Gender Pay Gap Report 2021

The Vale of Aylesbury Housing Trust continues to welcome and support gender pay gap reporting across the private and public sector. We have published an annual gender pay gap report that shows the difference in average male earnings compared to average female earnings. In accordance with the Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2017, there are six prescribed indicators to be reported upon.

Our report for the snapshot date of 5 April 2021

Indicator	Description	Men	Women	Gap	UK Average
Mean pay gap	The difference between the mean hourly rate paid to men and women.	£19.78	£20.01	-1.16%	14.6%
Median pay gap	The difference between the median hourly rate paid to men and women.	£17.53	£17.88	-1.97%	15.4%
Mean bonus gap	The difference between the mean bonus paid to men and women.	£1,859.77	£1,559.18	16.16%	N/A
Median bonus gap	The difference between the median bonus paid to men and women.	£1,579.55	£1,200.02	24.03%	N/A
Bonus proportions	Bonus proportions paid to men and women.	83.0%	86.0%	-3.0%	N/A

The mean is the mathematical average for all men and women employees. The mean gap is the difference between men’s and women’s average pay.

The median is the middle value paid to all men compared to the middle value paid to all women employees. The median gap is the difference between the midpoints in the ranges of men’s and women’s pay.

The following table highlights proportions of men and women employees in each quartile pay band within the Trust:

Band	Men	Women
Lower quartile	50.0%	50.0%
Lower middle quartile	68.0%	32.0%
Upper middle quartile	52.0%	48.0%
Upper quartile	60.0%	40.0%

We determined the hourly rate of pay for men and women employees and ranked those employees in order from lowest paid to highest paid. We divided into four sections, each comprising an equal number of employees, to determine the lower, lower middle, upper middle and upper quartile pay bands.

Our statement

It is important that equality and diversity is at the heart of everything we do, both as a service provider and employer. Therefore we must continue to create and maintain a culture where people can be themselves, regardless of gender or any other attribute or choice.

We ensure employees are treated equally at all times, ensuring they have the same opportunities for employee development, recognition and reward. Women make up 43.0% of our workforce and 53.0% of our managers.

Since reporting our figures last year, we are proud that our median pay gap has reduced by a further 4.36% so that women now have a higher median hourly rate of pay than men at (-1.97%) which compares favourably with the median pay gap of the UK economy (15.4%). We are also pleased that our mean pay gap has further reduced to (-1.16%).  More women now occupy our upper middle quartile pay band (48%) in 2021 vs (33.0%) in 2020.

We will also continue to focus on improving our median bonus gap although we are pleased it has reduced from (52.2%) in 2018 to (24.03%) in 2021. We have made progress with recruiting women into senior leadership positions and will continue to focus on our challenges:

• We have fewer women working as Trade Operatives (who attract higher levels of bonus based on productivity).
• A far higher proportion of our women work part time.

We believe that our median and mean pay gap compares favourably due to our proactive commitment to maintain diversity and inclusion, which include:

• The following is in all our job adverts:
  • “…we welcome applicants from BAME backgrounds, and applicants who have status as an individual with a physical or mental disability… We are a Disability Confident Employer.”
• Our recruitment and internal promotions continue to be based on merit using a competency-based approach against objective and non-discriminatory criteria.
• Our Equality and Diversity Policy is regularly reviewed by the Board and at a senior level, setting out the principles and high standards expected at the Trust. In addition an annual update on equality and diversity is provided to the Board summarising key actions during the year.
• An online performance management programme ensuring that objectives are managed in a fair and consistent way. This is the foundation for our performance related pay structure, recognising strong performance and highlighting opportunities fairly.
• Pay is determined by a role framework system using job evaluation, based on non-discriminatory factors. Our role framework provides a systematic and consistent approach to defining skills and experience needed for the role.  Only the job itself is evaluated, not the person doing it.
• An Employee Consultative Committee that is our forum for partnership working and information sharing across the Trust. We consult through this Committee on terms and conditions of employment.
• We are committed to providing all employees with the opportunities to excel in their current and future roles by supplying a comprehensive programme of learning and development.
• We provide workshops focussing on working together and valuing each others’ preferences aligned to our value Open-minded and innovative’ e.g. the MBTI (Myers Briggs) and SDI (Strength Deployment Inventory). These sessions focus on how we get the best from ourselves and others.
• We also provide mandatory equality and diversity training for all with refresher training.
• We will continue to prioritise Equality Impact Assessments in 2022 which will reinforce our commitment to equality and diversity at all levels of the business.

Although our gender pay gap analysis results are   encouraging, we are not complacent. We will keep our own performance under ongoing review and seek to continuously improve the experience of all of our employees in respect of equality, diversity and inclusion.

I confirm that the information in this statement is accurate.