Civil Service 'Still Pays Men More'

Female civil servants in NI are still being paid less than their male colleagues.

The Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) today published a report providing an overview of pay statistics for the Northern Ireland Civil Service (NICS).

The median basic salary (FTE) of female staff has been shown to be 4.8% lower than that of male staff.

However, one reason for the gap between males and females - which has narrowed in recent years - is that there are a larger proportion of men than women in higher grades.

The statistics relate to basic salary, and the emphasis is on 2011, though some trend information covering the period 2006-2011 is also presented. For contextual purposes the NICS is compared with civil servants in the rest of the UK as well as the public and private sectors in Northern Ireland.

Other key findings include that the median basic salary of staff is £21,490.

A basic salary (FTE) of £17,000 would put someone in the bottom 10% of NICS staff, whereas a basic salary (FTE) of £38,000 would put someone in the top 10%.

Analysis of gender pay differences within grades reveals a more complex picture.

For example, at Administrative Officer level, the grade with the highest gap, women's median basic salary (FTE) is 7.4% above that of men.

In contrast, at Deputy Principal level and Grade 5 and above, women's median basic salary (FTE) is 5.0% below that of men.

The report said that differences of this kind can arise from a complex range of factors, of which, typically, the most influential is the length of time staff have been in their grade.

With regard to community background, there are fewer gaps at grade level in median basic salary (FTE) than is the case for gender.

The largest gap is for industrial staff, where Catholic median basic salary (FTE) is 4.7% above that of Protestants.

A slightly smaller gap, but in the opposite direction, exists at Grade 5 level and above, where Catholic median basic salary (FTE) is 4.6% below that of Protestants. As with gender, differences of this type can arise from a complex range of factors.

While there has been an upward trend in median basic salary (FTE) for all grade levels over the period 2006 to 2011, the increases at Administrative Officer and Administrative Assistant have been particularly marked (38% and 45% respectively).

These increases are largely due to alignment to new pay scales as a result of a settlement of equal pay claims.

The report also showed that, between 2010 and 2011, at all grade levels from Administrative Officer to Grade 6, the majority of staff experienced an increase in salary in the range 2% - 3.9%. This increase was due to staff progressing one step up their pay scales.

Pay for staff at Administrative Assistant and Administrative Officer levels is higher than that of civil servants at equivalent levels in the rest of the United Kingdom, whereas the median basic salary of staff at Executive Officer level and all higher grade levels is lower than that of their counterparts elsewhere in the UK.

(BMcC/GK)