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 we have published data on our gender, ethnicity, disability and intersectional (gender and ethnicity) pay gaps at Sussex on our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion pages.
The published data measure 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 will be undertaking its next external equal pay review in 2024. Pay gaps are an important indicator of potential structural inequalities, though the elimination of pay gaps does not guarantee that there are no structural barriers for any identity group.
In addition to the gender pay gap, the University follows recommended best practice and reports disability and ethnicity pay gaps. For the first time, this year the University is also reporting an intersectional pay gap showing the pay gaps for intersecting gender and ethnicities. The same data, taken from a snapshot in March 2023, and methodology are used for all three pay gaps.
Gender pay gap
Our latest data show that the University’s mean (average) gender pay gap for 2024 has fallen significantly by 2.5% from last year to 14.4%. The median (mid-point) gender pay gap is 12.5%, an increase of 0.1%.
The key driver for the gender pay gap is the distribution of women and men across the pay grades. There are more women in the bottom pay quartile and fewer women in the top pay quartile, though this year for the first time the academic cohort is split 50/50 men and women and the top quartile of academics has shifted considerably from 33% women the previous year to 41% women.
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. A mid-term review of the action plan is taking place with Advance HE in April this year.
Further actions to address pay gaps are also prominent in our People Strategy, 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:
“It is vital that we continue our commitment to reducing our pay gaps and making Sussex a more equitable, diverse, and inclusive community, where everyone is able to realise their goals and ambitions and do their best work. We must continue to focus on delivering the aims outlined our Inclusive Sussex strategy to ensure all our staff are rewarded fairly.”
Ethnicity pay gap
The mean ethnicity pay gap for 2024 is -4.6% (median is -3.9%), which indicates a pay gap in favour of staff from minority ethnic groups.
Overall, 17% of Sussex staff identify as Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME, please see the note below on the use of the term BAME). However, 23% of academic staff identify as BAME and only 10% of Professional Services staff. This leads to under-representation of BAME staff in the bottom pay quartile compared to the other three pay quartiles (13% of staff in the bottom quartile compared to 18% and 22% 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 73% 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, mean ethnicity pay gaps in favour of white staff are evident, with pay gaps of 4.1% in the academic staff group (down from 6.1% last year), and 1.8% in the Professional Services staff group (down from 7.3% last year).
David Ruebain, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Culture, Equality and Inclusion and Chair of the Race Equality Charter Self-Assessment Team (RECSAT) said:
"Our disaggregated figures show areas of under-representation of minoritised ethnic staff in some areas of the University which may indicate disadvantage. We aim to tackle racial inequalities through our Race Equality Charter Action Plan published in January 2024 which provides a strong foundation for change. This year, we also published the ethnicity and gender intersectional pay gap to further understand the extent of disadvantage, enabling us to consider how we can address these challenges and work towards eliminating inequality at Sussex."
The Race Equality Charter Self Assessment Team will review the ethnicity pay gap data and existing planned actions in the Race Equality Charter Action Plan to inform any adjustments or additional actions. The key focus is on increasing the representation of minority ethnic/racialised staff, particularly in senior roles.
Intersectional pay gap
For the first time, this year the University has also published the ethnicity and gender intersectional pay gap.
This shows that gender is the prevailing factor in pay gaps, which endure for women regardless of ethnicity. The largest pay gap is for Black women (at 21.9%), and a targeted positive action initiative will be developed for this group.
Disability pay gap
For disability, Sussex has a mean pay gap of 17.4%, which has increased by 4.0 percentage points from last year. The median pay gap is 11.1%, up from 9.5% 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 17% in the bottom pay quartile). The proportion of staff declaring a disability varies between academic and Professional Services staff groups, with 13% of Professional Services staff declaring a disability and 11% of academics declaring a disability.
The Disability, Equality and Inclusion Steering Group will continue to review actions to address the disability pay gap, including developing an initiative for a Disabled Senior Leaders Programme.
HR Director, Colin Shipp said:
“We continue to work hard to reduce our pay gaps by driving the improvement targets outlined in our People Strategy. Improving our recruitment and promotion processes and our HR policies to ensure equality is at the heart of how we work is a priority for us as we aim to become a leading employer in the sector."
We will update you 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 to using the term. For example, we will endeavour to disaggregate data and other qualitative information to better understand the disadvantages faced by specific minoritised groups at Sussex, whilst recognising that 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.