National Archives - Gender Pay Gap - 2020
Source: data.gov.uk (2024-10-09)

National Archives - Gender Pay Gap. Gender Pay Gap Details - The National Archives

Gender Pay Gap Report 
 
31 March 2020 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
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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% 

 
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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 

 
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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.