Sadiq calls on government to force smaller companies to publish ethnicity pay data
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has today published City Hall’s second ethnicity pay gap report and urged the Government to ensure other organisations, large and small, do the same.
While the pay gap has fallen at City Hall and some of the organisations in the Greater London Authority (GLA) group, the figures also highlight there is still much more work to do in eradicating this disparity.
The Mayor is determined to do all he can to tackle this issue and City Hall has published its first ethnicity pay gap action plan, which sets out a programme of activity to drive down this inequality.
This includes increasing the diversity of interview panels during the recruitment process, working with City Hall’s BAME Staff Network to understand the needs, concerns and experiences of the organisation’s employees, signing up to Business In The Community’s Race at Work Charter, and developing plans for senior staff to develop a more inclusive culture at all levels of the organisation. Organisations across the GLA have also taken steps to increase the diversity of their workforces.
The data is being published as the Mayor responds to the government’s consultation on ethnicity pay reporting, in which he urges government to expand mandatory reporting to smaller companies. Under current government proposals, companies with more than 249 staff would be compelled to publish their ethnicity pay gap data – but this only represents less than one per cent of UK employers.
Ethnicity pay data published today for the GLA and its functional bodies reveal that white people and those of black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) origin are paid, on average, the following:
- Greater London Authority
White employees: £24.41 per hour, BAME employees: £21.62 per hour – an ethnicity pay gap of 11.4 per cent (down from 16 per cent in 2017).
- Metropolitan Police Service
White employees: £21.62 per hour, BAME employees: £18.12 per hour – an ethnicity pay gap of 16.15 per cent (down from 16.7 per cent in 2017).
- Mayor’s Office for Police and Crime (MOPAC)
White employees: £27.53 per hour, BAME employees: £24.70 per hour – an ethnicity pay gap of 10.3 per cent (up from 3.5 per cent last year).
- London Legacy Development Corporation
White employees: £29.05 per hour, BAME employees: £22.09 per hour – an ethnicity pay gap of 24 per cent (down from 30 per cent in 2017).
- London Fire Brigade
White employees: £16.51 per hour, BAME employees: £16.51 per hour – an ethnicity pay gap of 0 per cent (the same as 2017).
- Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation
White employees: £27.90 per hour, BAME employees: £23.12 per hour – an ethnicity pay gap of 17.14 per cent (down from 37.5 per cent in 2017).
- London & Partners
White employees: £23.10 per hour, BAME employees: £19.62 per hour – an ethnicity pay gap of 15 per cent (data not available for 2017).
- Transport for London
White employees: £28.71 per hour, BAME employees: £25.82 per hour – an ethnicity pay gap of 10.1 per cent (up from 9.2 per cent in 2017).
In December 2017, Sadiq pledged to lead by example on London’s ethnicity pay gap as part of his drive to tackle inequality across the capital, ahead of publishing data for City Hall and the GLA group last March. The key factor contributing the gap is the lack of BAME staff in senior positions – not that white and BAME people are paid differently for the same roles.
The Mayor is also creating an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion advisory group and has launched the Diversity and Inclusion Action Standard – a tool developed by the GLA, the functional bodies and diversity experts, focussing on improving workforce diversity.
Earlier this month, he published the third gender pay audit for the group of organisations – which showed the gender pay gap at City Hall has fallen from 6.14 per cent to 4.82 per cent during the last year – alongside a new guide for employers to increase the number of women in leadership.
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “The colour of your skin should have no bearing on what you can achieve. We’ve made progress at City Hall and across the group but this data clearly shows there is more work to be done.
“In 2017 I pledged to lead by example and publish data on the ethnicity pay gap in City Hall and across the Greater London Authority group because understanding the scale of this inequality is the first step in tackling it.
“In addition, we published an action plan for the way forward. While we should be proud of the progress made, there’s no denying the data presents a mixed picture and there is much more we need to do. Those organisations in which the ethnicity pay gaps has increased must redouble their efforts to tackle this issue head-on.
“I’m also clear that government should do more: I’m urging ministers to lower the proposed reporting threshold to reveal a much clearer picture of the problem across London and the UK.”
Deputy Mayor for Social Integration, Social Mobility and Community Engagement, Dr Debbie Weekes-Bernard, said: “It’s vital we all play a role if we are to tackle the barriers and inequality still faced in our city.
“The Mayor’s ground-breaking social integration strategy underlines his commitment to improving conditions for all Londoners and he continues to work hard to shine a light on the challenges facing our communities.
“We’re determined that City Hall leads by example and that’s why the Mayor is taking action to tackle the ethnicity pay gap and urging organisations to do the same.”
Race Equality Director for Business in the Community, Sandra Kerr OBE, said: “It is great to see the Mayor leading the way on pay and ethnicity reporting, showing clear progress since initially publishing the data in 2017.
“By identifying where improvements are still needed, celebrating progress that has already been made and setting out an action plan for further progress, the Mayor recognises that tackling the ethnicity pay gap requires a consistent commitment across the group to narrow and ultimately close the ethnicity pay gap.
“The Mayor understands that the best places to work are inclusive, with opportunities for employees to develop and progress as well as gain fair reward, pay and recognition.”
Notes to editors
- These figures are calculated using to the median average – the middle value of all salaries at the organisation (this is the same method the GLA used when publishing the gender pay gap):
- The GLA group collects ethnicity monitoring data as part of the recruitment process.
- To generate these figures, the pay of Black, Asian and minority ethnic employees was compared to that of their White colleagues.
- ‘White’ includes White – British, White – Irish and White – Other
- Each organisation has produced a detailed statistical analysis of their ethnicity pay audit in order to understand the cause of any gap (with many providing a breakdown by employee category) and are available on their respective websites.
- The Greater London Authority’s report is available at https://www.london.gov.uk/about-us/governance-and-spending/spending-money-wisely/ethnicity-pay-gap-report-2018