As part of the University’s commitment to equality in our community, we have filed our annual gender pay gap data with the UK Government Equalities Office, and published data on our gender, ethnicity and disability pay gaps at Sussex on our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion pages.
This data measures the disadvantage between what, on average, two different groups of people (in the case of the gender pay gap, men and women) earn across an organisation. For example, pay gap reports look at both:
- the ‘mean’ pay gap (the difference between the average hourly pay of all staff in one group compared to another group, such as men and women) and;
- the ‘median’ pay gap (the difference between ‘middle hourly rate’ of one group of staff compared to another, if looking at individual hourly rates when lined up from lowest to highest).
A pay gap, which indicates the average pay across all salaries in an organisation, is different from equal pay, which is the right for men and women to be paid the same for the same/equivalent work or work of equal value. The University plans to undertake its next external equal pay review in 2024.
In addition to the gender pay gap, the University follows recommended best practice and reports disability and ethnicity pay gaps. The same data, taken from a snapshot in March 2022, and methodology are used for all three pay gaps.
Gender Pay Gap
Our latest data shows that the University’s mean (average) gender pay gap for 2023 is 16.9%, a reduction of 1% from last year. The median (mid-point) gender pay gap is 12.4%, an increase of 0.4%.
The key driver for the gender pay gap is the distribution of women and men across the pay grades. There are more female staff in the bottom pay quartile and fewer female staff in the top pay quartile, particularly in academic roles.
To improve this situation across the University, a detailed Gender Equality Action Plan, published in 2020, includes actions to address the gender pay gap and was refreshed as part of the University’s institutional Athena Swan submission in November 2020.
Further actions to address pay gaps are also prominent in our People Strategy launched earlier this year, and include:
- reviewing our recruitment processes, supported by effective digital systems and extending the use of positive action in recruitment;
- driving forward actions to create an equitable pay framework; and
- addressing promotion and career progression processes to remove any barriers.
In 2018, the University set highly ambitious key performance indicators to halve the mean gender pay gap to a level of 10.4% by 2025. Although the trend shows yearly reductions in the gender pay gap, we know it will take time to achieve this because the key driver is the distribution of staff across the pay quartiles.
Vice-Chancellor, Sasha Roseneil, said: “Our ambition is to make Sussex a more equitable, diverse and inclusive community, where people can realise their goals and ambitions and do their best work. It is vital that we regularly examine our pay gaps and the reasons for them. Our new People Strategy is designed with equality at its core to help us steer our work in this area and I am confident that we have the right plans in place to continue our progress towards ensuring all our staff are rewarded fairly.”
Ethnicity pay gap
The mean ethnicity pay gap for 2023 is -1.7% (median is -3.0%), which indicates a pay gap in favour of racially minoritised staff.
Overall, 16% of Sussex staff identify as Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME, please see the note below on the use of the term BAME). However, 22% of academic staff identify as BAME and only 9% of Professional Services staff. This leads to under-representation of BAME staff in the bottom pay quartile compared to the other three pay quartiles (11% of staff in the bottom quartile compared to 18% and 19% in the mid quartiles and 15% in the top quartile) and an overall pay gap in favour of BAME staff. The reason for this is that 77% of our BAME staff are academics who, on average, earn a higher salary, and are therefore represented in the higher pay quartiles compared to Professional Services staff.
When the groups are disaggregated, the mean ethnicity pay gap in the academic staff group is 6.1%, and 7.3% in the Professional Services staff group.
David Ruebain, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Culture, Equality and Inclusion and Chair of the Race Equality Charter Self-Assessment Team (RECSAT) said: "We know that racism can play out structurally and can manifest in a variety of ways. Our headline figures indicate that there is no inequality but, disaggregated, we can see areas of under-representation which, when benchmarked, may reveal disadvantage. The Race Equality Charter work provides granulated data and our action plan will seek to address the issues which are revealed."
The RECSAT will review the ethnicity pay gap data to inform recommendations for action as part of their work to submit an application for an award. The key focus is on increasing the representation in the staff population and particularly in senior roles.
Disability pay gap
For disability, Sussex has a mean pay gap of 13.4%, which has decreased by 5.7% from last year. The median pay gap is 9.5%, down from 13.7% last year.
The key driver of the disability pay gap is the uneven distribution of disabled staff through the pay quartiles (with 6% in the top pay quartile with a known disability and 13% in the bottom pay quartile). The proportion of staff declaring a disability has increased compared to last year (from 6% to 9%).
The Disability, Equality and Inclusion steering group will continue to review actions to address the disability pay gap.
HR Director, Colin Shipp said: “Addressing our pay gaps is a key priority for us, which is why we have set clear improvement targets in our Inclusive Sussex strategy. I am absolutely committed to making a difference and driving meaningful and long-lasting change in this area. Our actions to address pay gaps will ensure we improve our recruitment and promotion processes, and we will also continue to improve other HR policies to become a leading employer in the sector.”
We will keep you updated on progress against our aims as part of our monthly Inclusive Sussex update from David Ruebain.
If you have any questions, please contact the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Team at: edi.unit@sussex.ac.uk
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Team
Note on the use of the term BAME
We recognise that the term ‘BAME’ - which stands for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic - is contested. For some it is considered as a homogenising term and others find it helpful in specific contexts. Recognising this, we will take a flexible approach. For example, the work that we are undertaking at the University will endeavour to disaggregate data and other qualitative information to better understand the disadvantages faced by specific minoritised groups. Meanwhile, official data reporting processes set up by bodies such as Higher Education Statistics Authority (HESA) require us to report using the term BAME, so this terminology will still be present in some of our communications.