Ministry for the Environment gender pay gap action plan 2020/21

We acknowledge:

• gender bias and discrimination can occur at any point throughout the employment cycle.

• the working environment for our people should be free of gender-based inequalities and discrimination enabling all to achieve to their full potential.

• undertaking of relevant and appropriate training relating gender stereotyping and conscious/unconscious bias may be necessary.

• flexible working arrangements should be the default position unless there is good business reason why this cannot be accommodated.

• we should collect, analyse and share data associated with gender inequalities and closing gender pay gaps.

• The gender pay gap at MfE is 7.1% as at 30 April 2020, down from 19.7% in 2014/2015. This is lower than the public sector average of 10.5%.

The gender pay gap (GPG) is measured by calculating the difference between the average salary for males and females.

The GPG figure includes permanent, fixed term and seconded staff and continues to be volatile due to the small number of employees.  Our GPG has remained below the Public Service Average for the past four financial years.

Our GPG is largely driven by our occupational segregation within the Ministry, so while our gender split is 63% female, 36% male, 1% gender diverse, our females hold a greater number of lower paid roles. 

We encourage internal opportunities with a number of our people in acting roles.  This impages on our GPG as Higher Duty Allowances aren't included when calculating GPG.

We have been working to decrease the gender pay gap and taken the following actions from 1 July 2019:

• Improvements in the recruitment space include the use of gender-neutral language and ensuring all jobs are advertised as flexible by default.
• Transition to a new remuneration system to make restorative corrections where gender pay gaps were identified.
• New growth and development framework implanted aimed at fostering career development conversations between staff and their managers.
• As a member of the public sector flexible-by-default pilot, we are committed to ensuring flexible arrangements are normalised at the Ministry. This is modelled by leadership, a high degree of trust exercised by staff, and uplifting our employment agreements’ clauses around flexible work to the point where we feel we lead the public service.

Our gender pay gap action plan sets out the actions we will take in the year ahead.   

Our target is to demonstrate we are committed to closing the gender gap amongst our people through our actions. To achieve this we must understand and address: equal pay, flexible work by default, our people practices and gender-balanced leadership.

Equal Pay

We will continue to identify, address and remediate instances where inequality in pay is affecting our people.

• Our GPG is decreasing year-on-year.
• Specific areas are targeted and annually reviewed.

Our actions for 2020/21:

• Create increased awareness of our remuneration and GPG data across our leadership roles at the Ministry.
• Continue to regularly analyse and remediate outlier areas, where possible.
• Continue to review and ensure our remuneration systems support and enable our targets.
• Support our leaders to make smart, bias-free attraction, recruitment, development and retention decisions.

Flexible work by default

We will continue to ensure flexible options are equally available to all our people. 

• Part of the public sector flexible working pilot.
• We have practices already in place.
• Being flexible by default makes us great to work at and is part of our employer brand.

Our actions for 2020/21:

• Mobilise a regional workforce.
• Continue to lead the way for innovative practices.
• Align our accommodation move to the way we want to be at work.
• Encourage and support leaders to enable our people to work flexibly.

Our people practices

We will continue to identify areas for improvement within our current practices. 

• Our people practices are free from bias and discrimination.
• Our gender pay principles are captured in our collective.

Our actions for 2020/21

• Define, design and implement inclusive leadership practices.
• Continue our organisation roll out of bias training and embed practices.
• Regular analysis and deep dive of people data.

Gendered-balanced leadership

We will continue to monitor balance across all leadership levels. 

• 62% of our leadership roles are female.

Our actions for 2020/21

• Increase focus on diversity and inclusion analysis.
• Champion female role models.
• Keep actively promoting our women’s network.

Download our Gender pay gap action plan [PDF, 311 KB]