Newly-published data shows there are significant disability and ethnicity pay gaps in the civil service.
The statistics, published by the Cabinet Office on Wednesday, show there is an 8% median disability pay gap in the civil service. In comparison, the most recent gender pay gap was 6.4% this year, the lowest since the civil service started reporting on the median gender pay gap for the overall workforce in 2007.
It also reveals the pay gap between different ethnicities, including huge median pay gaps between white civil servants and black and Asian officials when looking only at London-based officials.
This is the first year that comprehensive civil service pay gap statistics for these metrics have been published. The Cabinet Office said the statistics will “provide a robust benchmark against which future pay statistics can be compared”.
The key findings from the disability pay gap are:
- Disabled civil servants’ earnings are lower than non-disabled civil servants: There is a median disability pay gap of 8%;
- Disabled civil servants receive lower bonuses than non-disabled civil servants: The median disability bonus pay gap is 24%;
- Disabled civil servants are more likely to receive a bonus (75.2%) compared to non-disabled civil servants (73.1%); and
- Disabled civil servants are underrepresented in both the upper pay quartiles, and overrepresented in both the lower pay quartiles.
When looking department-by-department, among the main departments the Cabinet Office itself has the the biggest median disability pay gap (29.6%), while the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has the largest median disability bonus gap (30%).
The ethnicity pay gap statistics have much more detailed results given there are five different ethnic groups to compare: white, Asian, black, mixed and "other".
The biggest gap for median earnings is between the "other" ethnic group and both black and Asian civil servants. The median hourly earnings of civil servants from the "other" group is 7.7% higher than that of black and Asian civil servants.
The largest median bonus pay gap is between both white and "other" and black, with the former two groups earning average bonuses 75% higher than the latter.
The stats also show that white civil servants are more likely to receive a bonus (73.1%) compared to all other ethnic groups, with black civil servants the least likely (62.1%).
And they show that white civil servants are overrepresented in both of the highest earnings quartiles whilst Asian civil servants are overrepresented in both of the lowest earnings quartiles.
One of the most striking findings is how big some of the median pay gaps between the different ethnic groups are for London-based civil servants.
In London the median hourly earnings of black civil servants is 27.8% lower than that of white civil servants, and the median hourly earnings of Asian civil servants is 20.8% lower than that of white civil servants.
The mixed and "other" groups earn 14.3% and 17.3% less on average respectively than white civil servants in London.
Looking at bonuses, the gaps get even bigger with black civil servants getting a median bonus 58.3% lower than that of white civil servants, Asians 41.7% lower, the mixed group 25% lower and the "other" group 33.7% lower.
The statistical bulletin breaks the data down into "inside London" and "outside London" because some 42% of all ethnic minority civil servants are based in London compared to 14% of white civil servants, and because civil servants based in London are, on average, paid more than those outside London.
“This combination means that the differences in earnings for the overall civil service may not reflect the differences that are seen in London or outside London when considered separately,” the statistical bulletin explains.
The bulletin also notes that it is “important to recognise that there are a number of reasons why an organisation may have a ethnicity pay gap”.
“For example, an employer may have a number of grades with equal numbers of employees in each, and at each grade, employees of all ethnicities doing equal work, or work of equal value, are paid the same,” it says. “This means the employer has equal pay. However, if there are different proportions of ethnic groups in higher (or lower) grades then average hourly pay will be impacted and the employer will have a pay gap, despite having equal pay.”
A government spokesperson said: “This government is rewiring the state and building a civil service workforce that reflects the country it serves to deliver for working people.
“We are voluntarily publishing these figures early to be transparent and lead the way.”
The government has committed to introduce mandatory ethnicity and disability pay gap reporting through the upcoming Equality (Race and Disability) Bill, which will introduce robust reporting standards across all large employers. The civil service is voluntarily publishing the figures earlier.