Equality Officers’ Briefing – 9 July 2019

1. The Gender Pay GapIf you are a woman, you will earn less than a man’  – Rt Hon Theresa May MP, UK Prime Minister, 2016 Equality Officers’ Briefing – 9 July 2019

2. England – the Gender Pay Gap • Since 2010, Secretaries of State for Education have claimed that the gender pay gap in teaching is reducing or has even ended. • The Department for Education (DfE)’s School Workforce Census (SWC) data on teachers’ pay for 2017/18, published in July 2018, shows that: • the average woman classroom teacher’s salary is £35,200. • the average male classroom teacher’s salary is £36,100. • the male classroom teacher’s premium is £900. • the average woman school leader’s salary is £56,300. • the average male school leader’s salary is £62,000. • The male school leader’s premium is £5,700. • The gender pay gap is a reality for women teachers.

3. Statistical Evidence on Teachers’ PayGender Inequality • The NASUWT has commissioned independent research from the University of Warwick Institute for Employment Research which analyses the pay of all teachers in England from 2010 onwards. • The research is available via https://www.nasuwt.org.uk/advice/pay-pensions/pay-progression.html. • From 2010 to 2016: • Men were more likely than women to be in senior posts. • For all teachers in work, male wages were higher than female. • Annual average median wages for teachers fell between 2010 and 2016. Female wages declined slightly relative to those of men over this period. • Statistical models revealed a strong tendency for women to earn less than men, having taken other factors into account. Being a woman is a strong factor in depressing earnings as a teacher.

4. Women’s Earnings Relative to Men

5. Further inequalities • In October 2017, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) produced a report analysing reasons for the gender pay gap across the UK workforce. • The gender pay gap is sometimes explained as being caused by a greater tendency for women to work part-time than men, together with the differences in pay between sectors where women workers predominate and sectors where male workers predominate. • These factors are significant in some sectors, but the ONS found that even though five out of six full time primary and nursery teachers are women, male primary and nursery teachers still earn more than women. In the case of secondary teachers, the gender pay gap in favour of men is far wider. • The sample of teachers quoted by the ONS only includes full time teachers, so different levels of part time working are not an explanation for the disparity in pay levels. • The DfE/NFER research found that a greater percentage of women teachers move schools to lower paid jobs than male teachers do. The removal of pay portability has had a more detrimental impact on women than men.

6. Research – Understanding the Gender Pay Gap within the UK Public Sector, Melanie Jones and Ezgi Kaya, Cardiff Business School • This research compared the gender pay gap across different parts of the public sector. • The gender pay gap for different pay review body workforces was compared. The STRB workforce does include the academy sector. • The gap for teachers is 10.25%, which is higher than the NHS (7.29%) and Police (PRRB) workforces (7.92%) – Table 2. • Cardiff Business School also controlled for personal characteristics, work-related characteristics and occupation. This included controlling for part-time working and phase of education (primary versus secondary). These are the structural explanations for the gender pay gap in teaching which are often suggested as an explanation for this. • Controlling for these characteristics, there was still a gender pay gap for teachers (0.012) which is greater than for the Police (0.010) and for NHS (0.008) workforces. • The research concludes that there is an ‘unexplained’ gender pay gap in teaching. What are the reasons for this?

7. Further inequalities – case study research • The Warwick University case study research found current evidence of age-related discrimination affecting both older and younger teachers. • The case study research also found several examples of discriminatory practices, especially towards older teachers. The evidence from the study suggests that older teachers were being forced out because they were considered by schools to be too expensive. • Maternity leave and pre-retirement were identified as particular stages at which a teacher was especially vulnerable to discrimination. • Teachers with a disability or long-term illness expressed higher levels of dissatisfaction and reported that they experienced difficulties accessing opportunities for promotion. • Teachers employed on a part-time basis were identified as being vulnerable to discrimination. • Supply teachers were also identified as being particularly vulnerable to discrimination. Women and disabled teachers predominate in this group.

8. What do discriminatory working practices look like? • Women teachers’ experiences of pay and career progression – in their own words • ‘I was on maternity leave last year so it has been decided that I have not got enough evidence of achieving the [pay progression] standards.’ – Woman teacher, 2015. • ‘I am on Main Scale 6 and can't progress without going through threshold and as I'm part time will possibly wait until my children are older and I am full time.’ – Woman teacher, 2015. • ‘I have been on UPS3 for about six years and feel very angry that every year I effectively receive a pay cut. The only way I can increase my salary is to take on a TLR which I do not want to do due to stress and workload. I am expected to assume extra responsibility because I am on UPS and feel I am being penalised for having stayed in the profession for 16 years. I have two young children of my own and I struggle to meet associated nursery costs’. – Woman teacher, 2015.

9. What do discriminatory working practices look like? • ‘I started working at my school in September last year as a supply teacher, and after being approached by the school to stay, the buying-out process began. • My contract started in July (I was lucky they started my contract before summer as recognition for the hard work I’ve already done for them). • They sent me a letter with my pay scale being M2 (Inner London Scale). I’ve been a teacher for ten years – half of this as a paid untrained teacher in training in a private nursery and the remainder as a trained teacher, so I have lots of specialised early years’ experience to bring to the table. (This was not recognised as my role in the school as a reception teacher.) I also have thorough training in child protection through completing a diploma. • I asked for them to consider giving me a higher pay scale - their reply was, because they bought me out, my pay has to match what I was receiving before that from my agency. • When we were allocated our areas of learning, I was allocated PE Co-ordinator. So far, I have been doing it for five weeks and so far it is an additional full-time role on top of my full-time role – with no additional pay to compensate for my time’. – Woman teacher, 2016.

10. What do discriminatory working practices look like? • Case Study: Warwick University Institute for Employment Research • ‘A female teacher described how her progression to the Upper Pay Range (UPR) was seriously delayed by the misleading and incorrect information she had received from her headteacher. The headteacher delayed responding to her request to go onto the UPS and tried to put her off for several months. • The assistant headteacherthen sought advice from the Union and provided the headteacher with information from the Government on the threshold process. The headteacher again failed to respond for a number of months. The teacher eventually got the threshold and pay was backdated, but she felt that it had been a very stressful year before receiving it. • She confirmed that the new pay policy had been approved by the governors, but that it had not been communicated to teachers and that the staff handbook had also not been updated. She has been unable to get hold of the school’s pay and conditions, despite requesting it from the business manager.’

11. What do discriminatory working practices look like? • Case Study: Warwick University Institute for Employment Research • A female NQT teacher spoke of her concerns in her current and previous school. She said that ‘if they [the headteacher] don’t like you or the way you work, then they could fix it so you could sort of fail’. She was about to get married and was thinking about having a family. • She was worried about taking maternity leave in the future, however, as she thought this was a time when she would be particularly vulnerable. She also thought that there was a lot of pressure with the job and was worried about how she would keep up. • For her, maintaining a work-life balance would be important at that particular stage in her career. She would like to work part-time after returning from maternity leave, but knew, from what she had seen happen to other teachers, that this would not be possible. (Female NQT, interview, 2015)

12. Gender pay gap reporting • From April 2018 onwards, employers with more than 250 employees have been obliged to publish gender pay gap data. • Gender pay gap details for individual employers are available via https://gender-pay-gap.service.gov.uk/Viewing/search-results • Despite the limitations of the process, including that many schools are not obliged to report at all, published data does provide useful information on gender and pay. • NASUWT representatives should seek an explanation for the gender pay gap from their employer and demand that the employer consults on ending the gap for teachers. • Most multi-academy trusts (MATs) in England have over 250 employees and have reported. • Leadership pay in academy trusts is a key reason for gender pay differentials in England. • The highest paid academy trust employee (a man in the Harris Federation) earnt an annual salary of between £490k and £500k in 2018 (including pension benefits). • In Harris, women earn 87p for every £1 that men earn.

13. Pay progression – a discriminatory system • In 2013, automatic time-served progression on the main scale was replaced by performance-related progression. • In 2013, automatic pay portability when moving school, or returning to the same school on a new contract after a career break, was ended. • The NASUWT warned of the discriminatory impact of these changes – unfortunately, we were proved correct. The DfE’s research, Evaluation of Teachers’ Pay Reform, indicates that: • in 2013-14, 18% of women teachers moved school to an equivalent post, but at a lower pay spine point, whereas 16.3% of male teachers moved school to an equivalent post, but at a lower pay spine point; • in 2014-2015, 14.4% of women teachers moved school to an equivalent post, but at a lower pay spine post, whereas the figure for men was 11.9%. • The NASUWT has provided detailed evidence to the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB) about gender discrimination. • In its 28th Report, the STRB indicated that it is very concerned about the potentially discriminatory impact of pay progression processes, stating that the DfEshould carry out ‘further research that focuses on the equality implications of the teachers’ pay system.’ • The NASUWT continues to find evidence of discrimination on grounds of pregnancy and maternity.

14. The Academy Sector • The Gender Pay Gap in England is wide in the academy sector: • The average male leader’s salary in the secondary academy sector is £65,600 (£65,300 in the maintained sector). • The average woman leader’s salary in the secondary academy sector is £61,500 (£62,000 in the maintained sector). • The average male leader’s salary in the primary maintained sector is £57,300. • The average woman leader’s salary in the primary maintained sector is £54,400. • Pay in the academy sector is de-regulated even though it is state funded – classroom teachers earn less than in the regulated, local authority maintained sector, but academy trust leaders earn much more. • The DfE excludes high academy trust salaries from its school workforce census data. If these were included, they would exacerbate pay differentials even more. • The highest paid Chief Executive (CEO) in the academy sector (a man) was paid between £490k and £500k in 2018, including pension benefits. Most academy CEOs are men. Where has all the money gone? details abuses of academy leadership remuneration across the sector: https://www.nasuwt.org.uk/advice/leadership/budgets-funding/england/academy-trust-expenditure-and-leadership-pay.html.

15. The NASUWT’s solutions • The NASUWT is committed to replacing performance related pay with automatic incremental progression in Wales and England. The NASUWT is achieving some success in negotiating a return to automatic incremental progression with employers. • The NASUWT pay policy, pay policy checklist, appraisal checklist and classroom observation checklist ensure that school pay policies are not discriminatory: https://www.nasuwt.org.uk/advice/performance-management.html. • The NASUWT has successfully resisted performance related pay in Scotland and Northern Ireland. • The NASUWT campaigns for all salaries in state funded schools, including academies and free schools, to be regulated. • The NASUWT campaigns for all schools to be covered by the Gender Pay Gap Reporting Regulations. • The NASUWT presses the DfE and the Welsh Government to ensure that state funded school employers are implementing their Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) by carrying out equalities monitoring of pay and career progression. • The NASUWT presses the DfE and the Welsh Government to ensure that state funded school employers are taking action to eradicate the gender pay gaps identified by reporting and equalities monitoring. • In comparison with England, the Scottish Government has committed to reduce the gender pay gap in the schools sector and is working with the NASUWT to achieve this. • The NASUWT has successfully campaigned for the lifting of the pay cap for short-term supply teachers in Scotland which was in place from 2011 to 2017. This overwhelmingly benefits women who wish to work flexibly.

16. Gender Pensions Gap • There is a significant gender pensions gap in the teaching profession, which has been exacerbated by Government policy since 2010: • Women tend to have lower levels of accrued pension because of patterns of working linked to family and carer responsibilities. • The Government raised the threshold for the full state pension in 2016 and also treated members of public sector pension schemes as not paying the full National Insurance contribution towards the full state pension. This has denied many women teachers the full level of the state pension. • The Government has rapidly accelerated the pension age for women and many women teachers have suffered a double whammy of a lower pension at a later pension age. • Government policy of public sector pay austerity has reduced teachers’ pay by 20 per cent in real terms since 2010 and led to teachers opting out of the Teachers’ Pension Scheme in record numbers because of hardship – this is particularly focused on women early career teachers. • Many women teachers are trapped in a vicious circle of insecure and intermittent employment agency work. Agency workers in the UK are not entitled to public sector pensions at all. This detrimentally affects thousands of teachers. • The NASUWT campaigns for all teachers, including agency workers, to be enrolled in the Teachers’ Pension Scheme and for a lower pension age for all working people, including working women.