GovWire

The Agency continues to have a nearly 50/50 split between genders in the workforce, and the mean and median gender pay gaps have continued to reduce slightly over the previous year.

The mean ordinary GPG has decreased by 0.4 percentage points (ppt) to 10.0%.

The median ordinary GPG has decreased by 1.9 ppt to 16.1%.

Our mean GPG is slightly higher than the overall mean GPG for the Civil Service (8.5% in 2022) and median GPG (11.3% in 2022).

Our mean and median bonus gap have increased compared to 2021. However, at 27.7% (mean) and 20.8% (median) these compare favourably with the mean bonus GPG for the Civil Service as a whole (27.4% in 2022), and the median bonus GPG (37.1% in 2022).

It is primarily the Agencys grade distribution that is the most significant contributor to the difference in average salaries across genders. We have proportionately more women than men in each grade below Grades 7/6, so more men are in our more senior grades than women, including the Senior Civil Service. Clearly this imbalance needs addressing, but the relatively small size of the Agency, especially at higher grades, means that very small changes in staff can have a significant impact on gender distribution in those grades.

We have developed our GPG Action Plan and are taking a number of important steps to narrow the GPG in the Agency (see Our Approach below). These include:

• reviewing our recruitment processes and ensuring that our campaigns are inclusive (eg, using gender-neutral language) and attract the best talent irrespective of gender, location or any other characteristics

• ensuring that all of our jobs and career opportunities are attractive to women by removing barriers and providing a supportive environment through flexible and family friendly policies such as the UK Space Agency Menopause Policy
• releasing a quarterly diversity data dashboard to increase transparency, and regular actions to increase self-reporting rates of staff diversity declarations
• alignment to the Cabinet Office Inclusive Practice Team to ensure access to cross-government initiatives
• using our Staff Networks to help us to create an inclusive workplace for all