POLICE say it could take ‘years’ before more women in the force are paid the same as men.

In its annual Pay Gap Report, Thames Valley Police revealed that men get an average of £19.65 per hour compared to women who are on a median hourly rate of £15.64.

The pay gap is not the difference in the pay that women get for doing the same job as a man.

Instead, the pay gap represents more men in higher-paid roles and jobs that offer bonus payments – like a firearms officer.

So, what does it mean? Here we break it down for you…

Scroll down for the full pay gap report and what Thames Valley Police are doing to close the gap.

What is the Gender Pay Gap law?

In 2017 it became a rule that employers with 250 or more employees must publish and report specific figures about their gender pay gap.

The gender pay gap is the difference between the average earnings of men and women, expressed relative to men’s earnings.

For example, ‘women earn 15 per cent less than men an hour’.

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Employers and companies that don’t report the gender pay gap could face legal action from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), leading to court orders and fines.

What’s the difference between a gender pay gap and equal pay?

  • Gender pay gap is the difference between the average pay of men and women
  • Equal pay is whether a man and a woman doing the same job (or a comparable job) are paid the same.

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How many employees does Thames Valley Police have?

TVP is made up of police officers and police staff.

Police staff includes admin roles, police community support officers (PCSOs) and everything up to an assistant chief officer.

Police officers ranges from the rank of a police constable (PC) up to the chief constable of the force, John Campbell.

The pay of a police officer is based on the rank of the person and pay scales determined by the Home Office.

In 2019, the force employed 4,188 men and 3,355 women in full-time contracts.

How is a pay gap report broken down?

The pay gap report by TVP is broken down into the mean (average) and median (midpoint in a range) of hourly rates of pay between men and women.

It is also broken down into the mean (average) and median (midpoint in a range) of bonuses paid to a man compared to a woman.

Pay gap report:

Oxford Mail:

Mean – average hourly rate

Police officers: Men are paid an average hourly rate of 4.5per cent higher than females.

Police staff: Men are paid an average hourly rate of 8.2 per cent higher than females.

Combined: Men are paid an average hourly rate of 10.3 per cent higher than females.

Median – average hourly rate

Police officers: men have a 1 per cent higher median hourly rate than females

Police staff: men have a 4.4per cent higher median hourly rate than females

Combined: men have a 20.4per cent higher median hourly rate than females

The high combined figure of 20.4 per cent is the difference between the median pay point per hour for men of £19.65 and the median pay point for females of £15.64.

Bonuses:

Out of the 2,808 male police offices – 1,034 received a bonus payment.

Out of the 1,415 female police officers – 290 received a bonus payment.

Out of the 1,402 male police staff – 187 received a bonus payment.

Out of the 2,051 female police staff – 277 received a bonus payment.

Out of the 4,210 men in the force – 1,276 got a bonus.

Out of the 3,466 women in the force – 574 got a bonus.

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Here are the percentages:

The mean difference in a bonus pay for all relevant employees in the 12-month leading up to March 31, 2019.

Police officers: men receive an average of 44.4per cent higher bonus payment than females

Police staff: men receive an average of minus 0.6 per cent lower payment than females

Combined: Men receive an average of 57.8per cent higher bonus payments than females

The median difference in bonus pay for all relevant employees in the 12 months leading up to March 31, 2019.

Police officers: men have a 11.1per cent higher median bonus payment than females.

Police staff: men have a 27.9per cent higher median bonus payment than females

Combined: men have a 50 per cent higher median bonus payment than females.

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What are TVP doing to close the gap?

In the report John Campbell, the chief constable, said: “As a public service we are passionate about fairness and dedicated to bringing alive our values of fairness, openness and accountability. This report shows that we continue to have a gender pay gap.

Oxford Mail:

“Thames Valley Police believes that its gender pay gap does not stem from paying men and women differently for the same or equivalent work. Rather its gender pay gap is a result of the roles in which men and women work within the organisation and the salaries that those roles attract.

“We continue to be committed to work towards taking action to understand and close the gender pay gap by supporting and encouraging flexible, creative and innovative ways to attract, develop and retain women.

“However, being realistic it will take a number of years before any initiatives taken will have an impact on significantly reducing the gap.”