Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Gender pay gapGenderEquality, diversity and inclusionPublic sector

Department for Education is first government department to publish gender pay gap

by Jo Faragher 28 Jun 2017
by Jo Faragher 28 Jun 2017 Tolga Akmen/LNP/REX/Shutterstock
Tolga Akmen/LNP/REX/Shutterstock

The Department for Education (DfE) has published its gender pay gap figures, becoming the first government department to do so.

Its mean pay gap – the difference in average salaries for men and women – is 5.3%, and its median pay gap is 5.9%.

Gender pay gap resources

How to measure and report a gender pay gap

Gender pay gap reporting: five questions from HR

Publishing gender pay gap information

This compares favourably to the UK’s national average gender pay gap, which is 18.1%, according to the Office for National Statistics.

The department, which employs 5,430 civil servants, said that more than half of its employees were female and a higher proportion of women than men were in its top pay quartile. However, there were also more women than men in the lowest pay quartile, which contributed to the gap.

Justine Greening, who is both Education Secretary and the Minister for Women and Equalities, said she was proud that her department was setting an example to other employers.

She said: “The UK’s gender pay gap is at a record low, but we are committed to closing it. As one of the UK’s largest employers, the public sector has a vital role to play in leading the way to tackle the gender pay gap, which is why the DfE’s step to publish our gender pay gap matters.

“Through transparency we can find out what the situation is, where there is best practice and create pressure for more progress.”

All public-sector employers must report their gender pay gap by 30 March 2018, and private-sector employers’ deadline is 4 April 2018.

The DfE outlined a number of initiatives it has undertaken to reduce the difference in average pay between men and women, including:

  • better support for women returning to work, such as shared parental leave, job sharing or part-time opportunities;
  • supporting women’s career progress through talent management schemes such as its Positive Action Pathway;
  • networks and upskilling events;
  • monitoring pay more closely; and
  • anonymising the application process to reduce unconscious bias and training interviewers to recognise and address unconscious bias.

In terms of bonuses, the DfE reported a very slight mean bonus pay gap of 0.8%, while there was no median bonus pay gap whatsoever.

So far, 19 employers have uploaded their gender pay gap reports to the Government’s portal.

They include financial services company Virgin Money, which reported a mean gender pay gap of 32.5%, and consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, where the mean gender pay gap was 33.1%.

Jo Faragher
Jo Faragher

Jo Faragher has been an employment and business journalist for 20 years. She regularly contributes to Personnel Today and writes features for a number of national business and membership magazines. She won the Willis Towers Watson HR journalist of the year award in 2015 and has been highly commended twice.

previous post
Gap between men and women’s retirement income grows
next post
Pay awards lose pace with inflation

Leave a Comment Cancel Reply

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

You may also like

Transport sector recruitment ‘should be overhauled to improve...

12 Aug 2022

Liz Truss comments on Civil Service dismissed as...

12 Aug 2022

Skills passport and new qualifications for care workers...

11 Aug 2022

Personnel Today Awards 2022 shortlist: Health and Wellbeing...

10 Aug 2022

Train conductor unfairly dismissed after ‘black privilege’ comment

10 Aug 2022

Nurses set to vote on strike over pay

9 Aug 2022

Liz Truss: Diversity jobs cull but U-turn on...

2 Aug 2022

Writing a workplace menopause policy: a guide for...

2 Aug 2022

Civil Service mean gender pay gap narrows to...

1 Aug 2022

How to create an inclusive workplace for religion

29 Jul 2022
  • 6 reasons why work-based learning is better than traditional training PROMOTED | A recent Fortune/Deloitte survey found that 71% of CEOs are anticipating that this year’s biggest business disrupter...Read more
  • Strengthening Scotland’s public services through virtual recruiting PROMOTED | This website is Scotland's go-to place for job seekers looking to apply for roles in public services...Read more
  • What’s next for L&D? Enter Alchemist… PROMOTED | It’s time to turn off the tedious and get ready for interactive and immersive learning experiences...Read more
  • Simple mistakes are blighting the onboarding experience PROMOTED | The onboarding of new hires is a company’s best chance...Read more
  • Preventing Burnout: How can HR help key workers get the right help? PROMOTED | Workplace wellbeing may seem a distant memory...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2022

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2022 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+