As the gender pay gap reporting deadline passed at 23.59pm on 30 March for the public sector, 1,618 organisations had completed their statements.
At the time of writing, 42 organisations had reported late with a steady flow of reports still being published. They included Birmingham City Council, London Borough of Redbridge and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Organisations reporting on time but close to the deadline included the Crown Prosecution Service.
In 2020-2021, 1,711 public sector organisations reported gender pay gap information, indicating there could be 100 or so public sector bodies still to report this time around.
Public sector organisations, such as government departments, armed forces, local authorities, NHS trusts, universities and state schools with over 250 employees.
2021/22 gender pay gap deadline
Half yet to publish as gender pay gap deadline looms
Which employers are covered by the gender pay gap reporting duty?
The data being provided is from each organisation’s snapshot date in 2021 and must include:
- Their mean gender pay gap
- Their median gender pay gap
- Their mean bonus gender pay gap
- Their median bonus gender pay gap
- The proportion of men who receive a bonus payment
- The proportion of women who receive a bonus payment
- The proportion of men and women in each quartile pay band
Last year the public sector pay gap was at 15.5% versus 9% in the private sector. But overall the gap is narrowing slightly year on year. In 2017-18, the first year of compulsory gender pay gap reporting, women working in the public sector earned 86p for every £1 their male counterparts did but that fell to 84p last year.
A PWC analysis of the gap showed that in 2021 the mean pay gap across the private and public sectors had fallen to 12.5% from 14.3% in the first year of reporting.
However, with many public sector staff being paid according to agreed payscales, the fact that nearly 90% of public sector organisations reported a median pay gap in favour of men surprised wage experts.
Among the 50 organisations with the widest pay gaps in 2020-21, 18 were were multi-academy trusts, which run academy schools. Learning for Life Partnership, which operates five primary schools in Cheshire East, reported a median pay gap of 77.2%, with women earning on average 23p for every £1 their male colleagues. The pay gap at the organisation has now worsened with women earning 17p for every £1 that men earn when comparing median hourly pay. Its median hourly pay is 82.6% lower than men’s.
Large pay disparities were also seen within the NHS in 2020-21 and a first glance at 2021-22 figures showed little change with many of the biggest foundation trusts showing little movement in either direction. At Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, for example, women earn 90p for every £1 that men earn when comparing median hourly pay. Their median hourly pay is 10.1% lower than men’s. Women occupied 61.4% of the highest paid jobs and 29.7% of the lowest paid jobs. The trust’s figures for 2020-21 were identical.
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