NHS: No significant closing of gender pay gap
The gap in pay between male and female NHS workers in Birmingham has not been “significantly” closed.
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A report to the NHS University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust Board said while improvements have been made to address the gender pay gap, there was still a lot more to do.
An action plan has been drawn up for the forthcoming year to aid in reducing the disparities further.
The figures showed three quarters of the overall workforce were female but the picture amongst medical staff where 68 per cent are male.
At a board meeting, it was suggested the reason why men were paid more was that there was a higher proportion of women in lower-paid jobs, but Mehrunnisa Lalani, Non-Executive Director, said the issue was more complex than that.
The report said: “Under the Equality Act 2010, regulations were introduced in 2017 requiring public, private and voluntary sector organisations, with 250 or more employees, to report annually on their gender pay gap.
“This framework compares male and female average hourly rates of pay across the organisation, enabling us to constructively consider why pay gaps exist and how the Trust can address them.
“The reporting period for this year’s report is from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024.
“The 2024 workforce profile for the Trust is broadly static on the previous year at 75.13 per cent female to 24.87 per cent male, but should be noted is significantly different within the medical workforce where it is 32 per cent female to 68 per cent male.
“Women earn 89p for every £1 that men earn when comparing the median hourly pay (1p more than the previous year).
“When comparing the mean hourly pay, women’s pay is 24% lower than men’s,(1.7 per cent improvement on the previous year), and this is a £6.17 mean hourly difference.
“Women earn 33p for every £1 that men earn when comparing median bonus pay – lowered the median bonus pay gap by 20.06 per cent on the previous year to 46.61 per cent when comparing the median bonus pay, associated with medical workforce only and Clinical Excellence Awards
“Overall, there has been an improvement in all gender pay gap indicators, although no significant closing of the gap.
“An action plan has been developed for the year ahead to further reduce the pay gap.”
