Gender Pay Gap reporting - 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022

Kent Police gender pay gap reporting

In line with government regulations Kent Police has published its gender pay gap data for the year ending 31 March 2022. Kent Police reports a mean gender pay gap of 12.8% (compared to 13.4% last year) and a median gender pay gap of 21.5% (compared to 21.9% last year), based upon the reporting principles as set out in the UK government’s methodology, which came into force in April 2017.

In analysing this information, Kent Police has found that it is driven by the following factors:

• from a total workforce of 6,848 (6,728 last year), over half are police officers 58.92% (57.51% last year) compared to 41.10% (42.49% last year) police staff. The majority of police officers are male 66.32% (68.08% last year) and the majority of police staff are female 64.88% (63.10% last year). Therefore, the combined pay gap figures could be viewed as misleading as they combine the very different police officer and police staff pay, grading/rank structure and gender compositions for each separate group. If looking at police officers, the mean pay gap is only 6.5% (5.7% last year). For police staff, the mean pay gap is 8.8% (9.1% last year).
• 50.8% (51.09% last year) of all police officers are male constables. The average hourly rate for male police officers is £19.64 (compared to £19.69 last year). In contrast, 48.17% (47.43% last year) of all police staff are females employed within grades A, B, C and D. The average hourly rate for female police staff is £14.81 (compared to £14.40 last year).
• this reporting period has seen a total of 344 police officer joiners (203 male and 141 female). Of the 344 joiners during the reporting period 309 were student constables (183 male and 126 female). The percentage of female student constables is 40.80%, which although a little lower than the 45.77% of female student constables in the last reporting period, it represents a much greater proportion when compared with the 33.68% of female officers at all ranks. It is positive news that more females are being recruited as police officers. However, these are largely concentrated at police constable rank and this will have an impact on the gender pay gap due to the lower salaries paid at this rank.
• in relation to promotion through the ranks female representation has increased at constable (from 33.92% to 35.77%), inspector (from 22.66% to 27.46%), Superintendent (from 20.0% to 21.88%) and Chief superintendent (from 21.40% to 26.67%). However, at other ranks female representation has decreased, specifically sergeant (from 25.27% to 25.23%), chief inspector (from 34.55% to 28.00%) and ACC (from 40.0% to 33.33%). Female representation at these ranks has mainly been affected by retirements and promotions out of force. The decrease in female officers at some of the more senior ranks and the successful recruitment of a greater proportion of female officers at the lower student constable rank will, inevitably, have had an impact on the mean gender pay gap. Work continues to promote gender progression, for both police officers and police staff.
• since the 2020/21 report there has been a slight increase in police officer mean rate (6.5% compared with 5.7% last year) and a larger increase in police officer median (6.5% compared to 0.5% last year). The police staff mean has decreased to 8.8% (9.1% last year) and the median has also decreased to 7.5% (11.0% last year). All rates do remain outside of EHRC tolerances of 5% and as with the previous 2020/21 reporting period can be attributed to the higher number of females within grades A to D as well as the successful increase in the proportion of female student constables recruited. Continued interventions will seek to further improve and promote female progression for both police officers and police staff.
• in this current reporting period 802 bonus payments were made to officers (829 last year). The mean pay gap has reduced from 9.1% to 7.1% and the median pay gap remains at 0%. For police staff the number of bonus payments made was much smaller at 124 (49 last year) with a mean bonus pay gap of 34.1% (21.3% last year) and a median bonus pay gap of 60% (34.7% last year). Overall, although the proportion of bonus payments made is relatively small the combined mean bonus gender pay gap is 15.8% (10% last year) whilst the combined median remains at 0% demonstrating no gender pay gap. The proportion of females receiving a bonus payment within the force has increased to 14.22% (11.16% last year). The proportion of males receiving a bonus payment within the force shows a smaller increase to 15.88% (14.22% last year).
• when reviewing each job individually, within both police officer and police staff pay grading/rank structure, males and females are paid the same pay for doing the same role, with any differences accounted for by the length of service in the role. The framework for police officer pay is set nationally. For police staff, all roles are subject to a Hay job evaluation process ensuring parity across job types.

When reflecting on the first gender pay gap report in 2018, there were 3227 police officers compared to the current number of 4035, which is a net increase of 808 officers. At that time the proportion of female officers was 27.9% compared to the current 33.68%, which illustrates the positive increase in female representation of police officers. Encouragingly, since this first gender pay gap report the overall trend shows a continued reduction in the combined officer and staff mean pay gap from 13.6% to the current mean pay gap of 12.8%. The median combined pay gap shows a similar continued reduction from 27.5% to the current 21.5%.

Where there have been increases in the pay gap, these are marginal and can be attributed to the success that the force has had in recruitment campaigns and promotional activities to increase diversity. This has been the case particularly with the increase in female officers however, it can have an initial negative impact as new starters are appointed to the bottom pay scale for the rank of constable.

In relation to bonus payments, the introduction of detective payments during the previous reporting period created an increase in the number of payments made, however overall, the force continues to make bonus payments to only a relatively small proportion of individuals. This makes meaningful analysis difficult, although the increased number of payments made to females has led to significant reductions in the gender bonus pay gap figures since the inception of pay gap reporting.

The Positive Action team which was set up in early 2020 with the objective of supporting attraction and recruitment of underrepresented groups into policing through outreach, community engagement and the retention and progression of underrepresented groups within in our workforce. In addition, the now established Diversity and Inclusion Academy further enhances the commitment of the force in better reflecting the communities that it serves.

By working closely with all of our internal support groups, the HR Diversity team, external outreach and community engagement networks, Kent Police will remain focused to reduce the pay gap across all areas of diversity. In particular, we will continue to maximise opportunities for women in both entry level and higher graded roles, by reviewing our current and future recruitment campaigns and promotional processes.

We will also continue to enhance and develop our internal support processes (Develop You) to ensure women are more equally represented in future developmental and promotional processes.

Kent Police are committed to a detailed HR Delivery Plan and Equality Objectives that over time will continue to enrich our people.