Gender pay gap report

Employers with 250 or more employees as at a specified ‘snapshot’ date are required to publish gender pay gap information.

Raven’s total headcount on the snapshot date of 5th April 2024 was 323.

Everyone at Raven is proud of our purpose “Building Homes, Changing Lives”.

How we deliver our purpose is important to us, and our three culture statements inform everything we do:

Put Customer First – We care about our customers and so we understand, meet and pre-empt their needs; providing a consistently great experience.
Always Be Curious – We ask questions, challenge the status quo, and learn from one another; continuously seeking ways to improve.
Make It Happen – We use our knowledge, experience and data to make decisions and take action; driven by our responsibility and commitment.

As an IIP Gold accredited organisation and Disability Confident Employer, we recognise our staff as central to achieving our purpose. As outlined within our Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Plan and reflected in our One Raven Culture Framework, we are committed to a culture built on principles of fairness and trust, where differences are celebrated, and every colleague is valued.

As part of this, we recruit, develop, and recognise our employees based on individual merit and regardless of personal characteristics such as race, disability, sex, age, and gender reassignment, as covered within the Equality Act (2010). We recognise mandatory gender pay gap reporting as an important step towards greater transparency and equality for women.

This report contains the Gender Pay Gap as of 5th April 2024 for Raven Housing Trust, as required by the Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2017.

It is important to remember that the gender pay gap relates to the earnings of female employees compared to male employees in all positions across the workforce and therefore reflects the types of position in which each are employed, rather than being an indicator of equal pay for equal work. This means that organisations with a greater proportion of men than women in senior, higher paid roles will have a larger pay gap, because male employees across the organisation will, on average, be paid more.

Raven has a mean gender pay gap of 1.29% favouring females (reported as -1.29%), which has changed from a mean gap of 3.3% favouring males the previous year. This is because the percentage of female employees in the Lower Quartile, Band A, has reduced, putting less downwards pressure on the average hourly rate for females, whilst the percentage of female employees in the Upper Middle and Upper pay quartiles has increased.

Our mean gender pay gap is excellent compared to the national picture, with the mean gender pay gap for the Not-for-Profit sector as provisionally reported by the Office of National Statistics in October 2024 being 14.7% favouring men, and for all sectors being 13.8% favouring men.

The median gender pay gap at Raven is 1.79% favouring men, which means that when our hourly pay rates are listed from highest to lowest, the middle pay rate for male employees is slightly higher than for female employees. Please note that this metric is based on hourly rate across all positions, so does not mean that female employees in the same positions as male employees receive lower hourly rates.

The median gap at Raven has reduced by 4.01% since 2020 and compares favourably to the national median of 16.1% in favour of male employees within for the Not-for-Profit sector and 13.1% across all sectors, as reported by the Office of National Statistics in October 2024.

The median pay gap at Raven is less skewed towards males than previously because of the recruitment of female employees into some of our higher paid positions. However, the median gap continues to be positive towards males partly because male employees in the upper quartile tend to be within higher paid positions than females, and partly because in the lower pay quartile, Band A, there are more female than male employees who contribute to our salary exchange pension scheme.

Our mean gender bonus gap is 8.19% in favour of female employees (reported as -8.19%). This is because, in the 12 months to the snapshot date, we have paid discretionary retention bonuses to employees in several of our business critical roles, more of whom have been female employees than male.

Our median gender bonus gap is 6.45% in favour of male employees. Although there are more females receiving a bonus compared to males, the bonus amounts were higher for male employees, due to the majority being performance-related bonuses for business development positions, which are based on a percentage of salary. This results in the ‘middle’ bonus value for males being higher than for females.

1. Requirements

Mandatory Gender Pay Gap Reporting regulations require organisations with 250 or more employees to report their pay gap as of 5th April (snapshot date) with the following information:

i. Mean gender pay gap: the difference between the average hourly rate of pay received by male and female employees.
ii. Median gender pay gap: the difference between the middle hourly rate of pay for male and female employees when listed from highest to lowest.
iii. Pay quartiles: the percentage of men and women that fall within four equal-sized pay bands, based on hourly rate of pay.
iv. Mean gender bonus gap: the difference between the average bonus pay received by male and female employees in the 12 months to the snapshot date.
v. Median gender bonus gap: the difference between the middle bonus amount for male and female employees when listed from highest to lowest.
vi. Percentage of men and women who received bonuses.

Relevant employees:

All those employed on the snapshot date are regarded within the legislation as ‘relevant’ employees and are included in the metrics, even if they joined or left Raven part-way through the pay period and were paid for only a portion of that pay period.

The first four of the above metrics are based on data relating to ‘full-pay relevant’ employees, which according to the legislation is those who, during the pay period that includes the snapshot date, were paid their normal pay for the hours they worked. For part-time employees, this is their usual pro-rata pay. The data for these metrics therefore excludes employees who, as a result of being on maternity leave, sick leave, or special leave (e.g., sabbatical or other type of unpaid leave), were paid at a reduced rate that is less than their usual pay.

For the bonus calculations, all relevant employees are included, regardless of whether they received full, normal pay during the pay period.

2. Raven’s Gender Profile

Data collected on employees as of 5 April 2024 (the snapshot date) shows the following workforce gender breakdown in relation to those who received their normal pay for the hours they worked:

• Male – 154
• Female – 146
• Total no. of full-pay relevant staff – 300

Of the total 300 full-pay relevant employees that were employed on the snapshot date, 51% were male and 49% female.

3. Gender Pay Results

i. The mean gender pay gap in hourly pay for Raven is 1.29% and is more favourable to women.
ii. The median gender pay gap in hourly pay for Raven is 1.79% and is more favourable to men.
iii. Pay quartiles by gender (these quartiles are set out in the reporting requirements):

iv. The mean gender bonus gap for Raven is 8.19% and is more favourable to women.

v. The median gender bonus gap for Raven is 6.45% and is more favourable to men.

vi. Of the employees who received a bonus, the percentage of male employees is 44% and the percentage of female employee is 56%.

4. Commentary

Mean gender pay gap:

Raven’s mean gender pay gap of 1.29% in favour of females (reported as -1.29%) compares positively to the national average of 14.7% in favour of males as reported by the Office of National Statistics in October 2024.

The reason for the mean gender pay gap at Raven being favourable to females is due to an increase in the number of male employees in the Lower Quartile, Band A, compared to previous years, which has had a downwards pressure of average pay for males. Within Band A, there has been a 5% decrease in female employees and 5% increase in male employees over the past 12 months.

In addition, of the 29 males who left Raven in the 12 months to the snapshot date, over 20% of these were in Upper Quartile, Band D, and several of these roles either have not subsequently been filled or have been filled by female employees, which has supported the pay gap skewing towards females. However, the largest mean pay gap is still within the upper quartile, Band D; this is due to some of the highest paid roles in the upper quartile being in STEM-related or other male dominated functions such as trade roles and are filled by male employees, despite there being more females than males in this quartile.

Median gender pay gap:

Our median gender pay gap of 1.79% is skewed towards male employees but is below the national average of 16.1% as reported by the Office of National Statistics in October 2024. This metric is based on hourly rate across all roles and does not mean that female employees in the same positions as male employees receive lower hourly rates.

The reason for the median pay gap being favourable to men is partly due to Raven’s pension salary exchange scheme, which was introduced in November 2023. In the lower quartile, Band A, there is a greater number of female than male employees who contribute to the scheme (i.e. 74% of females compared to 30% of males) and the female employees tend to contribute higher amounts.

The way salary exchange schemes work means that the gross pay received by employees is reduced by the amount they contribute, and so the hourly rate calculated for those employees is reduced, as it is based on their pay after the salary exchange. Therefore, where female employees are contributing more than male employees to the salary exchange pension scheme, the hourly rate calculated for the female employees is in some cases lower than for male employees, even though the gross pay for the females is higher than the males prior to the pension contribution.

Pay quartiles:

At Raven, 51% of employees in Band A are female, which is a decrease of 5% from the previous year. In addition, 52% of employees in the upper quartile, Band D, are now female, compared to 37.3% of employees the previous year.

Benchmark data for 2024 pay quartiles are yet to be published. However, the composition of our lowest pay band is consistent with data provided by XpertHR, which states that in 2023, an average 56.7% of employees of the lower pay quartile, Band A, were female, though in the not for profit sector this figure increases to 73%.

Mean gender bonus gap:

Raven’s mean gender bonus gap is 8.19% in favour of female employees (reported as -8.19%) due to the discretionary retention bonuses for business critical roles linked to our digital transformation programme that were paid in the 12 months to the snapshot date, 56% of which were to female employees and 44% to male employees.

Median gender bonus gap:

Raven’s median bonus gap is 6.45% in favour of male employees. This is a larger gap than the previous year because, although more females than males received a bonus, the amounts were higher for male employees due to the majority of them being performance-related bonuses for business development positions, which are based on a percentage of salary rather than being a fixed amount. All our employees in business-development roles are male, which is reflective of the fact that these types of position tend to be male-dominated at a national level.

Conclusion:

We are proud of having a gender pay gap that compares favourably to the whole economy and to other not-for-profit organisations because it is reflective of Raven being an equal opportunities employer with a good representation of women within senior positions. However, the broader results remind us that we cannot be complacent, and that to maintain a balanced gender pay gap we must continue putting steps in place to ensure an inclusive approach to recruitment, encouraging applications from males and females for all positions and removing barriers to employment and development where they may exit.

5. Chief Executive’s Statement

We are committed to maintaining a fair and transparent approach to pay and to providing all employees with equal opportunities to progress in their careers and to contribute to Raven’s success. The key actions we have taken in support of this are:

a. Regular benchmarking that is carried out by an external specialist, to ensure our reward package is competitive, with the breadth and flexibility to meet different wants and needs.

b. Equal pay audits carried out on an annual basis, when we check internal pay parity across positions with similar responsibilities and in relation to protected characteristics.

c. Managers are encouraged to consider all working arrangements that could be put in place whether the role is junior or senior and regardless of gender, to support our employees in balancing their work and personal commitments. Our Hub, Home, Roam policy and Lifestyle Contract were introduced in 2022 in support of this flexible approach.

d. Improving our employee diversity data to better identify any barriers to employment and development that may exist, and to identify appropriate activities and initiatives. For example, we are currently working towards Level 3 of the Disability Confident scheme, which is an indication of our commitment to recruiting and developing disabled colleagues so that we can better understand our customers.

These actions are aimed at maintaining a balanced gender pay gap as well as broader equality in our organisation, but we welcome the opportunity to annually review the progress that we make in achieving a diverse and inclusive workforce.

I, Jonathan Higgs, confirm that the information in this statement is accurate.

4th April 2025