1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023
5. National comparison and trends
According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), median hourly pay for full-time employees was 7.7% less for women than for men in April 2023, while median hourly pay for part-time employees was 3.3% higher for women than for men (figures exclude overtime pay). The median is the point at which half of employees earn more and half earn less. It is regarded a better measure of pay of the ‘typical’ employee than taking an average.
Because a larger proportion of women are employed part-time, and part-time workers tend to earn less per hour, the gender pay gap for all employees is considerably larger than the full-time and part-time gaps. Median pay for all employees was 14.3% less for women than for men in April 2023.
As indicated above, the median pay for Kent Police, combining police officers and staff, is impacted due to the two very different pay structures and profiles. For 2022/23 the combined median pay gap is 22.7% in favour of males.
In comparison, when looking at other forces,
- Dorset Police reports a median pay gap of 27%
- Leicestershire Police report a median pay gap of 24.5%
- Devon & Cornwall Police report a median pay gap of 22.3%
- Surrey Police reports a median pay gap of 20.9%
- Thames Valley Police (TVP) reports a median pay gap of 19.2%
When reflecting on the first pay gap report in 2018, which reported on gender, ethnicity and disability, there were 3,227 police officers compared to the current number of 4,268, which is an increase of 1,041 officers. The number of police staff in 2018 was 2,388 compared to the current number of 2,576, an increase of 188.
At that time, the proportion of female officers was 27.9% compared to the current 34.63%, which illustrates the positive increase in female representation of police officers.
Since the first gender pay gap report the overall trend had been showing a continued reduction in the combined officer and staff mean pay gap from 13.6% to 12.8% in the 2022 report. The 2023 report shows a slight increase to 14.3%.
Although the median combined pay gap has risen slightly (from 21.5% to 22.7%) the trend is one of reduction from the 27.5% reported in the first gender pay gap in 2018.