1.0 Introduction
North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust (NTHFT) is required to carry out Gender Pay Gap (GPG) reporting under the Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information Regulations 2017).
It is important to understand that gender pay gap and equal pay are two distinct concepts:
Equal Pay is concerned with male and female employees earning equal pay for the same jobs, similar jobs or work of equal value.
The Gender Pay Gap is about the difference between male and female employee’s average pay within an organisation.
Reporting the Gender Pay Gap involves carrying out six calculations that show the difference between the average earnings of male and female employees within NTHFT. It does not involve publishing individual employee data.
The information contained within this report relates to 2023/24 and is based on the snapshot date of 31 March 2024.
2.0 Gender profile
As at the snapshot date of 31st March 2024, the trust employed 4, 954 employees.
The overall gender profile for the Trust is reported as:
| Male | Female |
|---|---|
| 15% | 85% |
When compared against the NHS as a whole, the Trust’s gender profile shows that female representation is 8% higher within NTHFT, when compared to the national average which reports female representation at 77% and male at 23%.
The gender profile has seen a 3% increase in female representation compared to 2022/23 when this was reported at 83%.
3.0 Gender pay gap
3.1 Mean and median analysis
The gender pay gap measured by the median hourly rate is 20.71%, this has shown a 2.8% positive decrease on the previous year.
The gender pay gap measured by the median hourly rate is calculated as the mid-point of the salary distribution range for male and female employees.
| Gender | Average hourly rate | Median hourly rate |
|---|---|---|
| Female | £18.32 | £16.70 |
| Male | £27.45 | £21.06 |
| Difference | £9.13 | £4.36 |
| Pay gap % | 33.27% | 20.71% |
To calculate the mean (average) hourly rate, earnings are totalled and then divided by the number of male and female employees.
The gender pay gap measured by the average hourly rate is 33.27% a decrease of 11.38% since the previous year and the lowest pay gap reported since 2018.
A summary showing the position for the previous five years as at 31 March (2020 – 2024) is contained at Appendix 1 of this report.
3.2 Quartile reporting
The table below illustrates the gender distribution in NTHFT across four equally sized pay quartiles. The values for 2023 are shown in brackets.
| Quartile | Female | Male | Female % | Male % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Upper quartile (Q4) | 887 (1006) | 352 (379) | 71.59% decrease (72.64%) | 28.41% increase (27.36%) |
| Upper middle quartile (Q3) | 1099 (1151) | 140 (161) | 88.70% increase (87.73%) | 11.30% decrease (12.27%) |
| Lower Middle quartile (Q2) | 1096 (1051) | 142 (146) | 88.53% increase (87.80%) | 11.47% decrease (12.20%) |
| Lower quartile (Q1) | 1111 (839) | 127 (113) | 89.74% increase (88.13%) | 10.26%decrease (11.87%) |
3.3 Where is the pay gap?
The reduction in the mean (average) gender pay gap can be attributed to a number of factors:
- A slight decrease in the representation of female employees in the upper (Q4), resulting in an increase in % of female representation in the middle 2 quartiles (Q3 and Q2) and lower quartile (Q1)
- The difference in average hourly rate between male and female staff has narrowed – resulting in a decrease of £5.22 difference between male and female average salary of £14.35 in 2022/23 to £9.13 in 2023/24, therefore resulting in an overall reduction.
- The median hourly increase from 2023 to 2024 was £0.56 for male employees and £1.02 for female employees, therefore resulting in a decrease in the difference between male and female median average of £0.46 from £4.82 in 2022/23 to £4.36 in 2023/24, therefore resulting in an overall reduction.
The changes in the quartile representation are:
- A decrease in the headcount of female employees in Q4: down 1.05% from 1006 employees in 2023 to 887 employees in 2024.
- A decrease in the headcount for male employees in Q4 from 379 in 2023 to 352 in 2024 but an overall increase in the % headcount of male employees in Q4: up 1.05% from 27.36 % in 2023 to 28.41% in 2024.
- A decrease in the headcount for female employees in Q3 from 1151 in 2023 to 1099 but an overall increase in the % headcount of female employees in Q3: up 0.97% from 87.73% in 2023 to 88.70% in 2024.
- A decrease in the headcount of male employees in Q3 from 161 in 2023 to 140 employees in 2024, a decrease of 13%.
- An increase in the headcount of female employees in Q2 from 1051 in 2023 to 1096 employees in 2024 with an increase of 4.3%. The male equivalent was a decrease of 2.5%.
- There was also a notable increase in the headcount of female employees in Q1 from 839 employees in 2023 to 1111 employees in 2024, an increase of 32.5%. The male equivalent was an increase of 13%.
3.4 Impact of consultant medical and dental staff
As reported in previous years, there is a greater proportion of male workers within the categories of medical and dental (M&D) and very senior manager (VSM). These roles are the highest paid workers of the organisation and equate to 7.02% of the total workforce.
This information has been broken down further to show the impact of medical staff on the Trust’s gender pay gap and this shows that if we exclude medical staff, the gap is dramatically reduced. This is apparent again for 2023-24, with an overall average (mean) pay gap of 7.32%, when medical staff are excluded.
2022-23 Medical staff
| Gender | Average hourly rate | Median hourly rate |
|---|---|---|
| Female | £48.83 | £50.68 |
| Male | £45.74 | £48.67 |
| Difference | £3.09 | £2.01 |
| Pay gap (%) | 6.32% | 3.97% |
2022-23 Non-medical staff
| Gender | Average hourly rate | Median hourly rate |
|---|---|---|
| Female | £18.92 | £17.68 |
| Male | £17.54 | £16.39 |
| Difference | £1.39 | £1.29 |
| Pay gap (%) | 7.32% | 7.30% |
The quartile with the highest representation of male employees is the Upper Quartile (Q4), which represents the highest paid employees of the organisation.
Of the 352 male employees within Q4, 41% (137) are medical Consultants. There are 73 female medical Consultants, which accounts for only 8.22% of the 887 female employees in Q4. We have seen a 1.5% increase in female consultants which was reported at 33.5% in 2023 to 35% in 2024.
The imbalance in these numbers has an impact on the overall gender pay gap.
The table below shows the age profile of all medical consultants as at 31 March 2024.
| Age | Female | Male |
|---|---|---|
| 31-35 | 3 (60%) | 2 (40%) |
| 36-40 | 15 (58%) | 11 (42%) |
| 41-45 | 19 (46%) | 22 (54%) |
| 46-50 | 12 (31%) | 26 (69%) |
| 51-55 | 10 (27%) | 27 (73%) |
| 56-60 | 7 (33%) | 14 (67%) |
| 61-65 | 4 (15%) | 22 (85%) |
| 66+ | 3 (19%) | 13 (81%) |
There are 76 male medical Consultants who are aged 51+. The number of female medical Consultants in the same age range is 24. It would usually be within this age range where medical Consultants would reach the top of the pay scale as it takes 15 years from the first year of employment as a medical Consultant. This will therefore give rise to a significant gap in the average earnings.
In the lower age brackets (31 to 50) there are 49 female Consultants and 61 male Consultants. There is a notable increase in the numbers of female employees occupying consultant roles through the lower age brackets, when compared to the upper age brackets.
3.5 Pay band review
The proportion of females and males employed within each pay band is shown in the chart below. This illustrates the proportion of female and male staff within each of the pay bands.
It can be seen that a number of the pay grades are broadly representative of the Trust’s gender ratio (85:15), however there is higher female representation employed in bands 1 -7, and higher male representation at band 8d and for medical and dental staff.
When we compare this information against the previous year, the notable differences are reported as:
- There has been an increase in female representation at Band 3 (45% increase), Band 8c (30% increase), and Medical and Dental Staff (10% increase)
- There is a decrease in female representation at Band 2 (35% decrease) and Band 8d (40% decrease) for 2023-24.
- There has been an increase in male representation at Band 3 (60% increase), Band 5 ( 12% increase)
- There has been a decrease in male representation at Band 2 (33% decrease) and Band 8b (25% decrease) and very senior managers (33% decrease)
All employees of the Trust, with the exception of medical and dental staff (M&D) and very senior managers (VSM) are paid on national Agenda for Change (AfC) pay, Terms and Conditions of Service.
The Terms and Conditions set out the band structures and pay for all employees to ensure transparency, fairness and equal treatment for all.
4.0 Bonus pay gap
This section of the report is focused on the Trust’s Gender Bonus Pay Gap %, which is reported as being an average of 25.91% for 2024 an increase of 6.66% since the 2023 report.
The Trust does not operate a bonus scheme, however Consultant Medical and Dental staff are eligible to apply for clinical excellence awards (CEA), which are considered to be a bonus payment and therefore form part of the gender pay gap calculations.
The table below provides a breakdown of the average mean and median rate of bonus pay (CEA’s).
| Gender | Means bonus pay | Median bonus pay |
|---|---|---|
| Male | £8,493.24 | £4,867.75 |
| Female | £6,292.80 | £4,867.75 |
| Difference | £2,200.45 | £0.00 |
| Bonus pay gap | £25.91 | £0.00 |
The average gender bonus rate of pay is reported at 25.91% for 2024, which has shown an increase of 6.66% from the previous year.
The median difference is zero because the midway point for both male and female is the same and is due to the CEA’s being split equally.
Since agreement of the national pay award for Medical Consultants, CEA’s will cease from 2024 and will impact from 2025 gender pay reporting in 2026 as we will no longer have to report and review CEA’s as part of the bonus pay gap.
4.1 Where is the average bonus pay gap?
The non-competitive process of awarding CEA’s for 2023-24 has had a significant impact in this area. This resulted in the awards being paid to a total of 123 male (66%) Consultants and 63 (34%) female Consultants. The increase is due +4.09% increase in male employees who have received the bonus payment (10.80% in 2022/23 to 14.89% in 2023/24)
For 2023-24, the annual amount for investment was equally distributed amongst all eligible Consultants as a one-off, non-consolidated payment.
The Trust’s Consultant medical workforce are predominantly male, therefore it is unsurprising that the Gender Bonus Gap % indicates that male Consultants earn a higher rate of average bonus pay (CEAs) than female Consultants. This is because there are more male Consultants employed by the Trust and therefore there are more male Consultants who are in receipt of a CEA.
5.0 Benchmarking
The NHS as a whole does not undertake national reporting of the Gender Pay Gap, however the information for each individual NHS organisation is available online via the Government’s equalities office.
Appendix 2 illustrates a comparison of the Trust against similar organisations within the North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care System (ICS).
All Trust’s within the ICS have published their Gender Pay Gap data for 2022-2023 and no Trusts have published data for the 2023-2024 report, although it is noted that the deadline for our reporting is not until 30 March 2025. In respect of the Average Hourly Rate of Pay, all NHS organisations within the ICS report that male employees receive a higher average rate of pay when compared to female employees.
6.0 Actions to address our gender and bonus pay gap
Our actions to improve the Trust’s Gender Pay Gap align with the Trust’s wider organisational strategic goals, specifically ‘Valuing our People’. They also support our commitments to the NHS People Plan.
We continue to commit to address our gender pay gaps and we will look to implement the following actions:
- As part of our organisational commitment to inclusion we will consider the language, images and branding we use to promote and advertise roles and careers within our organisation.
- To analyse NHS Staff Survey data, particularly focussing on the experience of women.
- We will continue to encourage our senior leaders to role model working flexibly and to champion flexible working arrangements.
- The Trust is committed to tackling health inequalities. Our workforce health and wellbeing procedures, policies and our strategy will all contribute to closing the gender pay gap by understanding and tackling the inequalities faced by women belonging to specific groups, based on characteristics such as ethnicity, age, deprivation and profession.
- We continue to promoting and updating workforce policies in line with current best practice to promote gender equality, fairness and health literacy.
- The Women and Men’s network offers a place for staff to come together, share experiences and facilitate learning and development. The network will also assist in the shaping and delivery of organisational strategy and policy, working with us to improve staff experience on specific gender related issues and adding more depth to our Gender Pay Gap Action Plan.
To move to one reporting methodology for data for this data set for the Group.
Appendices
Appendix 1: Gender Pay Gap Reporting – Five Year Analysis
| Report indicator | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | Difference for 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Difference in hourly rate of pay Mean (average) | 35.27% | 35.67% | 36.73% | 35.69% | 44.65% | 33.27% | -11.38% |
| Difference in hourly rate of pay Median (middle) | 20.58% | 22.34% | 24.73% | 23.46% | 23.51% | 20.71% | -2.80% |
| Difference in Bonus Pay Mean (average) | 25.21% | 17.00% | 21.99% | 60.64% | 19.25% | 25.91% | +6.66% |
| Difference in bonus pay Median (middle) | 33.33% | 0% | 14.67% | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.00% |
| % of male employees who received bonus pay | 7.90% | 5.71% | 7.08% | 100.00% | 10.80% | 14.89% | +4.09% |
| % of female employees who receive bonus pay | 0.62% | 0.57% | 0.59% | 100.00% | 1.25% | 1.42% | +0.17% |
| Upper Quartile (Q4) male | 28.53% | 28.75% | 28.98% | 29.51% | 27.36% | 28.41% | +1.05% |
| Upper Quartile (Q4) female | 71.47% | 71.25% | 71.02% | 70.49% | 72.64% | 71.59% | -1.05% |
| Upper Middle (Q3) male | 12.80% | 12.32% | 11.49% | 9.62% | 12.27% | 11.30% | -0.97% |
| Upper Middle (Q3) female | 87.20% | 87.68% | 88.51% | 90.38% | 87.73% | 88.70% | +0.97% |
| Lower Middle (Q2) male | 12.26% | 11.07% | 11.23% | 10.06% | 12.20% | 11.47% | -0.73% |
| Lower Middle (Q2) female | 87.74% | 88.93% | 88.77% | 89.94% | 87.80% | 88.53% | +0.73% |
| Lower (Q1) male | 10.30% | 10.63% | 9.83% | 10.50% | 11.87% | 10.26% | -1.61% |
| Lower (Q1) female | 89.70% | 89.37% | 90.17% | 89.50% | 88.13% | 89.74% | +1.61% |
Appendix 2: Gender Pay Gap Benchmarking – Five Year Analysis to 31 March 2024
| Employer | 2018-19 | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust | 20.80% | 21% | 21.40% | 21.10% | 19.80% |
| North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust | 35.30% | 35.60% | 36.70% | 35.60% | 44.65% |
| Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust | 13.40% | 14.60% | 13.20% | 8.60% | 11.60% |
| Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust | 29.80% | 24.80% | 27.20% | 28.30% | 23.70% |
| The Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust | 25.20% | 24.90% | 20.60% | 25.20% | 22.40% |
| County Durham And Darlington NHS Foundation Trust | No data reported | 37.70% | 37.40% | 34.30% | 33.80% |
| South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust | 29.90% | 31.50% | 31.90% | 29.40% | 29.20% |
| Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust | 14.70% | 12.20% | 10.70% | 10.70% | 11.90% |
| South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust | No data reported | 31.90% | 31.70% | 31.60% | 30.90% |
| North East Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust | 2.10% | 1.10% | -1.70% | -0.20% | 0.90% |
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