2025 Pay Gaps Report

1. Introduction and Background

Ensuring our staff work in an environment where they feel they belong, can safely raise concerns, ask questions and admit mistakes is essential for staff morale – which, in turn, leads to improved patient care and outcomes.

This can only be done by treating people equitably and without discrimination.

An inclusive culture improves retention, supporting us to grow our workforce, deliver the improvements to services set out in our Long-Term Plan, and reduce the costs of filling staffing gaps.

2. Considerations

Mend the Gap

Mend the Gap describes the actions the NHS should take to address the Gender Pay Gap in medicine, such as promoting flexible working for all. The recommendations in this document tend to be addressed implicitly through the work implemented in improving the overall Gender Pay Gap. Therefore, there has not been a dedicated Mend the Gap Action Plan.

Two local Trusts, i.e., Harrogate and District NHS FT and Humber Teaching NHS FT have also decided not to implement any different actions as they have a year-on-year reduction in their Gender Pay Gap. Our Trust has updated the Flexible Working Policy, which was ratified on 4 July 2024, this will now be communicated within the Trust.

Gender Pay Gap

The Trust’s 2024 Gender Pay Gap data was analysed ahead of the March 2024 deadline and was approved by the Trust’s Board of Directors in 2023. There remained a year-on-year improvement from 2021 and several teams within the Trust are taking the lead with implementing actions to continuously improve the disparities.

Ethnicity Pay Gap

2024 is the first year the Trust will be reporting on its Ethnicity Pay Gap as it is now incorporated into the NHS EDI Improvement Plan.

3. Current Position/Issues

Appendix 1 provides a visual representation of the data.

Gender Pay Gap

Entire Workforce

The data for the entire workforce identifies that the mean and median GPG has reduced since 2024, mean from, 26.96% to 21.91% and median from, 7.40% to 7.28%.

Clinical Excellence Awards

The legislation requires Trusts to report on ‘bonus’ payments. Clinical Excellence Awards for medical staff technically fall into the definition of a bonus payment for the purpose of this report. The bonus mean GPG has reduced since 2024 from 32.5% to 24.9% in 2025, the bonus median is 50%. Bonus pay percentage split between men and women for Consultants is 69.57% and 30.43% respectively.

Ethnicity Pay Gap

Entire Workforce

There is no EPG for the entire workforce, for AfC both ethnic groups are paid equally. For medical and dental, white staff earn more.

Information to note: there is a pay gap for white colleagues for the entire workforce but there is no requirement to report on this as it is not considered to be an EPG. (Mean pay gap -16.90%, median pay gap -13.38% in 2024.)

Consultant Bonuses

There is an EPG for Consultant bonuses (Clinical Excellence Awards). The mean EPG in 2024 is 5.59%. The median EPG in 2024 is 41.96%.

Medical & Dental

There is an EPG for medical and dental colleagues (mean pay gap 6.15% and median 15.03% in 2024).

Considerations:

• There are more white consultants than BME consultants
• White consultant’s average length of service is 8.6 years and Black and Minority Ethnic staff’s is 6.53 years. This will impact on earning potential.
• BME medical and dental staff might lack the confidence, encouragement and support to apply for a Clinical Excellence Award

4. Summary

A graph comparing the median gender pay gap and mean gender pay gap from 2020 to 2024

Recommendations:

We seek to see a year-on-year reduction in pay gaps. We are seeing some improvements but will continue with the following to drive further understanding and reductions.

• The Women’s network, Organisational Development, Workforce Planning and Development, Medical Workforce and Human Resources teams should continue to implement actions to improve the GPG. (For example, GPG Women’s staff network lead and publicise the up dated Flexible Working policy.)
• The Medical Workforce Team should continue to address the Mend the Gap review. (For example , they advertise all jobs as Less Than Full Time, publicise the Flexible Working policy for men and women, review pay setting arrangements and greater attention to the distribution of additional work and extra payments.)
• As there is an EPG for the Trust’s Medical and Dental workforce, it is recommended that the Medical Workforce team, analyse the data to identify the specific details of the disparities.

5. Next Steps

The results of this GPG and EPG analysis will be discussed with the relevant teams to encourage continuous work to address the disparities.

2024 is the first year the Trust is analysing its EPG, therefore 2025 will be the first year that a year-on-year comparison can be made.

The Resources Committee has requested a report on the action plan in February 2025.

Appendix 1:

Gender Pay Gap 2025

Graphics comparing the mean gender pay gap in 2023 and in 2024 and graphics comparing the median gender pay gap in 2023 and in 2024

Ethnicity Pay Gap 2024

Graphics showing the different measurements of the ethnicity pay gap in 2024

5 August 2024