Ethnicity and disability pay gap information
Victim Support has been publishing its gender pay gap since 2017 in line with regulatory requirements. Ethnicity and disability pay gap reporting is not yet a legal requirement but as part of Victim Support’s commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) and in line with our EDI strategy we decided to publish our ethnicity and disability pay gap data for 2020/21 and have continued to do so each year to show our progress.
At Victim Support we are committed to ensuring that our teams are representative of the communities in which we work. For us this means ensuring that we are representative of all protected characteristics and that all staff and volunteers feel able to develop and succeed.
What is an ethnicity and disability pay gap?
An ethnicity pay gap refers to the difference between what is paid to Black, Asian and minority ethnic employees and white employees when analysed collectively.
A disability pay gap refers to the difference between what is paid to disabled employees and non-disabled employees when analysed collectively.
How is the data collected?
Victim Support collects anonymous EDI monitoring data for all staff and volunteers so that we can monitor how representative we are of the communities we serve. Completing this data is not mandatory and as of April 2022 85% of staff had submitted their ethnicity and disability data. Therefore, the below figures are not completely representative of all staff within VS but give an indication of where pay gaps exist.
We continue to encourage all staff to complete their EDI data to ensure that our future pay gap analysis is even more reflective of our staff population.
Victim Support staff demographics
As of April 2022:
- 15% of Victim Support staff identify as Black, Asian and minority ethnic (6% Black, 7% Asian, 2% mixed ethnicity and 1% ‘other ethnic group’). 69% of staff identify as white, 1% preferred not to respond and 15% of staff have not declared their ethnicity.
- 13% of Victim Support staff identify as being disabled, 69% identify as not being disabled, 3% preferred not to respond and 15% have not declared if they are disabled or not.
Victim Support ethnicity pay gap data
Within our ethnicity pay gap analysis Victim Support uses the term Black, Asian and minority ethnic to describe all ethnic groups other than white ethnic groups. However, we know the experiences of those from racialised communities are not the same and that scrutiny of the experiences of specific ethnic groups is needed in order to identify the individual barriers faced by specific groups.
Where data sets have allowed we have carried out this analysis, eg separate analysis for Black, Asian and mixed ethnicity staff compared with white staff.
For the financial year 2022/23 Black, Asian and minority ethnic staff’s mean pay is 0.4% higher than white staff’s and Black, Asian and minority ethnic staff’s median pay is 11.2% higher than white staff’s pay.
The distribution of Black, Asian and minority ethnic and white employees across quartile bands is:
| Black, Asian and minority ethnic % | White % | |
|---|---|---|
| Quartile 1 (lowest 25%) | 13% | 87% |
| Quartile 2 (lower middle) | 8% | 92% |
| Quartile 3 (upper middle) | 28% | 72% |
| Quartile 4 (highest 25%) | 23% | 77% |
Why does Victim Support have an ethnicity pay gap?
There is no evidence that our ethnicity pay gap is caused by differences in pay for Black, Asian and minority ethnic staff and white staff working in the same role or position.
The mean and median pay for Black, Asian and minority ethnic staff is higher than for white staff, resulting in a positive ethnicity pay gap. Quartile 4 spans a wide variety of roles and pay bands and although Black, Asian and minority ethnic staff represent 23% of this quartile Black, Asian and minority ethnic staff are less represented at the top end of this quartile, e.g. Senior Leadership and Wider Management Team roles.
We are also mindful of regional differences in diversity and the subsequent impact of London weighting on these figures, as a high proportion of the Black, Asian and minority ethnic staff within Victim Support receive London weighting.
We are committed to ensuring that our pay gap reporting and subsequent actions are proportionate and reflective of the diverse staff population of Victim Support across England and Wales. As such we will continue to monitor the proportion of Black, Asian and minority ethnic and white staff that receive London weighting within our pay gap analysis and factor this in to any regionally specific actions to address pay gaps accordingly.
Victim Support disability pay gap data
For the financial year 2022/2023, disabled staff’s mean pay is 8.8% lower than non-disabled staff’s pay, while disabled staff’s median pay is 2.5% lower than non-disabled staff’s pay.
The distribution of disabled and non-disabled employees across quartile bands is:
| Disabled % | Non-disabled % | |
|---|---|---|
| Quartile 1 (lowest 25%) | 18% | 82% |
| Quartile 2 (lower middle) | 19% | 81% |
| Quartile 3 (upper middle) | 15% | 85% |
| Quartile 4 (highest 25%) | 11% | 89% |
Why does Victim Support have a disability pay gap?
There is no evidence that our disability pay gap is caused by differences in pay for disabled and non-disabled staff working in the same role or position.
The disability pay gap arises because the ratio of disabled staff to non-disabled staff at Victim Support decreases at higher levels of the organisation — meaning there is a higher percentage of non-disabled staff in managerial positions when we compare this to the percentage of non-disabled and disabled staff in more junior roles. This influences both the mean and median gaps.
What action is Victim Support taking?
Since first publishing our ethnicity and disability pay gap data in 21/22 we have:
- Updated the EDI pages of the VS website to better communicate our commitment to diverse recruitment and provided specific details of support for disabled applicants.
- Updated the EDI statement included on the jobs website and within recruitment packs to have more specific reference to ethnicity and disability.
- Created an Inclusive Recruitment Toolkit to support recruiting managers in ensuring that they embed equality and inclusion in to their recruitment practices.
- Promoted job opportunities through the Black History Month website.
- Partnered with Evenbreak, a disability-specific jobs posting platform, with all VS roles now advertised on this site.
- Piloted a Black, Asian and minority ethnic mentoring programme which placed five members of Black, Asian and minority ethnic staff with five members of the VS Senior Leadership Team for a nine month period.
- Encouraged senior managers to review the anonymous EDI data of their teams on a quarterly basis to identify particular areas where they are not representative of their local demographics and determine local plans to address these.
- In collaboration with VS’s Disability Network we have raised awareness of reasonable adjustments, empowering more staff to feel able to make a reasonable adjustment request and access the support that they need in order to develop and succeed within VS.
- Updated our exit survey questions to gather further information regarding retention and have analysed this by anonymous ethnicity and disability data.
Victim Support is committed to eliminating disability and ethnicity pay gaps and continues to take actions to address the pay gaps. During 22/23 a disability and ethnicity pay gap action plan has been developed in consultation with our Disability and R.A.C.E Inclusive staff and volunteer networks. Actions within this plan include:
- Removing names from applications within our recruitment system until after shortlisting
- Enhancing the promotion of internal vacancies to promote internal progression
- Enhancing the mandatory training for staff with recruitment responsibilities to build greater understanding of how to make a recruitment process inclusive and accessible
- Reviewing VS job advertisements design and text with an aim of reducing potential barriers to applying from people from marginalised groups
- Promoting Leadership and Management resources and learning to all staff, not just those already in management roles to support development and future progression of underrepresented groups
- Enhanced use of diversity specific recruitment platforms for promoting senior roles