Equal Pay Audits
What is an Equal Pay Audit?
An equal pay audit involves:
- the comparison of pay of men and women doing equal work
- the identification of equal pay gaps
- the explanation and justification of gaps using objective criteria
- the addressing of any gaps that cannot satisfactorily be explained on the grounds of work content
- ongoing monitoring.
University Progress
We were one of the first universities to undertake an equal pay audit in 2003, and we have now completed our eighth audit. Our Equal Pay Audits have been nationally commended in 2010 by the Equality and Human Rights Commission as best practice. The gender equality organisation Opportunity Now has also commended our approach to embedding Gender Equality. The University has now also been used as a case study by Opportunity Now which can be viewed here.
We are a UK exemplar employer on equal pay, arising from our approach rather than our results. However, our increased transparency, consistency and supportive employment practices have again contributed to continued progress in 2010.
An equal pay audit involves comparing the pay of men with the pay of women, carrying out like work and also across our institution in general.
We have calculated a number of pay gaps across our groups of employees and on contractual status. In addition to reporting on Gender, our Equal Pay Audit also examines Disability, Race and the gaps in hourly pay between all full-time and all part-time staff. The full-time pay gap is the one commonly quoted across UK institutions due to the unreliability of part-time information in many institutions.
The University's full-time pay gap therefore represents the difference between the average pay of a man working full-time and the average pay of a woman working full-time, across the University as a whole:
Year |
Full-time Pay Gap |
|---|---|
| 2003 | 20.9% |
| 2004 | 18.8% |
| 2005 | 14.5% |
| 2006 | 16.4% |
| 2007 | 13.9% |
| 2008 | 16.2% |
| 2009 | 15.0% |
| 2010 | 14.2% |
Within grades any gender pay gaps are minimal due to the consistency of pay practices. However, due to the different levels of incidence between men and women across our grading structures, patterns emerge when the information is examined holistically.
This figure is actually lower than existing patterns in HE and the wider UK workforce; this was demonstrated when the University was ranked 12th of 121 institutions in a Times Higher Education Supplement league table '2005-6 Average Full-Time Academics Salaries and Gender Pay Gaps' (May 11th, 2007), which can be viewed by clicking on the link above. The league table ranked the University as having the lowest academic gender pay gap in the North East of 4.1%. By comparison the highest academic gender pay gap in the region stands at 30.3% in favour of men.
We will seek to ensure our HR reward practices are effectively in place in order to deliver equal treatment, opportunity and development of all staff.
For more detailed information on the audits please contact paul.andrew@sunderland.ac.uk.
