Gender Pay Gap Report

BPAS’s data for 2020 and all previous years is as follows:

The graph below demonstrates the proportional representation of gender in each pay quartile for 2020.

Details of inclusions / exclusions related to these calculations can be found on the following page.

Further commentary is included below.

Detail of Calculations

Workers - Inclusions and Exclusions

Group of Workers	Included/Excluded from Calculations	Commentary
Contracted employees	Included
Casual Workers	Excluded	The ACAS guidance refers to ‘employees that do not receive basic pay’ being included, however Casuals are not considered to be employees.
Self Employed Doctors working under Practising Privileges	Excluded	We are invoiced for the work these individuals undertake and this is by session rather than against a specific number of hours. They are not paid through the payroll. We have limited control over the rates we are charged under these agreements.
Agency workers	Excluded	ACAS guidance confirms that agency workers are part of the calculation to understand if we are a big enough business to warrant publishing the pay gap; but are not included in the actual pay calculations.
Those on Maternity leave (SMP) or sick leave receiving no pay	Excluded	In line with ACAS guidance.
Those who had left prior to 5th April 2020	Excluded

Pay – Inclusions and Exclusions

Pay Element	Included/Excluded from Calculations	Commentary
Basic salary	Included	In line with ACAS guidance
London Weighting	Included	In line with ACAS guidance
Overtime	Excluded	In line with ACAS guidance
Allowances	Included	In line with ACAS guidance
Car allowance	Included	In line with ACAS guidance
LARC payment	Included	In line with ACAS guidance
Premium Pay	Included	In line with ACAS guidance
Bonus	Not applicable
Trainer honorarium	Excluded	Considered immaterial as applies to only <5 individuals.

Other data principles applied

Where individuals have two different hourly rates (for two different jobs) these have been averaged. There are very few individuals with significantly differing rates.

Further Commentary

BPAS is not only committed to protecting and extending women’s reproductive rights and choices; but also to supporting women’s rights in a much broader sense. BPAS takes the Gender Pay Gap seriously, and whilst we are pleased to note that our pay gap has steadily declined, we are committed to understanding (beyond the headline statistics) why we continue to have a pay gap and what we might be able to do to further reduce it.

Firstly, it is important to note that gender pay reporting is different to equal pay. The (legal) right to equal pay relates to men and women receiving equal pay for work of equal value – a principle which we absolutely hold true and ensure is embedded into our gender-neutral pay structures.

Gender pay figures, however, show the difference in average pay between all men and women within the whole workforce. This may mean that where the higher paid sections of the workforce are male-dominated, or if there are proportionately more men in senior roles than in less senior roles, the gap between what men are paid on average and what women are paid on average, is greater.

At BPAS, we believe that there are a number of factors contributing to our pay gap, and we have therefore taken the opportunity to look into some of the detail and context around our figures, provided in our report below.

Further detail on average hourly rates and pay gaps by selected job roles

BPAS considers that the above percentages are more accurate reflections of the pay gaps we have and which are within our control to address. All 7 sections highlighted above demonstrate pay gaps between genders at BPAS. However, 5 of these areas are ‘reverse’ pay gaps – where female employees on average are paid more than their male colleagues. These figures reflect our female-dominated workforce.

Our Board of Trustees, whilst not remunerated, is 60% female / 40% male, and our Strategic Leadership Team is 83% female / 17% male.

At the time of calculating the statistics, our workforce was 93% female and 7% male. We have a large number of part time positions within our organisation, the vast majority of which are nurses / midwives. At the time of reporting our workforce was made up as follows:

Our Pay Structure

For all roles, we operate a formal job evaluation process, and we apply a graded pay structure for the vast majority of those roles (where job roles are attached to specific pay bands). Our clinical roles are benchmarked against the NHS Agenda for Change pay rates; Doctor roles against NHS rates and independent health sector rates, and our non-clinical roles benchmarked against UK median pay rates.

For non-clinical roles, we benchmark against UK median pay rates, and naturally find that we need to reflect these higher market rates in order to be able to attract and retain the right people for our charity.

Our pay and progression policy is based on competence assessment and length of service and is reviewed on a regular basis.

Pay in the Health Sector

Pay for nurses and midwives is largely determined by the NHS and has been historically relatively low and often suppressed by limits on public spending.

Summary and conclusion

Pulling all of the themes above together, we believe that our Gender Pay Gap is as a result of all of the following contributing factors:

Vastly more women than men in nursing / midwifery roles UK-wide
More men than women in doctor / surgeon roles UK-wide
BPAS’ ability to offer mainly part time roles, particularly in the female dominated professions, and full-time roles in higher paid positions

We are confident that our gender pay gap is not unusual in the sector(s) in which we operate, and we are pleased to see that over the last 4 years it continues to steadily decline.

The future - Narrowing the gap

BPAS commits to:

Continuing detailed analysis into different sections of our workforce, thus determining priority areas to focus on
Continuing to ensure that equality is at the centre of our recruitment and attraction strategies, with a focus on ensuring that women are actively encouraged to apply for traditionally male-dominated roles (and vice versa for men)
Regularly reviewing our Gender Pay Gap and benchmarking against similar organisations within the sector(s) we operate in
Identifying further plans of action as more knowledge and understanding is gained.

This statement and the published information relating to our Gender Pay Gap is accurate.