A gender pay gap is a difference between the average (mean) pay of all male and female workers across all jobs in the organisation. A gender pay gap does not mean that men and women are paid different rates for the same work (which is illegal). It means that, on average, there may be more women in lower-paid jobs and more men in higher-paid jobs.
The University supports the principle of equal pay for work of equal value. We were one of the first universities to introduce an Equal Pay Policy (staff login required) and we publish annual Equality, Diversity and Social Responsibility reports (staff login required) which describe the wide range of activities and initiatives that the University is involved with every year to celebrate and promote diversity.
We have conducted annual Equal Pay Audits since 2003. These audits complement our aims of fairly rewarding staff, increasing efficiency and enhancing our reputation.
In 2017, the Government introduced a new duty for organisations to report their Gender Pay Gap. They use a standard approach which is slightly different from the one we have used previously (a wider pool of staff that includes casual workers and fee and expenses claimants, and different pay elements). This means that our Gender Pay Gap has been calculated differently since 2017, but remains comparable to our data from previous years.
- View Government guidance and definitions or visit the Government's website for Gender Pay Gap Data
- View our most recent Equality, Diversity and Social Responsibility annual reports (staff login required)
- Visit the Government's website for Gender Pay Gap data
Gender Pay Gap data
The following data relates to a March 2021 snapshot for publication in 2022.
Women are well-represented at all levels including our most senior academic, professional and leadership roles, and this is reflected in our Mean Gender Pay Gap of 8.2%, which remains much better than the pay gap in the UK workforce and has improved since the 2020 data. Our Median Gender Pay Gap of 11.2% has improved significantly in the last three years and is now below the benchmark.
Chart 1. Gender Pay Gap trends
Bar chart 1 shows the mean gender pay gap percentages between 2003 and 2021, and median pay gaps between 2017 and 2021. Lines show the UK benchmark. In the latest year the University is significantly better than both the mean and median benchmark. The chart shows that the gender pay gap at the University of Sunderland has continued to decrease in 2021.
Table 1. Gender Pay Gap trends
|
Year |
Mean Gender Pay Gap (Sunderland) |
Median Gender Pay Gap (Sunderland) |
Mean UK Workforce (ONS*) |
Median UK Workforce (ONS*) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
2003 |
30.9% |
|
24.2% |
25.1% |
|
2004 |
29.4% |
|
22.5% |
24.7% |
|
2005 |
26.2% |
|
21.4% |
22.6% |
|
2006 |
24.9% |
|
21.4% |
22.2% |
|
2007 |
23.6% |
|
20.7% |
21.9% |
|
2008 |
24.2% |
|
21.3% |
22.5% |
|
2009 |
22.9% |
|
20.1% |
22.0% |
|
2010 |
22.3% |
|
19.3% |
19.8% |
|
2011 |
21.6% |
|
19.6% |
20.2% |
|
2012 |
20.7% |
|
18.6% |
19.6% |
|
2013 |
16.5% |
|
19.1% |
19.8% |
|
2014 |
14.8% |
|
17.7% |
19.2% |
|
2015 |
13.0% |
|
17.7% |
19.3% |
|
2016 |
Not reported |
|
17.5% |
18.2% |
|
2017 |
12.0% |
20.9% |
17.2% |
18.4% |
|
2018 |
14.6% |
15.4% |
17.1% |
17.9% |
|
2019 |
15.5% |
21.2% |
16.2% |
17.3% |
|
2020 |
8.6% |
18.5% |
14.6% |
15.5% |
|
2021 |
8.2% |
11.2% |
14.9% |
15.4% |
* Office of National Statistics: Latest revised Annual survey of hours and earnings (ASHE) gender pay gap tables. Prior years have been updated where Government figures have been adjusted.
Benchmarked against the latest national data available for the sector (data for 2018/19) our mean pay gap compares favourably with all benchmark groups. Our median pay gap has improved significantly.
Chart 2. Distribution of male and female staff by hourly rate
Chart 2 is a histogram showing hourly rate of pay vs number of staff for men and women. Both men and women’s plots are a similar shape, with a gradual increase in rate of pay along the line of lower paid staff, and a sharp increase in the rate of pay for the highest paid staff. However the plot for women is longer and rises more slowly, so that the median women has a lower rate of pay than the median man.
Our Median Gender Pay Gap of 11.2% partly reflects the fact that there are some roles at the lower end of our pay structure, such as casual, intern, domestic and entry-level administrative roles which tend to be predominantly filled by women. Chart 3 shows the number of men and women in hourly pay bands, demonstrating that there are substantially more women in the £1-£10 and £11-20 bands. (There is one woman with an outlying hourly rate in Chart 2. This a genuinely high rate for one-off coaching activity.)
Chart 3 presents the number of men and women in £10 hourly pay bands, showing that there are substantially more women in the £1-£10 and £11-20 bands.
Chart 3. Number of staff in each pay band by gender
Bonuses
The Government requires organisations to specify the pay gap in any bonus pay, however our very low number of bonuses means that the statutory calculation is not statistically meaningful.
Only 0.3% of men (3 individuals) and 0.1% of women (2 individuals) received a bonus (recognition payment) in the 12 months to 31st March 2021.
- The Mean Bonus Gender Pay Gap is 65.5% (in favour of men). This is the difference between the average bonus paid to the 3 males and 2 females who received a bonus.
- The Median Bonus Gender Pay Gap is 50% (in favour of men). This compares the actual bonus paid to the middle person in the list of 3 males and 2 females who received a bonus. Because only two males received a bonus, an average of the male bonuses was used.
Quartiles
Lastly, the Government requires organisations to rank all staff according to pay and split them into 4 equal parts (quartiles) then publish what proportion of each quartile is male or female.
- Our upper (fourth) quartile is nearly 50% female. It includes Senior Managers, Professors and Associate Professors, senior academics and non-academic professionals.
- Our upper middle (third) quartile is more than 50% female and includes many professional support grades, Lecturers and Senior Lecturers, Academic Tutors and Casual Workers.
- The higher proportion of women in the lower quartiles is a significant influence on our overall pay gap.
Chart 4. Quartiles by gender
Chart 4 is a bar chart with four percentage bars representing pay quartiles showing the proportion of men and women in each quartile. The lowest quartile is 59.3% women, lower middle is 61.9% women, upper middle is 58.5% women, and the highest is 47.9% women. Another bar chart to the right shows the same data but with bars representing the number (headcount) of men and women in each quartile. The lowest quartile is 366 women, lower middle is 382 women, upper middle is 361 women, and the highest is 295 women.