Gender pay gap

The gender pay gap highlights the difference between men's and women's average hourly pay rates across the organisation. This is different to recognising equal pay, which involves comparing the salaries of men and women undertaking the same role or work of equal value. The gender pay gap aims to demonstrate the difference across the organisation.

Understanding our gender pay gap

The gender pay is based on a snapshot of data taken as of 31 March 2024.

The mean gender pay gap is the difference in the average hourly pay for women compared to men. The median gender pay gap is the difference between the ‘middle’ hourly pay rate for women and men if you list them separately from lowest to highest pay.

When compared to last year's data (snapshot taken as of 31 March 2023), our gender pay gap across the organisation has decreased, with our mean gender pay gap decreasing from 10.9 per cent to 10.3 per cent and our median gender pay gap decreasing from 23.5 per cent to 23.1 per cent.

In 2023/2024, 181 people received a bonus, representing just under 3 per cent of the workforce. A bonus is paid in recognition of performing outstandingly demanding, unpleasant or important work.

The gender pay gap also examines the number and amount of bonus payments made. As of 31 March 2024, 3.7 per cent of men received a bonus, compared to 2.2 per cent of women.

Pay quartiles involve sorting the individual hourly pay rates of each employee into order from highest to lowest. The top 25 per cent of earners are then categorised in the top quartile, while the bottom 25 per cent are placed into the lower quartile. This allows us to see the gender split across the highest and lowest earners in the organisation more clearly.

Police officer and police staff roles

Various factors impact the size of the gender pay gap within Lancashire Constabulary. Our workforce consists of two main groups, police officers and police staff. Both groups have very different employment terms and conditions, with police officer roles typically having higher salaries, with 61 per cent of these roles occupied by men. In contrast, police staff roles typically have lower salaries, and women made up 66 per cent of this group as of 31 March 2024.

As more women occupy police staff roles in the organisation, they hold a greater proportion of the lower-middle and lower-quartile jobs.

Due to the significant difference between police officers and police staff, we feel it is also important to calculate the gender pay gap for each of the groups separately.

The median gender pay gap has increased slightly for police officers over the last year, increasing to 1.0 per cent in 2023/24 (from 0.8 per cent in 2022/23). Female recruitment at Constable rank continues to be high, and the number of women has increased in the ranks from Sergeant to Superintendent. The proportion of female to male officers remains the same as last year (39 per cent to 61 per cent respectively).

For police staff, the median gender pay gap remains the same as last year; for PCSOs, there is no difference.

In a change from last year, the gender pay gap for Police Control Room Operators (PCROs) is now just higher at 0.8 per cent (last year it was 0.9 per cent lower), even with 58.7 per cent of females working less than 1 FTE, compared to 33.3 per cent of males.

The individual breakdown of roles demonstrates that the gender pay gap is not as severe as it first appears, and that the difference for each group of staff can be somewhat explained by looking at the proportion of men and women currently undertaking those roles.

Further to this, we have identified additional factors that are influencing the overall gender pay gap for Lancashire Constabulary:

• there continues to be a lower proportion of women in higher-paid roles and ranks which is reflected by the increase in the overall gender pay gap. However, we will see more women in more senior roles over the next few years as new officers and staff progress within the organisation
• significantly more women have flexible working arrangements, which can reduce or even cease additional allowances they would otherwise have been entitled to (for example unsocial hours and weekend working allowance). Across all of the individuals who had a flexible working arrangement as of 31 March 2024, over half are women
• we offer police staff the ability to buy additional annual leave, reducing hourly pay. In 2023/24, 70.9 per cent of requests to purchase additional annual leave were made by women

Addressing the gender pay gap

Our gender pay gap demonstrates that, whilst we’ve seen improvements in female representation in different ranks and roles, there is still plenty more to do. It also highlights the continuing need to identify the barriers that may prevent women from progressing throughout their careers and provide support to help them overcome these.

Our strategy to reduce the gender pay gap will continue to focus on the key areas discussed in previous years: recruitment, progression, training and data analysis. Our Culture and Inclusion Board meets quarterly to discuss and progress workforce diversity initiatives and will continue to support positive action to encourage more women to join the organisation and seek career progression.

Significant cultural and societal changes are required to address some causes of the gender pay gap. While this will take time, we see positive improvements in these areas.

We remain committed to our work to reduce the gender pay gap further and to support our ‘Plan on a Page’ Vision, Strategy and Values. We will do this by ensuring everyone can be themselves at work and by attracting, retaining, and developing our people to maximise their potential.

We aim to represent the communities we serve. We will keep them safe by putting victims at the heart of everything we do, delivering an outstanding service to the public, and building confidence.