## Gender Pay Gap Report Introduction

In 2017, the Government introduced world-leading legislation that made it statutory for organisations with 250 or more employees to report annually on their gender pay gap. Government departments are covered by the Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties and Public Authorities) Regulations 2017 that came into force on 31 March 2017. These regulations underpin the Public Sector Equality Duty and require relevant organisations to publish their gender pay gap by 30 March annually. This includes the mean and median gender pay gaps; the mean and median gender bonus gaps; the proportion of men and women who received bonuses; and the proportions of male and female employees in each pay quartile. The gender pay gap shows the difference in the average pay between all men and women in a workforce. If a workforce has a particularly high gender pay gap, this can indicate there may be a number of issues to deal with, and the individual calculations may help to identify what those issues are. The gender pay gap is different to equal pay. Equal pay deals with the pay differences between men and women who carry out the same jobs, similar jobs or work of equal value. It is unlawful to pay people unequally because they are a man or a woman. 

## Difference In Hourly Rate

Women's mean hourly rate is 4.1% lower than men's Women's median hourly rate is 7.4% lower than men's 

## Proportion Of Women In Each Pay Quartile

Upper (Highest Paid) 
48.1% women 
51.9% men 
Upper Middle 
55.0% women 
45% men 
Lower Middle 
62.3% women 
37.7% men 
Lower (Lowest Paid) 
48.8% women 
51.2% men 
50% 

## Who Received Bonus Pay

18.6% of women 17.9% of men 

## Difference In Bonus Pay

Women's mean bonus pay is 13.5% lower than men's Women's median bonus pay is 0% lower than men's 

## What Our Data Shows

The mean and median differences in hourly rate suggest that we have a small gender pay gap in favour of men.  This is an increase of 1.92% in the mean from last year and 4% in the median. Women continue to make up the largest percentage of the middle quartiles.  There are slightly more men in the upper and lower quartiles, however the balance has improved from last year. 

The mean bonus pay for men is higher than for women because a bonus was paid to a member of the Senior Civil Service.  If this bonus were not paid, the mean difference in bonus pay would be 0%. 

## Action We Are Taking

While we are confident that we have no structural issues that would cause systematic, unjustifiable disparities in pay between men and women, we are alive to the fact that the gap has been increasing slightly each year.  We have taken steps to address pay issues across The National Archives in financial year 2020/21 with one of the aims being to reduce the likelihood of gender pay disparities from occurring. 

Otherwise the main factors we believe influence our relatively low gender pay gap are the availability of flexible working patterns, in particular those that do not have an impact on pay such as compressed hours and the ability to occasionally work from home.  These are particularly beneficial for those returning from maternity leave or with caring responsibilities.  We've also been looking at ways to further increase our flexible working options and have learned a great deal with many of our employees working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic.  In addition, we operate 'anonymised recruitment' at the application stage and offer all roles with the option of flexible working to ensure an inclusive recruitment experience. We hold moderation meetings to guard against discrimination or favouritism and to help ensure all performance markings are fair and consistent.  We are continuing to develop our diversity and inclusion training and awareness weeks, including specific training on unconscious bias and inclusive leadership, and offer wellbeing initiatives throughout the year.  Our Employee Assistance Programme, which is well used by our employees, gives advice and support on a range of issues and provides a professional counselling service.