Brighton & Hove City Council Ethnicity Pay Gap Report 2024-25
1. Introduction
1.1. The council is publishing the workforce ethnicity pay gap on a voluntary basis. The report follows the government’s ethnicity pay reporting guidance for employers (Appendix A), and the Office of National Statistics (ONS) guidelines for ethnic origin groupings. The government guidance does not recommended looking at the top two measures in isolation, as such the wider Ethnic group reporting measure are also reported. Therefore, this report includes:
· the mean (average) and median ethnicity pay gaps for White and Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) employees*
· the proportions of BME and White employees* in each pay quartile
· the mean (average) and median ethnicity pay gap using hourly pay for Ethnic Groups
· percentage of each Ethnic group in each hourly pay quartile
· percentages of employees in different ethnic groups
· percentage of employees who did not disclose their ethnicity – they either answered ‘prefer not to say’ or gave no answer when you attempted to collect their ethnicity.
· the percentage of each ethnic group receiving bonus pay
· the mean (average) pay gap for bonus pay
· median ethnicity pay gap for bonus pay
· the proportions of Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) and White employees who received a bonus
*Please see Appendix B for ethnic origin groupings. In line with the ONS ethnicity pay gap reporting, the White binary category includes White British/English/Welsh/Scottish/Northern Irish/White Irish/White-Gypsy/Irish Traveller and Any Other White background groups.
1.2. The reporting data includes council employees who have provided their equalities data and were employed on 31 March 2024. Apprentices, seasonal, temporary or casual employees are included if they fall within the reference period created by the snapshot date. Mirroring the gender pay reporting regulations, the data excludes schools-based staff.
1.3. The council’s workforce equalities data is provided confidentially and voluntarily by individuals working for the council. The council encourages its workforce to share their equalities data to understand the workforce profile and plan actions to address inequalities. Not all employees choose to share their details. This report is based on 86.1% of the workforce on the snapshot date who have disclosed their ethnicity data. The remaining 13.9% either preferred not to say, selected ‘not known’ or did not provide details.
1.4. The council publishes this information on its website.
1.5. This report relates to the snapshot date of March 31st 2024.
2. Ethnicity Pay and Equal pay
2.1 Pay gap reporting is different to equal pay. Pay gaps measure the difference in average hourly pay between different groups. Unlike equal pay audits, which look at the difference in pay between people with different characteristics doing the same job, pay gap reporting looks at the wider picture across the workforce.
2.2 The ethnicity pay gap measures the difference between White and BME employee average ordinary earnings (excluding overtime) across the workforce. It is expressed as a percentage of White employee earnings, with both the mean (average) and median hourly rates are reported. This report also details the ethnicity pay gap as a measure of the difference between Ethnic group employee average ordinary earnings (excluding overtime) across the workforce, this will be expressed as a percentage difference between each Ethnic group employee earnings.
2.3 The Equality Act 2010 makes it unlawful to discriminate (both directly and indirectly) against employees (and people seeking work) because of their race or ethnicity. An employer can be equal pay compliant and still have an ethnicity pay gap. The cause of an ethnicity pay gap may not fall within the direct control of the employer and is likely to be due to other factors that impose a disadvantage on people from ethnic minorities without being explicitly discriminatory.
2.4 The council supports the fair treatment and reward of all staff irrespective of race or other characteristics. This report sets out the council’s ethnicity pay gap including analysis by ethnic origins and links to the council’s Fair & Inclusive Action Plan which includes a comprehensive range of outputs to support the recruitment, retention and progression of BME staff.
3. Ethnicity Pay Gap Reporting
3.1 Mean and Median Pay Gap Reporting: Brighton & Hove City Council has a positive pay gap for both the mean and median gross hourly rates. This means the average earnings of White employees is more than BME employees.
3.2 The Median (middle) ethnicity pay gap in hourly pay is 2.7%. This is a decrease of 2.5% on the previous year.
3.3 The Mean (average) ethnicity pay gap in hourly pay is 4.9%. This is a +0.1% change on the previous year.
3.4 Mean & Median pay gaps between ethnic binary categories. The tubular table below shows the mean and median pay gaps between five ethnic categories.
|
Mixed, Multiple ethnic groups |
Asian, Asian British |
Black, Caribbean, African, Black British |
Other ethnic group |
|
|
White |
Gap between white and Mixed, Multiple ethnic groups. Mean 2.9% Median 2.1% |
Gap between white and Asian, Asian British. Mean 4.2% Median 2.7% |
Gap between white and Black, Caribbean, African, Black British Mean -6.2% Median 2.7% |
Gap between white and Other ethnic group Mean 7.4% Median 6.3% |
|
Mixed, Multiple ethnic groups |
|
Gap between Mixed, Multiple ethnic groups and Asian ethnic groups. Mean 1.3% Median 0.6% |
Gap between Mixed, Multiple ethnic groups and Black, Caribbean, African, Black British. Mean 3.4% Median 0.6% |
Gap between Mixed, Multiple ethnic and other ethnic groups. Mean % Median 4.3% |
|
Asian, Asian British |
|
|
Gap between Asian, Asian British and Black, Caribbean, African, Black British. Mean 2.2% Median 0% |
Gap between Asian, Asian British and other ethnic groups. Mean 3.4% Median - 3.7 |
|
Black, Caribbean, African, Black British |
|
|
|
Gap between Black, Caribbean, African, Black British and other ethnic groups. Mean 1.2% Median 3.7% |
3.5.1 Salary quartile reporting is calculated by sorting employees by their hourly rate earnings from the lowest to the highest, then splitting them into four equal quartiles to show the proportions of White and BME employees in each group. Definitions of the salary quartile information are shown in Appendix C.
|
Quartile & Hourly rate range table White & BME |
% White in Quartile |
% BME in Quartile |
|
1. Lower Quartile: £7.49 - £14.63 |
89.0% |
11.0% |
|
2. Lower Middle Quartile: £14.64 - £17.3 |
88.0% |
12.0% |
|
3. Upper Middle Quartile: £17.3 - £20.85 |
88.7% |
11.3% |
|
4. Upper Quartile: £20.85 - £98.48 |
90.4% |
9.6% |
Quartile & Hourly rate range Graph White & BME
The quartile data table and graph show that in the lower quartile (hourly earning range £7.49 to £14.63), 89% are white, and 11% BME. In the lower middle quartile (hourly range £14.64 to £17.30), 88% are white, 12% BME. In the upper middle quartile (hourly earning range £17.30 to £20.85) 88.7% are white, 11.3% are BME. In the upper quartile 90.4% are white, 9.6% are BME.
3.5.2 Salary quartile reporting by ethnic binary categoriesis measured by sorting employees by their hourly rate earnings from the lowest to the highest, then splitting them into four equal quartiles to show the proportions of the ethnic categories (five), as well as two groups of employees who have reported they Prefer not to say, or do not know their ethnic origin. In total seven categories included in the quartile measure. The below table and graph set out this detail.
|
Percentage in Quartile by Ethnic Group |
White
|
Mixed, Multiple ethnic groups
|
Asian, Asian British |
Black, Caribbean, African, Black British |
Other ethnic group |
Not known |
Prefer not to say |
|
1. Lower Quartile: £7.49 - £14.63 |
74.6% |
2.4% |
2.3% |
3.0% |
1.5% |
13.4% |
2.9% |
|
2. Lower Middle Quartile: £14.64 - £17.3 |
74.2% |
3.2% |
2.5% |
3.6% |
0.9% |
13.0% |
2.7% |
|
3. Upper Middle Quartile: £17.3 - £20.85 |
78.5% |
2.9% |
3.0% |
3.1% |
1.0% |
9.3% |
2.2% |
|
4. Upper Quartile: £20.85 - £98.48 |
79.4% |
2.7% |
1.8% |
3.0% |
1.0% |
10.9% |
1.3% |
Quartile & Hourly rate range Graph by Ethnic Group
White employees are more represented in the Upper Middle and Upper quartiles with 78.5% and 79.4% of employees respectively being white, compared to 74.6 in the Lower quartile. This is a key reason behind the ethnicity pay gap, as it shows a greater proportion of white employees in higher paid roles. These figures are similar to those from the previous reporting period.
The percentage of Asian / Asian British employees in the Upper Middle quartile has risen by 1% from 2% in 2023 to 3% in 2024. The percentage of Black, Caribbean, African, Black British employees has risen slightly across the workforce as a whole.
3.6 Bonus pay reporting. The council does not pay bonuses, as such no figures are reportable.
4. Supporting Narrative & further analysis
4.1 The council’s overall workforce ethnicity profile based on this reporting data is 89.0% White and 11.0% BME.
4.2 4172 employees whose ethnicity is known are included in the reporting data, in addition to 668 employees whose ethnicity is not known. These employees held 5,002 job roles in the pay period comprising of 4,635 contracted roles and 367 casual roles. As per applied reporting methodology employees on less than full pay have been excluded.
4.3 Pay & Grading – The council’s annual pay policy statement provides details of the council’s pay and grading arrangements and can be found here on the link at Appendix C.
4.4 The mean hourly earnings for White employees were £19.43. The mean hourly earnings for BME employees were £18.48, this results in the reported 4.9% difference. The median hourly earnings for White employees were £17.59. The median hourly earnings for BME employees were £17.12, this results in the reported 2.7% difference.
4.6 White British - headline ethnicity pay gap figures comparing mean and median earnings for White British with White Irish, White Gypsy/Traveller & BME Binary categories.
Reporting the White ethnic categories individually highlights that on average for both the mean and median measure, White Irish employees earn more than White British, White Other and BME employees. The median pay gap for BME employees is 5.3% when comparing earnings to White British employees, this is 0.1% higher than reporting represented for the White binary category at 3.3.
|
Ethnicity |
Mean (Average) Hourly Rate £ |
Pay Gap |
Median Hourly Rate £ |
Pay Gap |
|
Headcount (Contracts) |
|
White British |
19.53 |
17.59 |
3347 |
|||
|
White Irish |
20.30 |
-4.0% |
19.03 |
-8.2% |
99 |
|
|
White Other, White Gypsy/Traveller |
18.36 |
6.0% |
17.16 |
2.4% |
388 |
|
|
BME |
18.48 |
5.3% |
17.12 |
2.7% |
473 |
|
|
Not Known |
18.85 |
3.5% |
16.63 |
5.5% |
|
581 |
|
Prefer not to say |
17.79 |
8.9% |
16.26 |
7.6% |
|
114 |
The below table sets out the mean and median pay gaps for the same groupings.
4.7 White British Pay Gap - (18 categories) mean and median hourly earnings and percentage difference with White British employees. Reporting the pay gaps for all ethnic origin categories provides greater detail, however, it is important to note that the group headcounts are small in size for some ethnic groups which results in volatility of some figures. Due to small sample sizes, figures for White and Black African, Black Other, and White - Gypsy / Irish Traveller, Pakistani and Arab ethnic groups should be treated with caution.
· The data details that on median earnings, employees with the following ethnic origins earn more than White British employees;
· Indian, White – Irish & White and Asian.
|
|
Mean Hourly Rate £ |
2023 Pay Gap |
Median Hourly Rate £ |
2023 Pay Gap |
Headcount
|
Headcount as % of Data |
|
White - British |
19.54 |
0.0% |
17.59 |
0.0% |
3159 |
63.2% |
|
White - Gypsy / Irish Traveller |
17.46 |
10.7% |
17.59 |
0.0% |
3 |
0.1% |
|
Indian |
21.80 |
-11.5% |
19.35 |
-10.0% |
41 |
0.8% |
|
Black - Caribbean |
18.66 |
4.5% |
17.98 |
-2.2% |
31 |
0.6% |
|
Pakistani |
18.40 |
5.8% |
18.15 |
-3.2% |
12 |
0.2% |
|
White - Irish |
20.30 |
-3.9% |
19.03 |
-8.2% |
99 |
2.0% |
|
White and Black African |
17.22 |
11.9% |
17.40 |
1.1% |
12 |
0.2% |
|
White and Black Caribbean |
19.01 |
2.7% |
18.73 |
-6.5% |
20 |
0.4% |
|
White and Asian |
20.34 |
-4.1% |
17.61 |
-0.1% |
46 |
0.9% |
|
Any other Asian background |
17.28 |
11.6% |
16.67 |
5.2% |
31 |
0.6% |
|
Any other White background |
18.36 |
6.0% |
17.12 |
2.7% |
385 |
7.7% |
|
Any other Mixed background |
18.03 |
7.8% |
16.63 |
5.5% |
62 |
1.2% |
|
Black - African |
18.27 |
6.5% |
17.15 |
2.5% |
113 |
2.3% |
|
Chinese |
16.04 |
17.9% |
15.37 |
12.6% |
20 |
0.4% |
|
Any other Black background |
16.91 |
13.5% |
16.55 |
5.9% |
15 |
0.3% |
|
Any other Ethnic background |
16.06 |
17.8% |
16.23 |
7.8% |
4 |
0.1% |
|
Bangladeshi |
16.30 |
16.6% |
14.91 |
15.2% |
15 |
0.3% |
|
Arab |
16.25 |
16.9% |
15.19 |
13.7% |
10 |
0.2% |
· In contrast employees with the following ethnic origins earn learn less than White British employees White - Gypsy / Irish Traveller; Black - Caribbean; Pakistani; White and Black African; White and Black Caribbean; Any other Asian background; Any other White background; Any other Mixed background; Black - African; Chinese; Any other Black background; Any other Ethnic background; Bangladeshi; Arab.
The below graph shows the median hourly earnings by Ethnic origin compared to White British sorted highest to lowest hourly rate.
4.8 Wider Ethnic binary category - Five ethnic categories.
· The mean White employee hourly rate is £19.43 resulting in a 2.9% pay gap for Mixed, Multiple ethnic group employees, a 4.2% gap for Asian, Asian British employees, 6.2% gap for Black, Caribbean, African, Black British employees, and a 7.4% pay gap for Other ethnic group employees.
· The median White hourly rate is £17.59, resulting in an 2.1% pay gap for Mixed, Multiple ethnic group employees, 2.7% gap for Asian, Asian British employees, and 0.4% gap for Black, Caribbean, African, Black British ; 6.3% gap for Other ethnic group employees.
|
Ethnicity
|
Mean Hourly Rate £ |
2023 Pay Gap |
Median Hourly Rate £ |
2023 Pay Gap |
Headcount (Contracts) |
|
White |
19.43 |
17.59 |
3834 |
||
|
Mixed, Multiple ethnic groups |
18.86 |
2.9% |
17.23 |
2.1% |
140 |
|
Asian, Asian British |
18.62 |
4.2% |
17.12 |
2.7% |
119 |
|
Black, Caribbean, African, Black British |
18.22 |
6.2% |
17.12 |
2.7% |
159 |
|
Other ethnic group |
17.99 |
7.4% |
16.48 |
6.3% |
55 |
|
Not Known |
18.85 |
3.0% |
16.63 |
5.5% |
581 |
|
Prefer not to say |
17.79 |
8.4% |
16.26 |
7.6% |
114 |
4.9 Salary Quartiles are shown at section 3.5.1. The % of BME employees in each quartile is lower than the % of White employees. This reflects the workforce ethnicity profile of 10.2% noted above. The highest % representation of BME employees is at the lower middle quartile (12.0%). There are 11.0% BME workers in the Lower quartile and 11.3% in the upper middle quartile. The upper quartile shows the lowest proportion of BME employees (9.6%).
Analysing the pay gaps within the reported pay quartiles highlights the variance of gaps across the quartiles.
|
Ethnicity Pay Gap Quartile |
Mean / Median Hourly rate |
White £ |
BME £ |
% Pay Gap by quartile |
Quartile Hourly rate £ |
|
1. Lower Quartile £6.83 - £13.41 |
Mean hourly rate |
13.34 |
13.45 |
-0.9% |
13.35 |
|
Median hourly rate |
13.48 |
13.65 |
-1.3% |
13.49 |
|
|
2. Lower Middle Quartile £13.41 - £16.21 |
Mean hourly rate |
15.95 |
15.85 |
0.6% |
15.95 |
|
Median hourly rate |
16.11 |
15.70 |
2.5% |
16.13 |
|
|
3. Upper Middle Quartile £16.22 - £19.85 |
Mean hourly rate |
19.25 |
18.97 |
1.5% |
19.21 |
|
Median hourly rate |
19.00 |
19.00 |
0.0% |
19.00 |
|
|
4. Upper Quartile £19.85 - £87.06 |
Mean hourly rate |
28.57 |
26.52 |
7.2% |
27.30 |
|
Median hourly rate |
24.13 |
24.08 |
4.2% |
25.13 |
· The median ethnicity pay gap is highest for the upper quartile at 4.2%. The lower middle quartile has a median pay gap of 2.5%; the upper middle 0%, and the lower quartile has a negative pay gap of -1.3%
· The mean ethnicity pay gap is -0.9% for the lower quartile, 0.6% for the lower middle quartile and 1.5% for the upper middle. The upper quartile had the highest pay gap at 7.2%.
4.9 Salary Sacrifice Schemes are where an employee gives up the right to receive part of their salary due under their contract of employment, in return for the employer’s agreement to provide an equivalent non-cash benefit, the value of which is exempt from tax and national insurance contributions (NICs). For the purposes of pay gap reporting these values must be deducted from relevant employees pay thus reducing the overall reportable pay to include for average earnings. Schemes include:
· Cycle to Work - to help employees save on bikes purchased to commute to work
· Childcare vouchers - to help employees save on childcare costs.
· Additional Voluntary Contribution (AVC) Pension –enables Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) members to increase their retirement benefits by saving money alongside their pension pot.
The number of employees in a salary sacrifice scheme within this data report total 464. 9.7% are BME employees (headcount of 45) with an average monthly deduction of £225, and 80.4% are White employees (headcount 373) with an average monthly deduction of £378. The remainder are employees of unknown ethnicity.
5. How figures compare nationally
The table below shows the ONS & council’s 5 category median pay gap % figures.
|
|
Median Pay gap % White Employees and BME binary categories |
|
|
|
Binary Category
|
ONS UK 2022 |
Brighton & Hove & City Council 2024 |
Variance BHCC to ONS |
|
White |
N/A Reference level |
||
|
Asian or Asian British |
-3.3 |
2.7 |
6 |
|
Black, African, Caribbean or Black British |
5.7 |
2.7 |
-3 |
|
Mixed or Multiple ethnic groups |
-7.2 |
2.1 |
9.3 |
|
Other ethnic group |
-4.5 |
6.3 |
10.8 |
5.2 Of those organisations that have published ethnicity pay gap data similar to the council there is a trend towards a concentration of BME staff in lower grades and an absence, or under-representation of BME staff at senior grades.
6. Summary & Actions
6.1 The council is confident that its ethnicity pay gap does not stem from an equal pay issue. In 2010 the council introduced a new pay and grading system to ensure all roles are graded using a recognised job evaluation system to make sure individuals receive equal pay for equal work. In 2013 a new system of allowances and expenses was implemented to ensure consistency across the workforce.
6.2 The council’s ethnicity pay gap shows that on average (by both measures) White employees are paid more than BME employees and this is similar to the national ethnicity pay gap. This is because we have more White employees in higher graded job roles.
6.3 The council is committed to improving the diversity of its workforce to reflect its communities and ethnicity forms part of our wider inclusion agenda. Being a fair and inclusive place to work is one of the five commitments of ‘Our People Promise’ made to employees. The work programme to deliver this promise, our co-created ‘Fair and Inclusive Action Plan’ has a comprehensive range of outputs to support the recruitment, retention and progression of BME staff. See Appendix E for a link to the Council’s Fair & Inclusive Action Plan.
Appendix A
Link to Governments Ethnicity pay reporting guidance for employers:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ethnicity-pay-reporting-guidance-for-employers
Appendix B
Ethnic Origin Groupings for reporting purposes. In line with the Office of National Statistics (ONS) ethnicity pay gap reporting.
|
Ethnicity Group |
Ethnic Origin |
|
|
BME |
Asian, Asian British |
Any other Asian background |
|
|
|
Bangladeshi |
|
|
|
Chinese |
|
|
|
Indian |
|
|
|
Pakistani |
|
|
Black, Caribbean, African, Black British |
Any other Black background |
|
|
|
Black African |
|
|
|
Black Caribbean |
|
|
Mixed, Multiple ethnic groups |
Any other Mixed or Multiple background |
|
|
|
White and Asian |
|
|
|
White and Black African |
|
|
|
White and Black Caribbean |
|
|
Other ethnic group |
Any other ethnic group |
|
|
|
Arab |
|
White |
White |
Any other White background |
|
|
|
White Irish |
|
|
|
White British |
|
|
|
White Gypsy / Irish Traveller |
Appendix C
Hourly Pay Definition for the purposes of calculating the mean and median hourly rates.
Pay will include:
· basic pay
· paid leave, including annual leave, sick leave, maternity, paternity, adoption or parental leave (except where an employee is paid less than usual because of being on any such leave)
· area and other allowances
· shift premium pay
· pay for piecework
· bonus pay
It will not include:
· overtime pay
· allowances earned during paid overtime hours
· redundancy pay
· pay related to termination of employment
· pay in lieu of annual leave
· any repayments of authorised expenses
· benefits in kind
· interest-free loans
Where ordinary pay is used to contribute to a salary sacrifice the employee’s gross pay after any reduction for a salary sacrifice scheme must be used for the earnings calculation.
Full-pay Relevant Employee Definition
“Full-pay relevant employee” means a relevant employee who is not, during the relevant pay period, being paid at a reduced rate or nil as a result of the employee being on leave. Employees who receive no pay at all during the relevant pay period, whether or not this is as a result of being on leave are excluded from the ethnicity pay gap calculations. “Leave” includes—
(a) annual leave
(b) maternity, paternity, adoption, parental or shared parental leave
(c) sick leave and
(d) special leave
Pay Quartiles.
This calculation requires an employer to show the proportions of White and BME “full-pay relevant employees” in four quartile pay bands. This is done by dividing the workforce (so far as possible) into four equal sections to determine the lower, lower middle, upper middle and upper quartile pay bands. Where employees receiving the same hourly rate of pay fall within more than one quartile pay band, a relative proportion of BME and White employees receiving that rate of pay was assigned to each of those pay quartiles.
Appendix D: Link to Council’s Pay Policy Statement: https://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/jobs/pay-policy-statement.
Appendix E: ONS 2022 UK Ethnicity Report Link https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/articles/ethnicitypaygapsingreatbritain/2012to2022Statistics
Please note, the ONS notes that because of the declining sample of the Annual Population Survey (APS) and increased uncertainty since 2020, estimates covering the period 2020 to 2022 should be used with caution.
Appendix F: Link to the Council’s Fair and Inclusive Action Plan: https://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/fair-and-inclusive