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Pay gap data

NCVO is committed to addressing our pay gaps and understands the need to review our approaches equitably and fairly.

Although NCVO employs fewer than 250 staff and is therefore not required to publish gender pay gap information, we have chosen to do so, along with our ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation and religion pay gap information.

We are doing this to demonstrate our commitment to being an employer that recognises the importance of equity and inclusion, and the benefits that having a diverse workforce brings to the organisation.

We are also committed to adopting an intersectional approach when developing our data in regard to protected groups to paint a fuller picture and identify areas we can improve.

Gender pay gap

Median and mean hourly earnings

At 27 March 2024 and 1 March 2023, the median and mean male and female hourly earnings were as follows.

The gender pay gap is minimal for both the median and mean pay. The differences are £0.28 at the median and £0.57 at the mean. Both indicators show females are earning more per hour on average.

At 27 March 2024 and 1 March 2023, the mean male and female hourly earnings by quartile were as follows.

When reviewing the earnings by quartiles, quartiles one to three show females have a greater hourly rate than their male colleagues. The greatest gap is 6% (£1.70).

Although the fourth quartile shows a 9% hourly variance in favour of male colleagues, this can be explained by the fact there are six males and 16 females in this group.

It’s important to note the positive progress made on the evening out of hourly pay rates across quartiles compared to 2023. Quartile two has reduced by 8% to narrow the hourly pay earnings in 2024.

Mean hourly earnings by grade

NCVO pays men and women in the same grades the same salary for the work they do.

Small differences are due to new staff starting at an entry point on recruitment and moving to the grade point after their first year of employment.

There will also be some additional responsibility payments for a small number of individuals.

NCVO pay scales reflect our ethos: equal pay for equal work.

Our pay policy guides us to recruit at the entry point of the scales for all new hires, where possible. This may sometimes cause minimal anomalies between pay gaps, especially if there has been a higher number of new starters than the previous year.

All colleagues have the opportunity for pay progression within the scales once they've completed a year’s service.

Ethnicity pay gap

On 27 March 2024 and 1 March 2023, the ethnicity pay gap shows the following.

Proportion of global majority staff at each grade

Breakdown by ethnicity

Our ethnicity pay gap has increased the most of any protected characteristics this year. Overall, the mean pay gap is 13% and the median is 14%. Both gaps increased year on year and require further exploration.

We also exceed the ONS benchmark in England of 9.7% median and 11% mean.

The data indicates our global majority colleagues make up 27% of our population, with 10% in grades E and F. This has remained the same as last year.

Both mean and median hourly rates for colleagues who identify as black, African, Caribbean or black British are the lowest of the ethnic groups.

The pay gap between colleagues who identify as Asian and Asian British compared to the highest pay group (white) has reduced to under £1.00 for both mean and median.

Disability pay gap

Disability mean and median hourly earnings and pay gap

Proportion of known disabled at each grade

NVCO has a 14% representation of colleagues with known disabilities. There is no pay gap for this protected characteristic across the organisation.

This is the largest improvement on last year. In 2023 our colleagues with known disabilities earned higher hourly rates of 6% median and 14% mean. The gap this year has been removed with variance of 0.13pph and 14pph mean, remaining positive for colleagues with known disabilities.

The Office of National Statistics (ONS) predicts that the disability pay gap in England will continue to increase in line with current trends. It was last reported to be 13.8% nationally (ONS 2022).

Sexual orientation pay gap

This is the second year we’ve published the sexual orientation pay gap.

We recognise that staff may not actively be sharing their sexual orientation with NCVO. We remain committed to ensuring our disclosure rates increase by creating a psychologically safe organisation.

The highest proportion of colleagues at NCVO identify as heterosexual (66%). The pay scales and hourly earnings within the identification categories are fairly balanced.

It’s important to note that the colleagues who identify as gay men earn £38.28 mean and £40.33 median compared to a mean of £28.83 and median of £25.69 for heterosexual colleagues. This is an hourly rate difference of approximately £10.00 per hour variance (less) than their colleagues who identify as heterosexual, gay woman/lesbian, or other.

On looking into this further, it's clear the hourly earnings for gay men were disproportionately impacted by a small number of high-earning colleagues. When these are removed the pay gap between gay men and the other categories reduces to between £9.00 and £7.00 per hour variance, and reduces £31.14 for both mean and median.

Religion pay gap

This is the second time we have reported on the religion pay gap. Overall, we do not have a significant pay disparity in terms of religion.

The hourly rates for colleagues across all religions, where there is no religion, or the preference is not to say have increased year on year.

The average mean increase is approximately £5.00 per hour. The largest year on year increase in hourly rate is for the colleagues identifying as agnostic at £14.32. The median has also increased across the board, averaging a £5.00 to £7.00 increase per hour.

It is important to note all the insights above are based on a small pool of colleagues who have recorded their religion and may not be a true reflection. Further analysis using a combination of data sets is required along with a full pay audit.

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