Gender pay gap report 2019 What the findings tell us

The University has analysed the gender pay gap by contract type and grade to provide a more granular overview of the data. These figures are shown in Appendix 1.

The figures identify a mean gender pay gap of 21.9% (as compared to 22.6% reported in March 2018) and median gender pay gap of 16.6% (as compared to 21.0% reported in March 2018). The mean and median average pay gap for men and women is therefore reduced from the previous year.

Due to methodological differences and time discrepancies in calculating the gender pay gap, it is difficult to provide a direct like-for-like calculation against which to benchmark our gender pay gap. Advance HE’s staff statistical report (2019), on the basis of the 2017-2018 year, reported that in UK higher education, the median gender pay gap was 13.7% and the mean gender pay gap was 16.7%. According to the October 2019 Office for National Statistics (ONS) Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) figures, the median gender pay gap for the UK Economy stood at 17.3%.

The pay gaps identified derive, in part, from a disproportionately small number of women in more senior University roles and the disproportionately large number of women in less senior roles.

The majority of staff in the lower pay quartiles are women (57% in the lower and 65% in the lower middle), while only 36% of staff in the upper quartile are women. The upper middle quartile has more equal gender distribution, as was the case in 2018.

There has been no significant movement in the upper quartile figures since 2018, with men still dominating the highest paid quartile (64%). There has been little significant movement in the lower quartiles. Women gained a one percentage point increase in the lower quartile (up from 64% in 2018 to 65% in 2019) and there was no change in the lower middle pay quartile.

The analysis of the gender pay gap by employment grade indicates a widening of the gender pay gap at grade 9 (11.8%). However, there is an important diversion between academic and professional services: the gender pay gap for grade 9 academics was 9.9%, whilst the gender pay gap for grade 9 professional service staff was 22.3%.

We will work over the next year to understand better why these patterns persist.