20.12.17
DH reports 14% gender pay gap – despite two-thirds of staff being women
Figures disclosed by the Department of Health have for the first time officially shown the major disparity between what men and women are paid within government.
Female DH employees are affected by a mean hourly gender pay gap of 14.2%, above the overall average which fell from 13.6% to 12.7%.
Following legislation introduced in April 2017, all organisations which employ 250 people or more have to publish their gender pay gap statistics as of 31 March 2017.
The Department for Transport saw the largest gap, with figures showing a 16.9% difference between pay, while the Department of Digital, Culture, Media & Sport was closest to parity at 3%.
The DH figures cover everything from direct departmental employees to executive agencies, Public Health England (PHE), and the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
One of the reasons there is a big difference between the pay of men and women at the department is that there are a large number of female employees (79.1%) working in the lower pay quartile.
The department is made up of 63.9% women overall, so while there is a higher percentage of women than men working in the lower pay quartile, there is also a higher percentage working in the upper quartile (54.7%) – meaning that average female pay is lower, but there are a larger proportion of women than men working in higher-paying positions.
A DH spokesperson commented: “The Civil Service is leading the way in tackling the gender pay gap- both by being extremely transparent about current pay levels and by making year-on-year improvements in closing the gap.
“We are also out-performing the private sector in this crucial area. We know there is more to do – so we will continue to go even further with new actions such as encouraging more opportunities for flexible working.”
Actions have been set out by the department to remove the gender pay gap, including active efforts to support women returning to work from maternity or adoption leave, a continuation of the review into recruitment policies and processes, and targeted action in the annual pay review.
Top image: jax10289
Have you got a story to tell? Would you like to become an NHE columnist? If so, click here.