Scottish Funding Council staff equality information as at April 2011

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1 Scottish Funding Council staff equality information as at April 2011 Version published April 2013 Introduction This is our first report under the public sector equality duty. Although the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) has fewer than 150 employees it has decided to go further than is required under the legislation in terms of reporting. SFC is committed to ensuring equality for all members of staff. This approach is enshrined in our policies covering equality, recruitment and selection, salary determination, flexible working and training and development. Our procedures covering grievances, discipline and bullying and harassment exist to create a framework which affords protection to staff to enable alleged discrimination to be investigated and dealt with as necessary. SFC carries out an annual equal pay audit and has done so since However, due to organisational change in 2012 and an agreement to delay negotiations on the April 2012 pay review the most recent pay audit report is our 2011 report which looks at pay of staff working for SFC. In order to keep all other data consistent, this report will use data from the period Executive summary We recognise that we need to continually review our employment policies and practices to create a positive work environment that allows us to work effectively yet fairly respecting our differences and recognising that we need to reflect the society we exist to serve. As a small organisation we are more sensitive to changes in staffing (one member of staff is nearly 1%) and how these play through in monitoring data. We do have areas where particular characteristics are, to varying degrees, underrepresented: women in senior management roles, younger employees, disabled people and potentially in the numbers of black and minority ethnic staff we employ. The areas we have identified will require thought as to how we can best address these particularly when our organisation is not increasing in size and is under increasing pressure to deliver more with fewer resources. In terms of the analysis of pay, whilst there are some variations these are largely attributable to relatively small numbers of staff in each grade. A review of terms and conditions of employment did not give rise to any significant areas of concern. We must not be complacent and need to continue to monitor 1

2 equalities within SFC to ensure we can focus our efforts to create and maintain a workplace that offers equality of opportunity to all employees. Equality information As a relatively small organisation it is becomes easy to identify individuals particularly when subdividing groups of staff therefore the bulk of the pay audit concentrates on gender but it does touch upon race and disability. The small size also means that variations can quite easily occur when staff leave or are promoted from a given grade. Staffing composition at SFC As at April 2011 SFC employed staff and from the data we hold the following tables give a picture of our composition under the main protected characteristics. Of the protected characteristics the only ones which we do not hold data on are gender reassignment and marital status and civil partnership. Gender Gender % of total Total Female 58.6% 75 Male 41.4% 53 The gender spilt within SFC has been around the 60% and 40% level since SFC was formed and these results maintain this gender split. From available data the gender diversity of the Scottish population is 48% male and 52% female. SFC therefore has a slightly higher than might be expected number of female employees. There are gender specific pockets within the organisation. The 2011 equal pay report flags up that grades E1, E2 and M1 are predominantly occupied by females in contrast to grades M2 and above (Director, Senior Director and Chief Executive Officer) which are almost exclusively occupied by males. Grade A2 is exclusively occupied by females whilst there is a 50:50 split at Grade E3. Given the small size of SFC one member of staff is about 0.8% of the total work force Race Ethnic origin % of total Total White Scottish 59.4% 76 White English 10.2% 13 White Other 11.7% 15 Not stated 10.2% 13 White Irish 5.5% 7 2

3 White Welsh 0.8% 1 BME 1.6% 2 Prefer not to say 0.8% 1 The majority (87.6%, 112 staff) of SFC were of white ethnic origin in April Over 10% of staff did not respond to this question whilst 0.8% indicated they preferred not to respond. In terms of black and minority ethnic (BME) staff SFC had 1.6% (two members of staff) in April These figures are comparable to previous years. Based on Scottish Government figures 1 2% of people living in Scotland are from a BME, though figures from the yet to be published 2011 census are expected to give a much higher figure nearer to 5%. BME staff are marginally underrepresented in our workforce. During SFC had few opportunities to take on new staff due to a recruitment freeze. We need to ensure that we work to increase the number of applicants from black and ethnic minority groups. Age Age band % of total Total % % % % % % % % 4 The age distribution of staff employed by SFC broadly maps to a standard bell shaped distribution with lower numbers at the extremes (20-24, and 60-64). The bulk of SFC employees as at April 2011 were aged 35 to 54. SFC has no staff aged or younger. This is largely due to the fact that the majority of posts require graduate level or equivalent experience. Over the past 10 years SFC has had a decline in the number of lower graded administrative jobs, which traditionally may have given opportunities for younger people. Whilst we do offer work experience to school students and we engaged a get ready for work trainee in 2012 given the relatively low level of staff turnover, the freeze on recruitment and the reduction in lower graded posts means that younger people are underrepresented at SFC

4 Religion/Religious belief Religious belief % of staff Number None 38.3% 49 Christianity 33.6% 43 Prefer not to say 7.0% 9 No response 18.0% 23 Other 3.1% 4 The census found that around 65% of the Scottish population self-identified with Christianity as a religious belief and just under 2% held other religious beliefs. Some 28% stated they had no religion in Clearly with 38.3% of staff indicating they have no religion and only 33.6% expressing a belief in Christianity SFC differs from the situation found in A significant number of staff did not respond (18%) and a further 7% indicated they did not wish to indicate any religious belief. The results of the 2011 census will when they are published provide some overdue information on what changes have taken place since Sexual orientation Sexual orientation % of total Total Heterosexual 73.4% 94 No response 18.0% 23 Prefer not to say 5.5% 7 Homosexual 3.1% 4 Accurate data on sexual orientation can be hard to come by, the Office of National Statistics Integrated Household Survey April 2011 to March 2012 found that 1.4% of adults identified themselves as lesbian, gay or bisexual and 95% heterosexual. At SFC some 23.5% gave no response or declined to say. 3.1% of SFC employees indicated they were homosexual. Disability Response % of total Total Disability 8.6% 11 No disability 90.6%

5 Prefer not to say 0.8% 1 About 19% of the Scottish population of working age is disabled yet only about 10% are economically active in the labour market. 8.6% of SFC s workforce indicated they had a disability with the majority (90.6%) indicating they had no disability. This means that we are slightly below the average for the Scottish labour market. During SFC joined Positive about disability which aims to increase the number of disabled applicants getting a job interview providing they meet the basic criteria for the vacancy Equal pay audit and the gender pay gap A copy of SFC s April 2011 pay audit is attached which gives details of earnings by grade and gender as well as providing commentary on pay by ethnic origin and disability. Based on the data used for the April 2011 pay audit the gender pay gap for SFC was 25%. This is due to the fact that our senior managers are almost all male. No new posts at M2 (Deputy Director) level or above have fallen vacant/ been advertised since 2011 which means that this situation will not change much into The protected characteristics The Scottish Public Sector equality specific duty requires listed public bodies to collect information on the following protected characteristics with the aim of performing better in the general duty. SFC s situation with regards to the data it holds for staff is indicated next to each of the nine characteristics: Age data known Disability data collected Pregnancy and maternity data collected Race data collected Religion or belief data collected Sex data collected Sexual orientation data collected Gender reassignment no data held Marriage and civil partnership (with regard to eliminating unlawful discrimination in employment) we do not hold data on this. 5