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UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) yesterday published its 2018 Gender Pay Gap Report. 

The report illustrates a disparity in pay and UKRI is committed to addressing this issue.

When considering the mean hourly pay, there is currently a mean pay gap of 11.6% in favour of men across UKRI, and a median pay gap of 11.3% in favour of men. 

This is the first time that UKRI, formed April 2018, has reported these figures as a single organisation and, in addition, we have also continued to report gender pay gap figures for the individual UKRI councils. 

UKRI Executive Champion for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, and Executive Chair of the Economic and Social Research Council, Professor Jennifer Rubin, yesterday said: 

“Strengthening equality, diversity and inclusion within our organisation and across the research and innovation landscape is integral to our vision. 

“We are taking an evidence-based approach in developing our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Framework, being transparent and understanding our current position is crucial to that. 

“This report clearly highlights that work needs to be done across our organisation on this important issue and we are committed to addressing the challenges in this area.

“Our framework will bring together initiatives across UKRI’s councils to identify priorities and provide a targeted action plan.” 

Areas for progress on UKRI pay and recruitment contained in the scope of the framework for 2019 and 2020 include:

• An equal pay audit, the outcomes of which will be incorporated into the action plan
• A planned review of recruitment processes, including panel training and recruitment advertising, with the aim of eliminating any gender bias in this process
• The proposed implementation of an Applicant Tracking System to inform how to address potential gender bias in recruitment and selection processes
• UKRI will continue to encourage staff to promote the use of practices such as flexible working hours, job sharing opportunities, part-time and term-time working, home-working, parental leave, paid maternity/adoption/paternity leave 
• The UKRI Employee Value Proposition project seeks to create a clear understanding of the organisation’s employment proposition for both potential recruits and current employees, and when complete will enable UKRI to present an employment proposition which is highly attractive to those seeking to work in a diverse, flexible and highly engaged organisation
• UKRI will work to ensure that all staff have the opportunity and support to develop their careers through our talent management scheme, which is being developed
• UKRI will assess and address factors that are driving the pay gap and any disparities in progression to higher paid jobs
• An Equality and Diversity Forum will review progress in delivering the action plan

Read the UKRI 2018 Gender Pay Gap Report