Background
1. In addition to the statutory requirement for gender pay gap reporting, we introduced ethnicity and disability pay gap reporting in 2020. The following information is based on the hourly pay of employees on the snapshot dates of 31 March 2024. Advance HE figures are based on the contract salary for members of staff at institutions on 31 July in the reporting period, or the end date of the contract if earlier.
2. Whilst pay gaps are concerning and unacceptable, they are a sector wide concern (AdvanceHE EDI report, 2024) BNU’s pay gap data below, shows that we are making steady progress towards reducing pays gaps.
Pay Gaps
Gender Pay Gap 2024
3. The Gender Pay Gap shows the difference between the mean and median hourly rate of pay for male and female colleagues. This year our median pay gap has decreased significantly. This is because in 2024 there has been an increase in female members of staff in the upper pay quartiles. We have seen an increase of 2.2% female employees in the upper quartiles and 1.6% increase in the upper median quartiles. To give further context, we have 80 additional female employees above the current median, either recruited or seen current female employees become full time relevant employees since last year. During the last pay gap period, the proportion of female staff was 59.6%, which is consistent with the proportion of last year’s cohort.
Ethnicity Pay Gap 2024
4. The Ethnicity Pay Gap shows the difference between the mean and median hourly rate of pay for known Global Majority (GM) and known non-GM colleagues. Our mean ethnicity pay gap has decreased by 2.3% to 6.5% in 2024. Our GM staff made up 27.6% of this employee snapshot.
The median however, has increased to 2.2% from 0% because of an increase in recruitment and it has resulted in a shift in median pay for GM staff compared to White staff.
Disability Pay Gap 2024
5. The Disability Pay Gap shows the difference between the mean and median hourly rate of pay for disabled colleagues and colleagues with no known disability. Our mean disability pay gap has once again decreased since 2023 to 3.8%; this is because there continues to be a larger proportion of staff with a disclosed disability in the top pay quartile, compared to 2022 and 2023. Within this period of reporting, disabled staff made up 13.5% of our workforce.
How have we made progress?
6. Below are the interventions and approaches BNU has taken to reduce pay gaps and amplify representation across the organisation in 2024:
a. Academic Promotion Cycle and Pathways: In 2024, the Vice Chancellor (VC) and HR Director (HRD) updated BNU academic career pathways. There are now 3 routes academics can take and work towards to seek promotion. We continue to consult with our inclusivity networks to develop and improve the promotion process, so that it reflects an evolving diverse workforce. As a result of staff feedback, this year we have held informal webinars with the Vice Chancellor and a range of our professors to candidly answer questions from staff about the pathways. We have taken steps to introduce more opportunities for staff to meet with UET members with specific questions they may have about the process and their application. The VC and HRD also host a workshop to support staff with their applications too. The Working-Class Leaders network, hosted by the VC, provides staff with the opportunity to learn from seasoned HE professionals about their career journeys and ask questions to support career development. Some feedback from PSE staff has been to ensure PSE promotion pathways reflect steps taken to develop the academic career pathways.
b. Inclusive Recruitment Strategy: the professorial recruitment drive in January 2024 along with the renewed approach to academic promotion panels have had a positive impact on equal pay gaps as we can see above. We will continue to develop our Inclusive Recruitment strategy and training to look at sustainable recruitment and retention, going beyond onboarding, to ensure BNU is equipped to support a diverse workforce.
What’s next?
7. This year, as well as sustaining the approaches listed above, we are also making the following changes to continue our progress towards equity across the workforce:
c. PDRs: the PDR process has been updated to allow greater flexibility for ongoing career and development conversations. Line managers can attend training sessions so that they are equipped to have the most effective and impactful conversations with their teams to support progression and development at BNU.
d. Flexibility in the Workplace: we will continue to address the wider issue of how we create and sustain flexible and dynamic senior roles; BNU workforce surveys in the last few years have revealed that flexible and dynamic working is particularly attractive and an incentive for women in the workplace.
e. We will investigate and explore the impact of continuous service, career breaks, maternity/carer leave may have on the pay gaps and solutions to address this. We will also undertake further intersectional analysis of the data we collect from our new starter questionnaires and exit surveys to consider any significant patterns or trends on a quarterly basis in 2025. We will also look at median pay gaps on a quarterly basis to consider the impact of our inclusive recruitment strategy for staff in mid to lower pay grade roles and routes to progression and equitable remuneration in the workforce.
123 2023