Gender pay gap reporting compares the average hourly earnings of male and female staff. The regulations require employers with over 250 staff to publish six metrics each year which are calculated from a snapshot date. Data in this report is calculated from a snapshot taken on 31 March 2024. The report analyses the pay disparities between the binary sexes of men and women. At Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust we recognise that gender identity is non-binary and commit to increasing our understanding of the barriers faced by minority groups.

The six metrics we are reporting on are:

• The median gender pay gap using bonus pay 
• The percentage of men and women in each hourly pay quarter
• The percentage of men and women receiving bonus pay 
• The mean (average) gender pay gap using hourly pay 
• The mean (average) gender pay gap using bonus pay 
• The median gender pay gap using hourly pay 

Gender pay gap vs equal pay

The gender pay gap measures the differences in hourly pay between men and women, no matter what their role in an organisation.

Equal pay is the right of men and women to be paid the same for the same work or work of equal value. Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust is committed to ensuring that it remains an Equal Pay Employer.

For 2023-2024, we are reporting a mean gender pay gap, based on our March 31 snapshot of 9.90% - a decrease of 1.66% points on 2022-2023. Our Median gender pay gap is – (minus) 2.29% - a decrease of 2.83% points on 2022-2023. This indicates that the median hourly rate of pay for women (£17.16) is now greater than for men (£16.78).

Over the past three reporting periods the gaps for both mean and median have seen a steady closure year on year.

Proportion of gender in each pay band 

On 31 March 2024 we employed 8173 members of staff, 6182 (76%) of those were female. Whilst staff numbers have grown since 2021-2022 the 76/24 percentage profile remains relatively the same. 1977 (31.9%) of female staff work on a part time basis, compared to 418 (20.9%) of male staff who work on a part time basis. 2395 members of staff work on a part time basis for the Trust, 82.5% of those are female. This is the single biggest factor in explaining our gender pay gap.

In the past three years the proportions of male and female staff across each quartile have broadly remained the same. Differences of note that may explain the decrease in the gender pay gap are:

• Growth of female representation in top quartile from 71% to nearly 73% during the three year period.
• Growth of female representation in the upper middle quartile from 78% to nearly 80% during the three year period.

Bonus payment gender pay gap 

Bonus payments for staff in the Trust are entirely accounted for by doctors in receipt of Clinical Excellence Award Scheme payments. 55 doctors were in receipt of the award on the 31 March. Of those 24 (43.6%) were female and 31 (56.4%) were male. 13 of the 24 female doctors worked part time, compared to 10 of the 31 male doctors. This, along with the small numbers explains the gap.

The pay agreement for Doctors in summer 2024 signalled the end of Local Clinical Excellence Awards. It was argued that they were exclusionary, as applicants had to have evidence of management and research activity and were seen as a key contributing factor to gender pay gaps. 

Actions we have taken and continue to take to close the gender pay gap 

Commitment to paying the UK Living Wage: Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust became an accredited Living Wage Employer in 2013.

We were the first NHS Trust in the North-East of England to accredit with the Living Wage Foundation and have continued to champion the Living Wage during Living Wage Week each November. The Real Living Wage is worked out independently and takes into account rising bills and costs. Paying a Living Wage means that all staff are appointed on at least Band 2 of the Agenda for Change pay scales for NHS staff.

Encouraging flexible working: the Trust promotes a supportive and flexible working culture. We recognise that flexible working helps employees to achieve a better balance between their work and home life, as well as improve service delivery through a flexible workforce. It can help the Trust become an employer of choice, aid recruitment and retention, reduce sickness absence and improve employee engagement, leading to an improved patient experience.

Inclusive recruitment: the Trust has undertaken a substantial piece of work examining our recruitment processes, with the objective of removing any barriers to entry by protected characteristics as defined by the Equality Act 2010. Many of the measures we have adopted have recently been implemented. The next key piece of work that follows on from this will be a review of job descriptions. As part of this we will carefully examine and remove any gender bias that may affect the numbers of men and women applying for jobs with the Trust.

Continue with Springboard for Women Programme: across society, the NHS, and here in the Trust, people who identify as having a protected characteristic tell us they do not always have the same opportunities as others to learn, develop and progress. Springboard for Women, one of several development programmes offered by Springboard Consultancy, provides women with the inspiration, tools and confidence boost to enable them to choose what they want to do and to take their next steps (at work, in life) when the time is right for them.

Actions we plan to take to close the gender pay gap 

Mend the Gap Recommendations: we will in 2025-2026 continue to address the actions against Mend the Gap report to ensure that we are doing all we can to address pay gaps for Doctors.

Address Intersectional Issues: as part of our response to the EDI Improvement Plan, we will produce our first Race Pay Gap report and will begin to collect data to look at the gaps for other protected characteristics. We will compare the results of these to the Gender Pay Gap and examine if there are intersectional issues which we need to address. Such work will also help inform our key EDI objective of progression for staff who share protected characteristics. We will triangulate these results with the Gender Pay Gap and figures for our other mandatory Equality and Diversity Workforce Reports.

Our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy 

We believe that any modern organisation has to reflect all the communities and people it serves, in both service delivery and employment, and tackle all forms of discrimination. We need to remove inequality and ensure there are no barriers to health and wellbeing. We aim to implement this by:

• becoming a leading organisation for the promotion of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, for challenging discrimination, and for promoting equalities in service delivery and employment
• identifying and removing barriers that prevent people we serve from being treated equally
• treating all people as individuals respecting and valuing their own experiences and needs
• ensuring that Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS FT is regarded as a great place to work - an organisation which recognises the contribution of all staff, and which is supportive, fair and free from discrimination.