From April 2018, all organisations employing over 250 employees were required to publish their Gender Pay Gap figures to a government portal. The Gender Pay Gap looks at the difference in the average pay of men and women in an organisation. This is different from Equal Pay, which is where men and women are paid the same pay for the same work.
This report can also be downloaded for print — Gender and Ethnicity Pay Gap Report [pdf] 5MB
This is Estuary’s annual gender pay gap report for the snapshot date of 5th April 2024.
This has increased this year, from 12% in 2023, and from 16% in 2022.
This was mainly due to a number of male hires at the end of the year, which have resulted in higher salaries for specialist positions such as Health and Safety and Surveyors.
When breaking down the mean gap further between Care & Support and Office staff, the gap for C&S is +3.4% and for Office 9.2%. Office has seen a decrease this year (in 2023, the gap was 9.5% for Office).
This table shows our workforce divided into four equal-sized groups based on hourly pay rate. Band A includes the lowest-paid 25% of employees (the lower quartile) and band D covers the highest-paid 25% (the upper quartile).
| Band | Male | Female | What is Included in This Band? |
| A (Lower quartile) |
29% (2023: 30%) (2022: 26.6%) |
71% (2023: 70%) (2022: 73.4%) |
All employees whose standard hourly rate is within the lower quartile |
| B (Lower middle quartile) |
19.4% (2023: 23%) (2022 28.1%) |
80.6% (2023: 77%) (2022: 71.9%) |
All employees whose standard hourly rate is more than the lower quartile but the same or less than the median |
| C (Upper middle quartile) |
31.1% (2023: 31.7%) (2022: 37.5%) |
68.9% (2023: 68.3%) (2022: 62.5%) |
All employees whose standard hourly rate is more than the median but the same or less than the upper quartile |
| D (Upper quartile) |
32.3% (2023: 35%) (2022: 29.7%) |
67.7% (2023: 65%) (2022: 70.3%) |
All employees whose standard hourly rate is within the upper quartile |
A quartile is one of four equally sized groups created when you divide a selection of numbers that are in ascending order into four. The "lower quartile" is the lowest group. The "upper quartile" is the highest group.
The figures in this table have been calculated using the standard methods used in the Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2017.
We are a diverse business with a predominantly female workforce. As at 5 April 2024 the total workforce comprised as follows:
| 71 men (28%) | 2023: 76 (29%) | 2022: 84 (30%) |
| 181 women (72%) | 2023: 184 (71%) | 2022: 201 (70%) |
The split between Office and Care & Support (inc Bank) was:
Office |
Care and Support |
|
Male |
45 (2023 – 48) | 26 (2023 - 28) |
Female |
76 (2023 – 85) | 105 (2023 – 99) |
Total |
121 (2023 - 133) | 131 (2023 - 127) |
| 48% of total workforce (2023 - 51%) | 52% of total workforce (2023 - 49%) |
There is very little change from 2023, 2022 and 2021 in the makeup of our staff. The total staff turnover rate was 2.5% as of 31st March 2024.
A large part of our service provision is within our Care and Support directorate, where we employ over half of our people, and comprises of 80% female staff and 20% male staff. It is recognised nationally that the care and support market is predominantly female in its workforce. Skills for Care report that the care sector in 2023 comprised 81% female and 19% male staff; and in the NHS, women are employed in 90% of frontline care roles.
The gender imbalance within our own Care and Support directorate is only 1% below this national average. This contributes significantly to our pay gap, as average pay rates in Office roles (£24.19 per hour) are 89% higher than in our Care & Support roles (£12.81 per hour).
During the reporting period preceding April 2024, the proportion of men in the workforce receiving a bonus was 1.9% (2023: 1.5%) (2022: 2.4%) and the proportion of women who received a bonus was 4.3% (2023: 6.2%) (2022: 8%).
Bonuses reported for 2024 can be categorised as twelve Long Service Awards which are fixed sums irrespective of gender (83% awarded to females, 17% to males), plus four performance awards paid during this period (25% awarded to females, 75% to males).
The Mean Bonus Pay Gap for Estuary is 67% (2023: +117%).
We are committed to our journey to be an inclusive employer. This has included recruiting a dedicated EDI resource and improving the outcomes of our EDI Forum.
We will continue to work towards eliminating its gender pay gap through effective process management, inclusive recruitment, and extensive training, ensuring that EDI plays a significant part in our daily working lives.
This report provides an initial insight into whether there is a Race Pay Gap within Estuary as of 5th April 2024.
As yet, there is still no legal requirement for organisations to report on race pay gaps; we have therefore undertaken this review as good practice as part of our Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion monitoring.
The table below sets out headcount data as at 5 April 2024 in relation to race.
Office |
Care and Support |
Total |
Bank |
|
Race |
White = 78% (102) GM = 7% (9) U = 15% (20) |
White = 42% (47) GM = 46% (52) U = 12% (14) |
White = 61% (149) GM = 25% (61) U = 14% (34) |
White = 26% GM = 68% U = 5% |
Key: GM: Global Majority, meaning non-White. U: Undisclosed
In terms of race, we are primarily White, amounting to 78% of people in Office roles and 42% of people in Care and Support. There is a larger disclosed Global Majority (GM) population in Care and Support at nearly half (46%) of headcount, and just 7% in non-Care and Support operations.
The proportion of White employees slightly increased in 2024 compared to 2023 (from 60% to 61%), while the number of GM employees fell slightly from 27% to 25%. This could be explained by an increase in rates of non-disclosure (13% of employees did not disclose their race in 2023, rising to 14% in 2024).
As we progress with our EDI Strategy and Action Plan, we want everyone to feel that Estuary is a place where they can be their true selves and choose to disclose the information they feel comfortable with.
However, in the non-Care and Support business there is a slight increase to 16% of employees who have chosen not to disclose their race, and this is 12% in Care and Support.
It’s notable that this information is gathered as part of the recruitment process, where some people fear that they may be rejected on grounds of race or other areas of prejudice, so this is not always disclosed. To combat this, we continue to use anonymisation in its recruitment process.
Average hourly rate for employees who have disclosed their racial identity:
|
|
Office |
Care |
Bank |
All |
|
White Male |
£26.18 | £12.79 | £10.52 | £22.94 |
|
GM Male |
£18.49 | £11.44 | £10.76 | £13.42 |
|
White Female |
£23.32 | £13.77 | £11.38 | £19.18 |
|
GM Female |
£24.75 | £11.44 | £10.88 | £12.66 |
|
All Male |
£25.67 | £12.46 | £10.67 | £20.87 |
|
All Female |
£23.32 | £12.88 | £11.08 | £17.06 |
|
|
Office |
Care |
Bank |
All |
|
GM Male to White Male |
29.4% (2023: 28.7%) |
10.6% (2023: 5.4%) |
+2.3% (2023: 5%) |
41.5% (2023: 45.3%) |
|
GM Female to White Female |
+6.3% (2023: +20%) |
16.9% (2023: 19.9%) |
4.4% (2023: 5.3%) |
34% (2023: 27%) |
|
GM Female to GM Male |
+33.9% (2023: +32.2%) |
0% (2023: 0%) |
+1.1% (2023: +9.2%) |
5.7% (2023: +11.9%) |
|
GM Male to All Male |
28% (2023: 17%) |
8.2% (2023: 4%) |
+1.9% (2023: 1.6%) |
35.7% (2023: 46.1%) |
|
GM Female to All Female |
+6.1% (2023: 41%) |
11.2% (2023: 14.5%) |
1.8% (2023: 0.5%) |
25.8% (2023: 31.1%) |
This year, there is a pay gap between men and women within GM-only employees of 5.7%, which is lower than the overall gender pay gap which stands at 18.3%. This reduction of the overall pay gap can be attributed to a positive pay gap in the office department and a strong representation of non-White women in higher-paid corporate roles.
However, it is notable that this progress is not reflected in the overall pay gap figures, as a significant gap of 34% remains between White and GM female employees, and 41.5% between White and GM male employees.
Although this can be partially explained by GM employees having much greater representation within Care and Support (which is a lower-paid department), there are still significant pay gaps between both White and GM male and female employees within Care and Support itself which demonstrates this issue cannot be explained by departmental pay differences alone and indicates that GM employees are under-represented in higher-paid roles in this area.
We continue to monitor our Race Pay Gap and publish a Race Pay Gap report alongside the Gender Pay Gap report annually, in order to both meet and exceed the requirements set out in legislation.
We will continue to campaign for the attraction and recruitment of a more diverse workforce at all levels. Our recruitment platforms are used nationally, allowing us to attract a broad candidate pool that is geographically aligned with supporting our local communities through local jobs. The introduction of CV anonymisation software into the recruitment process last year has been another significant step forward in enhancing inclusion at the start of the employee lifecycle.
We continue to work towards the outcomes committed to in our Estuary EDI Action Plan, approved by our Board of Management in late 2023. A dedicated EDI/HR manager is now leading the work on this plan from our People team. To ensure we can deliver this we will be running a full suite of Equality, Diversity & Inclusion training to all employees in 2025-26 delivered in partnership with approved partner Inclusive Employers.
We remain committed to improving the diversity of the Board, Executive Team, and Senior Leadership Team. Our EDI Forum has representation from both our Board and Executive Team, ensuring we lead from the front. We will continue to strive to be an Employer of Choice and build on our accreditation with Inclusive Employers.