reasons for not doing so, all police staff vacancies are advertised as being available on a job share or part time basis
• The constabulary have renewed their focus on Flexible Working which is supported by senior officers and staff in order to ensure that officers and staff with caring responsibilities are supported and to encourage a good work life balance. Policy has been reviewed, and effective conversations between individuals and line managers are encouraged
• All police staff roles are evaluated under an analytical 13 factor scheme with extensive consistency checking in place
• The constabulary has a staff support group, SAWP dedicated to supporting women within the workplace. This is chaired by senior leaders within the organisation, and continues to raise and identify issues, obstacles and challenges affecting females in policing
• Two new policies (Pay, Allowances and Expenses and Recognition and Reward) have been published to improve consistency and governance