EQUAL PAY REVIEW
June 2010
Based on staff in post date as at 28th FEBRUARY 2010, and pay records in the 12 months March 2009 – February 2010
Contents
1. Introduction 1
2. Methodology Adopted for the Review 4
3. Scope of the Review and Detailed Analysis 4
4. Demographic Make up of SPS 7
5. Outcome of analysis and required actions 9
6. Future Reviews and Monitoring 9
Appendices
1. Description of PPMS – System and Ratings
2. Levels of Non-Consolidated Lump Sum Payments
1. Introduction
1.1. Purpose of this Report
This report has been compiled to reflect the findings of an Equal Pay Review carried out by the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) during the period February to May 2010. The Equal Pay Review itself was carried out to meet the commitment of the SPS Management and the recognised Trade Unions (the “National Partners”) given in the Equal Pay Policy Statement of June 2007 that SPS would “Carry out an Equal Pay Review over the course of the next 3 years in line with Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) guidance”. The Review was also carried out in line with Cabinet Office guidelines as described in its 2002 Equal Pay Toolkit.
1.2. Background Information on the Scottish Prison Service
Organisational Structure
1.2.1. The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) is an Executive Agency of the Scottish Government and was established in April 1993. It employs just over 4,000 staff across 13 prison establishments throughout Scotland, a Headquarters function located in Edinburgh, a Central Store at Fauldhouse and a Training College located near Falkirk. Out of 4,059 staff at date 28th February 2010, 3,046 (75%) are men and 1,013 (25%) are women. The Organisational Structure of SPS is comprised of 4 distinct staff groups as follows:
· The largest group is referred to as the Main Staff Group which is made up of operational staff, managerial staff (excluding nursing managers), estates staff, and administrative support staff. Of the 4,059 staff referred to at 1.2.1 above, 3,851 belong to the Main Staff Group. 2,994 (78%) are men and 857 (22%) are women.
· The second group is the Nursing Staff Group which is made up of professional nursing staff employed at each prison Establishment to provide Primary Healthcare Services to prisoners. Of the 4,059 staff referred to at 1.2.1 above, 194 belong to the Nursing Staff Group. 42 (22%) are men and 152 (78%) are women.
· The third group is the SPS Management Board which is made up of a Chief Executive, 5 Executive Directors, and 6 fee paid Non-Executive Directors appointed by Scottish Ministers for their expertise. The Chief Executive and 4 Executive Directors are members of the Senior Civil Service and are directly employed by the Scottish Government rather than SPS, with one Executive Director being seconded from the NHS. As such, each member of the SPS Management Board is excluded from the staff numbers provided at 1.2.1.
· The fourth is a small group of less than 10 Scottish Government staff who are seconded to work in SPS Headquarters but who remain on Scottish Government terms and conditions of employment. As they are not directly employed by SPS they are excluded from the staffing numbers provided at 1.2.1 above.
Pay, Grading, and Performance Management Arrangements
1.2.2. Pay arrangements for the Main Staff Group and Nursing Staff Group are each negotiated separately under a collective bargaining framework with the Trade Unions which SPS recognises for this purpose. The 1st of October is the pay settlement date for annual pay awards in SPS. For both the Main Staff Group and the Nursing Staff Group 2-year pay deals covering 1 October 2009 to 30 September 2011 have been agreed. The pay arrangements for the SPS Management Board are determined with reference to the findings of the Senior Civil Service Pay Review Body and are actioned by employing Departments (in this case the Scottish Government). As such, SPS has no locus in these arrangements whatsoever and as a result we have excluded the SPS Management Board, the Non-Executive Directors and a small number of seconded staff from the findings of our report.
1.2.3. For the Main Staff Group, SPS operates a Pay Band system to differentiate between the different levels of job roles and salary levels within the Service. There are 8 Pay Bands which have an alphabetical based referencing system. These range from Pay Band B (the smallest job size) through to Pay Band I (the largest) and have been in place since 2005. The previous low banding of Band A was withdrawn in 2005 in agreement with the National Partners. Each job role is allocated to an appropriate Pay Band on the basis of an analytical Job Evaluation system tailored to the specific circumstances of the SPS. Non-managerial jobs are generally those in Pay Bands B to D whereas managerial posts are generally in Pay Bands E to I. The exception to this is that the first level of management for non-operational staff (e.g. mainly administrative staff) is Pay Band D which broadly equates to the main Civil Service Executive Officer (EO) grade. Figure 1 below provides a summary of the pay ranges and pay progression points for each Pay Band. Figure 2 illustrates the minimum number of years over which progression from the minimum to the maximum of each Pay Band might take. These pay progression arrangements were introduced as a key component of SPS’ Equal Pay strategy so that regardless of starting point one will reach the maximum of the Pay Band within a defined period of time. Attaining the minimum period of progression from the Pay Band Minimum to the Pay Band Maximum is dependent on maintaining ‘Effective’ or better performance in accordance with the SPS Personal Performance Management System which is described in more detail at Appendix 1.
Part-time staff are paid on the same pay ranges and pay points as full-time staff, pro-rated according to their hours of work. Pay progression for all staff is annual after the successful completion of the appropriate probationary period. This approach is designed to ensure that our part-time pay arrangements are equal pay compliant.
Figure 1 – Main Staff Group Pay Band Ranges and Pay Progression Points for Period 1 October 2009 to 30 September 2010
Pay Band / Point 0 / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5B / £14,664 / £15,763
C / £15,921 / £17,676 / £19,433 / £21,188
D / £17,280 / £19,376 / £21,473 / £23,568 / £25,664 / £27,761
E / £20,736 / £23,207 / £25,675 / £28,145 / £30,616 / £33,085
F / £26,060 / £28,780 / £31,499 / £34,219 / £36,938 / £39,657
G
/ £33,993 / £36,531 / £39,068 / £41,605 / £44,143 / £46,682H / £43,169 / £45,765 / £48,359 / £50,953 / £53,547 / £56,142
I / £54,386 / £57,060 / £59,734 / £62,407 / £65,081 / £67,755
Figure 2 – Main Staff Group Minimum Progression Periods by Pay Band
Pay Band / Minimum Progression PeriodBand B / Between 1 and 2 years
Band C / Between 3 and 4 years
Bands D to I / Between 5 and 6 years
1.2.4. For the Nursing Staff Group, the arrangements are very similar to those of the Main Staff Group with the exception that the Pay Band reference system and salary ranges are different. In the Nursing Staff Group, because of the fewer number and specialist nature of the job roles involved, the Pay Band referencing system is aligned to job role titles.
1.2.5. Figure 3 below provides a summary of the pay ranges and pay progression points for each job role. In the case of each job role, the minimum number of years over which progression from the minimum to the maximum of each Pay Band might take is between 5 and 6 years. Attaining the minimum period of progression from the Pay Band Minimum to the Pay Band Maximum is again dependent on maintaining effective performance.
Figure 3 – Nursing Staff Group Job Role and Pay Progression Points for Period 1 October 2009 to 30 September 2010
/ Pay PointJob Role Title
/ 0 / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5Practitioner
Nurse / £22,121 / £23,145 / £24,202 / £25,323 / £26,488 / £27,708
Clinical Manager / £24,978 / £26,478 / £28,063 / £29,746 / £31,536 / £33,438
Health Centre Manager / £33,725 / £35,072 / £36,475 / £37,932 / £39,452 / £41,026
2. Methodology Adopted for the Review
3.1.
3.2.
2.1. SPS adopted the framework for carrying out an Equal Pay Review provided by the Cabinet Office document “Equal Pay – Guidance on Equal Pay for Government Departments and Agencies” dated January 2002.
The review itself was carried out in-house by the SPS HR Policy Branch, with data and information provided by the Pay, Pensions and Relocation Branch and the Equality and Diversity team of HR Directorate. Secondary assurance was provided by the HR Projects and Assurance Manager. The Trade Unions recognised by SPS Management for the purposes of collective bargaining were invited to agree that the framework provided by the Cabinet Office Guidance could be used to meet the agreement to carry out a joint audit of the SPS pay systems. They agreed with this proposal.
3. Scope of the Review and Detailed Analysis
3.1. This review covers those staff employed directly by SPS who are also on SPS terms and conditions of employment. These staff are employed in the Main Staff Group and the Nursing staff group. Board members employed on Senior Civil Service grades, Non-Executive Directors and secondees to SPS are not covered by this review.
Basic Pay
3.2. The initial scope of our review in relation to basic pay sought to identify any significant gender pay gaps, in order that further analysis of the reasons for these gaps be investigated in more detail. The guidance offered by the Cabinet Office advises that, as a general rule, significant means any difference of 5% or more.
3.3. For the Main Staff Group, taking full and part-time staff together, 22% of the population are women. The table below shows that female salaries are within +/- 5% of male salaries in all SPS’ Main Staff Group Pay Bands. On the basis of this analysis and Cabinet Office guidance, SPS has no apparent gender pay gap in relation to the total Main Staff Group, indicating that SPS’ pay progression arrangements are operating as intended.
Figure 4 – Main Staff Group (Full Time and Part Time), Gender Pay Analysis
Female / MalePay Band / Headcount / Number of Staff / Average Salary / Number of Staff / Average Salary / Female as % of Male 2010
B / 238 / 144 / £15,366 / 94 / £15,541 / 99%
C / 1125 / 349 / £19,905 / 776 / £20,168 / 98.7%
D / 1758 / 243 / £26,778 / 1515 / £27,439 / 97.6%
E / 384 / 40 / £32,591 / 344 / £32,891 / 99.1%
F / 158 / 29 / £37,969 / 129 / £38,498 / 98.6%
G / 83 / 22 / £45,528 / 61 / £45,767 / 99.5%
H / 23 / 9 / £54,124 / 14 / £54,289 / 99.7%
I / 10 / < 10 / £67,755 / < 10 / £66,269 / 102.2%
3.4. While 22% of the total Main Staff Group population are women, 60% of SPS part-time staff are women, reflecting wider social demographics. Analysis shows that female salaries are within +/- 5% of male salaries in all SPS’ Pay Bands (see Figure 5 below). On the basis of this analysis and Cabinet Office guidance, SPS has no apparent gender pay gap in relation to part time staff in the Main Staff Group.
Figure 5 –Main Staff Group (Part Time), Gender Pay Analysis
Female / MalePay Band / Headcount / Number of Staff / Average Salary / Number of Staff / Average Salary / Female as % of Male 2010
B / 53 / 45 / £15,421 / 8 / £15,351 / 100.5%
C / 54 / 43 / £20,535 / 11 / £20,230 / 101.5%
D / 58 / 32 / £27,433 / 26 / £27,680 / 99.1%
E / 10 / 4 / £32,468 / 6 / £33,085 / 98.1%
F / 40 / 8 / £36,258 / 32 / £36,683 / 98.8%
G / 10 / 4 / £44,778 / 6 / £46,259 / 96.8%
H / < 5 / < 5 / £56,142 / 0.0%
I / < 5 / < 5 / £67,755 / 0.0%
3.5. For the Nursing Staff Group, Figures 6 shows that female salaries are within +/- 5% of male salaries in all SPS’ Pay Bands when full and part time staff are taken together. On the basis of this analysis and Cabinet Office guidance, SPS has no apparent gender pay gap in relation to the total Nursing Staff Group. Again, this indicates that SPS’ pay progression arrangements are operating as intended.
Figure 6 – Nursing Staff Group (Full and Part Time), Gender Pay Analysis
Female / MalePay Band / Headcount / Number of Staff / Average Salary / Number of Staff / Average Salary / Female as % of Male 2010
Practitioner Nurse / 153 / 124 / £26,593 / 29 / £27,141 / 98.0%
Clinical Manager / 21 / 14 / £32,503 / 7 / £31,871 / 102.0%
Health Centre Manager / 9 / 5 / £40,396 / 4 / £41,026 / 98.5%
3.6. While 78% of the total Nursing Staff Group population are women, 86% of SPS part-time staff are women, reflecting wider social demographics. Figure 7 shows that female salaries are within +/- 5% of male salaries for Practitioner Nurses, but are 12% higher than for male Clinical Managers.
Whilst the number of part-time Clinical Managers (<5) is too small for this difference to be statistically significant, further analysis shows that the gap is the result of staff being recruited in two ‘bunches’, around two years apart. Assuming pay progression continues on 1 October 2010, the gap will reduce to circa 5% - in line with Cabinet Office guidance. Should pay progression then continue on 1 October 2011, the current group will all be on the same pay point, and male and female average salaries will be equal. This example is a clear demonstration of the operation of the pay system - it rewards development and experience, and is equal pay compliant.