Gender Pay Gap Reporting
2021 Gender Pay Gap
St Christopher’s CofE (Primary) Multi Academy Trust (the Trust) is committed to the principle of equal opportunities and equal treatment for all employees. Employers with more than 250 employees must publish and report specific figures about their gender pay gap. The reportable information is prepared by the Trust’s payroll providers, HROne.
Below are the outcomes of our gender pay gap analysis and the report that is required to be published on the Trust website.
Trust Gender Pay Gap Data for 2021 Reporting Period
This report is based on data as at 31st March 2021. At that time St Christopher’s CofE (Primary) Multi Academy Trust employed 650 staff across 18 academies and a central team who are responsible for educating approximately 3500 pupils.
Reportable information for 2021:
Mean Hourly rate pay gap | 17.7% | Median hourly rate pay gap | 40.76% |
2021 data for gender pay gap reporting across the trust shows a further 2% reduction since last year. This is 5 years of a continued downward trend.
In comparison to 2020:
Mean Hourly rate pay gap | 20.2% | Median hourly rate pay gap | 47.43% |
An article by the BBC reported that the education sector has a 26% gender pay gap, which is the highest gap in any sector this year and is an increasing figure rather than reducing. A report by The Guardian in 2019 reported that MAT’s were the main contributor to the gap, indicating that this can be caused by higher central SLT staff and their gap to lower paid support staff. The Trust adheres to the Teacher Leadership Pay Scale, Teacher Main Pay Scale and NJC Support Staff Scale Points for all school positions. There are quite considerable challenges in the way the sector’s pay and conditions are negotiated nationally that impact our sector.
The Trust has a female CEO, with 64% of Headteachers being female. The Trust also has a higher proportion of female workers in each quartile. Whilst only 12% of the workforce are male, 42% of these hold positions in the upper quartile which therefore distorts the overall gender pay gap. Proportionally more men are in teaching and leadership roles across the Trust than in the lower paid support staff roles, when compared to the distribution of women employees.
UPPER QUARTILE
Gender | Quartile % | Average Pay | Mean Gap |
Female | 82.9% | 25.15 | 6% |
Male | 17.1% | 26.68 |
UPPER MIDDLE QUARTILE
Gender | Quartile % | Average Pay | Mean Gap |
Female | 86.3% | 14.93 | 6% |
Male | 13.7% | 15.81 |
LOWER MIDDLE QUARTILE
Gender | Quartile % | Average Pay | Mean Gap |
Female | 93.6% | 10.00 | -1% |
Male | 6.4% | 9.92 |
LOWER QUARTILE
Gender | Quartile % | Average Pay | Mean Gap |
Female | 90.6% | 9.24 | 1% |
Male | 9.4% | 9.32 |
If we compare like roles within the trust, and look at senior positions from deputy head teacher upwards, we see that the gap reduces significantly:
Senior leadership mean hourly rate pay gap | 3% | Senior leadership median hourly rate pay gap | 3% |
If we break this down further and only include headteacher and deputy headteacher positions, we see that gap moves in favour of female workers:
Deputy and Headteacher mean hourly rate pay gap | -3% | Deputy and Headteacher median hourly rate pay gap | 0% |
In considering the Trust data on gender and pay rates, the Trust noted that the Education Policy Institute reported recently that teaching is a female dominated occupation across the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. The data they publish shows that the school workforce is becoming even more female dominated with the proportion of men in primary schools having declined to just 14.1%, which is in line with our Trust proportions.
They suggest that this decline is likely to be caused by previous public sector pay freezes as evidence from the UK shows that men’s decision to go into teaching tends to be more responsive to wages than women.
This year we also know that the Teacher pay freeze may impact on future attraction of new Teachers to the profession. The Trust recognises that in education, more females apply to the sector due to attractive working patterns and caring for family. The Trust seeks to maximise opportunities for all employees, regardless of gender, through its recruitment processes and inclusive flexible working policy. It is noted that when we compare like for like roles that the gap diminishes despite the disproportionate male to female ratio. In our position as a multi academy trust, it is acknowledged that under TUPE processes the Trust has no control over existing staffing when schools join the Trust.
The Trust therefore acknowledges that an action plan should be put in place to support monitoring of data, particularly in relation to career progression and development, supporting leaders to recognise unconscious bias and how to overcome this in recruitment and selection processes.