Pay gap report 2022
The University’s commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion is a central thread in the new University Strategy which will steer us through the next decade.
Our commitment to addressing gender and ethnicity pay gaps is at the heart of our values and purpose. Never has this commitment been more important than now.
Despite that commitment and our good intentions, this year’s report does not tell the story we want. The pace of change remains slow and the gender median pay gap has increased, not decreased.
But this makes us all the more determined to ensure the trajectory over the coming year changes, that we make bold, focused interventions aimed at systematic change that tackles inequalities.
The findings of our report make sober reading and provide critical insights to help us better understand the root causes so that future interventions are appropriately designed. The data shows that our casual workforce is predominantly drawn from our student community and that this substantially affects our pay gap. We need to get to the core of why female students are more likely to seek casual work along with the other factors that are contributing to this gap.
The shift towards more females moving into our top professorial and senior management grades is encouraging, as is the better gender balance within our academic promotions processes. But we acknowledge there is more work to be done here too and are eager to accelerate our ambitions in this area.
Our ethnicity pay gaps are shifting but not enough; although the mean pay gap has reduced since last year, the median hourly rate pay gap has increased.
So what are we going to do about it? We have formed a Joint Pay Gap Working Group with our campus trade unions to provide focus on the good practice we already have, and momentum to achieve more balanced representation across lower and higher grades. Read the final pages of the report to find out more and how you can contribute to shape and close the gaps.
The executive board, our campus trade unions, students and staff remain determined to reduce inequalities with pace and impact. Our collective message is clear, we are committed to closing the pay gaps, not through incremental change or good intentions, but through innovations that bring new kinds of impact, that make a measurable difference and reduce the gap more quickly.
Professor Charlie Jeffery,
Vice-Chancellor and President
Professor Kiran Trehan,
Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Partnerships and Engagement and Chair of the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee
The 2023/24 pay negotiations with trade unions includes a commitment to address gender, ethnicity, and disability pay gaps, and we welcome this approach at the University. We have set up a joint working group with campus trade unions and a diverse group of staff to drive reduction in pay gaps and expect the impact to be reflected in our 2023 pay gap report.
The Athena Swan charter recognises work undertaken to address gender equality.
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