Civil Service Gender Pay Gap Narrows

There has been a narrowing of the gap between male and female salaries in Northern Ireland's Civil Service since 2012.

The average basic full-time equivalent salary of female staff is now 2.2% lower than that of male staff, down from the 6.4% gap reported in 2012.

Among the General Service and analogous grades, the largest gap is at Grade 6 level, where women's pay is on average 7.2% below men's.

At Deputy Principal level women's median earnings are 6.8% below men's median earnings. By contrast, at AO level women's median earnings are 6.4% above men's median earnings.

The figures have been released today by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA).

The average basic salary of Northern Ireland Civil Service staff is £23,999. A basic salary of £18,000 would put someone in the bottom 10% of staff, while a basic salary of £39,300 would put someone in the top 10%.

93% of staff received an increase in salary between 2012 and 2013, yet there was a large variation across the grades in the level of increases.

72% of staff who were not on NICS pay scales, 44% of Administrative Assistants and 26% of Grade 6 level staff received no pay increase.

73% of Executive Officer II, 42% of Executive Officer I and 29% of Senior Civil Service level staff received increases of 6% or more.

The average salary of Northern Ireland Civil Service staff at Administrative Assistant and Administrative Officer grade levels was higher than that of civil servants at the equivalent levels in England, Scotland and Wales.

(IT)