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In June 2023 the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Plan set out six targeted actions to address direct and indirect prejudice and discrimination, that exists through behaviour, policies, practices and cultures against certain groups and individuals across the NHS workforce. High Impact action 3 requires us to develop and implement an improvement plan to eliminate pay gaps.
We are required to analyse data to understand pay gaps by protected characteristic and put in place an improvement plan. This will be tracked and monitored by NHS boards. Plans were in place for sex and race by 2024, disability by 2025 and other protected characteristics by 2026.
A pay gap is the difference between the average hourly pay of employees in one group in comparison to another group. For example, women in comparison to men or LGBTQ+ in comparison to heterosexual.
This is different to equal pay. Equal pay is a person being paid the same for the same role and it is unlawful to pay someone differently for doing the same job based on a protected characteristic.
The Trust is committed to understanding any differences identified in the disability pay report and will undertake further analysis to gain a better understanding as to the reason for the differences and to take action where appropriate.
This is our first disability pay gap report. We have analysed information using the categories: Declared a Disability, Not Declared (which includes not known) and Declared no Disability.
In the absence of specific guidance under this new reporting requirement, we have applied the calculations and analysis methods used in Gender Pay Gap reporting.
The disability profile of the Trust 2024
- Declared a disability: 10.3%
- Not Stated: 13.2%
- Declared no disability: 76.5%
Please note these figures exclude bank workers. The remainder of the report includes data pertaining to substantive staff plus any bank workers who worked on 31 March 2024. This is in accordance with the Gender Pay Gap reporting requirements.
In line with gender pay gap reporting we are required to report annually on the following:
- Mean gender pay gap
- Median gender pay gap
- Mean bonus gender gap *
- Median bonus gender gap *
- The proportion of males receiving a bonus payment *
- The proportion of females receiving a bonus payment *
- Proportions of males and females in each quartile of pay band
*Under the regulation payments that would fall under the remit of bonus would include Clinical Excellence Awards for consultants and Long Service Awards.
Mean and Median Disability Pay Gap
The mean disability pay gap and median disability pay gap for all employees is detailed below. Gross pay calculations are used for these purposes.
In line with guidance, only staff on full pay are included in the calculations therefore staff on reduced pay for sickness, maternity or other reasons are excluded. Overtime payments are also excluded from these calculations.
2024 mean hourly pay
Overall
- Declared no disability: £18.87
- Declared a disability: £18.23
- Difference: £0.64
- Gap: 3.41%
Non-medical and exec
- Declared no disability: £17.82
- Declared a disability: £17.78
- Difference: £0.64
- Gap: 3.41%
Medical only
- Declared no disability: £45.19
- Declared a disability: £43.05
- Difference: £2.15
- Gap: 4.75%
The mean disability pay gap shows that staff who declared they had a disability are paid £0.64 per hour less than staff that declared no disability.
2024 median hourly pay
Overall
- Declared no disability: £17.73
- Declared a disability: £17.73
- Difference: £0.00
- Gap: 0.00%
Non-medical and exec
- Declared no disability: £17.73
- Declared a disability: £17.73
- Difference: £0.00
- Gap: 0.00%
Medical only
- Declared no disability: £52.11
- Declared a disability: £47.85
- Difference: £4.26
- Gap: 8.17%
The median disability pay gap shows that there is no pay gap identified.
When medical staff are removed from the calculations, the mean disability pay gap decreases which is common amongst NHS Trusts.
There are number of possible contributory factors which can influence the disability pay gap differences. The Trust operates a number of salary sacrifice schemes which affords staff the opportunity to purchase vouchers towards childcare costs, purchase a cycle, electrical goods or a lease car.
The costs associated with salary sacrifice schemes are deducted prior to calculating gross pay. This will have an impact on the gross pay calculations undertaken to determine the mean and median disability pay gap and will be one of a number of contributory factors which may be causing the differences being reported.
It is important to note that some staff have more than one salary sacrifice in place (some have up to 5) and that amounts of deductions can vary considerably. The table below details the percentage of staff with salary sacrifices and their disability status.
2024
| Row Labels | Percentage of Employees |
|---|---|
| Declared a disability | 10.5% |
| Declared no disability | 81.2% |
| Not stated | 8.3% |
| Grand Total | 100% |
The schemes which are most popular are electronics and lease cars, the latter of which has the largest cost associated.
Bonus Payments
Under the regulations, payments that would fall under the remit of bonus would include Clinical Excellence Awards for consultants and Long Service Awards.
Clinical Excellence Awards (CEA)
Under the national Medical & Dental terms and conditions consultants are eligible to apply for Clinical Excellence Awards (CEA). These awards recognise individuals who demonstrate achievements in developing and delivering high quality patient care over and above the standard expected of their role and are part of a commitment to the continuous improvement of the NHS.
At the time of reporting the Trust was operating a local clinical excellence award scheme based on the national terms and conditions. For the 2024 award year it was agreed locally that due to industrial action that the Trust would follow the same process as that which took place in the preceding years linked with the pandemic. This meant that the Trust could again stand down the usual formal process of application and review for CEA’s. Instead, the money could be divided equally between all eligible individuals, and they received a non-consolidated and non-pensionable payment for the year. Therefore, everyone received the same amount of award for 2024.
There are also however several individuals receiving historic awards from 2017 which are recurrently paid each year. Once an award had been made the consultant continues to receive that level of award going forward. A further submission may be made the following year and as a consequence progression through the varying payment levels occurred.
As part of the new terms and conditions following agreement to the pay settlement, from 1st April 2024 the contractual entitlement to access annual CEA awards stopped. Therefore, there will be no new award rounds. Any doctor who has a pre-2018 CEA will be retained and remain pensionable and consolidated. The value of these awards will be frozen, and the review process has been removed. These changes will impact on future pay gap reports.
Based on current guidance the table below shows the mean and median bonus pay linked to clinical excellence awards only. The data below excludes staff who have not declared whether they had a disability or otherwise.
| Disability | Mean Bonus Pay | Median Bonus Pay |
|---|---|---|
| Declared a disability | £3,671.53 | £2,666.20 |
| Declared no disability | £5,796.88 | £2,666.20 |
| Difference | £2,125.35 | £0.0 |
| Pay Gap % | 36.66% | 0.0% |
All of the Trust eligible 114 Consultants received a Clinical Excellence Award in the reporting year. 74.6% had declared that they did not have a disability, 2.6% of consultants had declared that they had a disability and 22.8% had not stated / unknown disability status.
The data suggests that consultants who have declared a disability are paid less CEA amounts compared with those consultants who have not declared a disability. However, due to the small number of staff declaring that they have a disability and the relatively high percentage of consultants not declaring their disability status, this conclusion should be read with caution.
Long Service Awards
The Trust operates a locally agreed long service award scheme to recognise the service of staff who have 25 years NHS service. The award is a £100 gift voucher. In the reporting period a total of 167 staff received an award. Of which 100 had declared that they did not have a disability (59.9%), 23 staff had declared that they had a disability (13.8%) and 44 had not stated their disability status (26.3%).
Under the Regulation we are required to include payments which relate to profit sharing, productivity, performance, incentive or commission should be included in the bonus calculations. It could be argued long service awards do not provide the incentive usually associated with the criteria outlined above. Guidance from ACAS states that such payments with a monetary value should be included in the bonus calculations.
Total Bonus Payments
The table below provides combined details of the clinical excellence awards and long service awards. It should be noted that the numbers of staff involved in these calculations and declaring that they have a disability is very low. Overall, as a proportion of the workforce, the numbers of staff receiving bonus’s as per these guidelines is very small. These payments are also not pro-rated.
| Disability | Mean Bonus Pay | Median Bonus Pay |
|---|---|---|
| Declared a disability | £409.55 | £100.00 |
| Declared no disability | £2,717.76 | £100.00 |
| Difference | £2,308.21 | 0.0 |
| Pay Gap % | 84.9% | 0.0% |
Overall percentage of receiving bonus payments
The guidance requires us to calculate the percentage of staff, by their disability status, as a percentage of all employed staff (not just those on full pay which other aspects of the reporting require us to do).
0.32% of staff who have declared themselves as having a disability received a bonus in 2024.
2.24% of staff who declared that they did not have a disability received a bonus in 2024.
It is likely that the number of staff who have not declared their disability status and received bonus payments this year impacts on the above percentage rates.
It is important to recognise when combining the bonus awards in this way the data is skewed as more staff receive long service awards than clinical excellence awards and long service awards are significantly lower monetary amounts. These payments are also not prorated.
Disability Pay Quartile Profile
The following graph shows the proportion of disabled staff and non disabled staff in each pay quartile. The lower quartile represents the lowest salaries in the Trust and the upper quartile represents the highest salaries. The Trust employs more staff that declare no disability than staff who declare a disability in every quartile.
2024
Disability Breakdown by Pay Band
The graph below provides the Trusts disability profile breakdown by pay band as of March 2024 when reporting commenced.
2024
Key Findings:
- This is the first disability pay gap report that the Trust has produced and will be used as baseline for annual reporting.
- The number of staff who have declared themselves as having a disability is likely to be under reported, therefore the data analysis is likely to be impacted by this.
- 23% of consultants had not declared their disability status. This will have impacted on the bonus section of the report.
- The mean shows that staff declaring they don’t have a disability are paid £0.64 more that staff who declare having a disability but zero when looking at the median.
Proposed Areas for Further Action Specific to the Disability Pay Gap Report:
- Encourage staff, particularly medical staff, to declare on ESR their disability status.
- Review 2025 disability pay gap report to compare / identify any trends or changes.
Current Trust actions that impact on all Pay Gaps:
- Continue to pilot the virtual interview platform (SAMMI), which aims to reduce the bias in the recruitment process.
- Develop new managers training which will include unconscious bias.
- Carry out third mid-career programme.
- Continue with reasonable adjustments pilot to enable staff with underlying health conditions to fulfil their potential.
- Promote the Steps Towards Employment Programme (STEP) to people from communities who don’t usually work for the NHS and carry community engagement events across these communities.
