UK armed forces equal pay audit 2019 to 2020 (2023)

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Key Findings

Gender

• Focusing on gender, the evidence shows there are a few differences exceeding 3% between the average salaries for male and female personnel in the Regular Armed Forces, accounting for rank and pay scale. However, once Time in Rank (TIR) is accounted for, observed notable differentials in the average salaries for male and female personnel decrease in most instances and, in all cases bar one, differences are below the 5% threshold for action.
• The outlying case shows a difference of 7.2% for OR-2s in the Royal Air Force (RAF) on Supplement 3, which drops to 5.3% after accounting for TIR. Upon further breakdown, none of the differentials in individual trades surpassed the 5% threshold at this rank.

Ethnicity

• For ethnicity, there are also pay differentials exceeding 3% for the average salaries of white and BAME personnel when rank and pay scale are considered. Again, once TIR is accounted for, the observed notable differentials in the average salaries for white and BAME personnel decrease in all but one case where it stays the same. In all cases bar one, differences are below 5% threshold for action.
• This outlying case is showing a difference of -6.9% for rank OR-1 in the RAF on Supplement 2 (the negative differential indicating it is in favour of BAME personnel) which drops to -5.5% after the adjustment of TIR. Upon further investigation, after the exclusion of those still on the much lower New Entrant Rate of Pay (NERP), paid to all during their first 6 months of training, the differential fell to -2.8% after adjustment for TIR.

Introduction

The Equal Pay Audit (EPA) assesses the equality of pay for all Regular Service Personnel across the three services: the Royal Navy (RN), the Army and the Royal Air Force (RAF). A basis for measuring pay inequalities in the Armed Forces requires a comparison of salaries for staff undertaking similar roles. Therefore, we have compared the pay of personnel in the same service with the same NATO rank on the same pay scale. It is anticipated that this approach will split the population into groups of people doing broadly equivalent work.

It primarily focuses on the differences in the average salaries based on gender and ethnicity. Further analysis concentrates on the differences present for gender and ethnicity once TIR has been accounted for. This is because personnel can increment pay spines (receiving higher pay) as their TIR increases, so long as they are not already on the top increment for their rank.

Analysis produced in this report has some exclusions which are explained below. The population used in this report contains only Regular Service Personnel who have received basic pay and X-Factor as recorded on the JPA system during October 2019. The exclusions applied in the analysis are:

a)Non-Regular sub-populations such as Full Time Reserves (FTRS), Gurkhas and Volunteer Reserves are excluded.

b)Bespoke pay spines, targeting specific specialist groups, have been excluded due to low numbers.

c)Allowances and other Recruitment and Retention payments are excluded.

d)Personnel for whom no basic pay has been recorded on the JPA system as at 1 November 2019 (during October) are excluded.

e)Personnel above NATO rank OF-6 have been excluded from gender comparisons due to low numbers of female personnel at these ranks.

f)Groups containing 5 or fewer personnel have their headcounts and average salaries suppressed and subsequently no pay differential is calculated. Headcount figures have been rounded to the nearest 10 in Tables with Rank breakdowns (figures ending in 5 have been rounded to the nearest 20 to avoid the systematic bias of always rounding upwards).

Further exclusions have been made specifically for the ethnicity analysis:

a)Personnel who have “No Value” or “Declined to Declare” as their ethnicity have been excluded from percentage calculations.

This is the fourth Armed Forces Equal Pay Audit report which has been written by Defence Statistics, the first report was produced using data as at 1 October 2010 and the second report using data as at 1 October 2017. Since the previous report, there have not been any changes to the military pay structure. However, between 2010 and 2017, there were reforms such as the shortening of pay scales for Other Ranks and the replacement of Higher and Lower pay spines with 4 Supplements. Results from this audit can be compared to the previous edition as there are no changes to the structure but because of the large reforms between the first and second audit, we cannot directly compare the results to the first audit. However, the overall conclusions can still be compared.

Definitions

Salary refers to the annual rates of basic pay (i.e. Base Pay plus X-Factor) and reflects the amount an individual received in 2019/20 provided they remained a full-time member of the Armed Forces for the entire year.

X-Factor is an additional percentage added to the base salary of Regular Service Personnel (and some Reserve personnel depending on commitment level), reflecting the differences between conditions of service experienced by members of the Armed Forces over a full career and conditions in civilian life.

Salary differential percentages show the percentage difference in salaries of female to males and BAME to white.

A positive salary differential shows female/BAME personnel receive a lower average salary than their male/white counterparts. A negative salary differential shows female/BAME personnel receive a higher average salary than their male/white counterparts.

UK Regular Forces include both trained and untrained personnel and exclude Gurkhas, Full Time Reserve Service (FTRS) personnel and mobilised reservists.

Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) is the terminology normally used in the UK to describe people of non-white descent.

Time in Rank (TIR) is the amount of time in years the individual has been in a specific NATO rank and captures the difference between the flow date and the situation date.

Symbols and conventions

Symbols

Data Quality and Sources

Data Sources

Data on Armed Forces personnel and salaries are obtained from the Joint Personnel Administration (JPA) system, which is updated continuously as a live system.

Data Quality

For Data Quality please consult Annex 1 which provides more detailed information.

Additional information on the assumptions underpinning the analysis in this Audit can be found in Annex 2.

SECTION 1 – Analysis on average annual basic salary by gender

1.1 Summary

Women represent 10.1% of the overall UK Regular Armed Forces on the Main Pay Scale. Across the individual services, the proportion of women in the RN and Army are broadly similar with 9.2% and 8.9% respectively, the RAF has the highest proportion of women at 13.8%. There has been a slight increase in these figures since the last publication.

Overall, there is little difference between male and female basic average salary with males paid 1.0% more on average. The RN is the only service which has a pay differential greater than 3% between males and females, with females paid 6.1% less on average . There has been a 0.9 percentage point increase in this differential since the previous edition of this Audit, where females in the RN were paid 5.2% less on average. ^{[footnote 1]} Similarly, the RAF differential has grown by 0.2 percentage points while the Army has also increased by 0.3 percentage points.

Table 1: UK Regular Personnel and their average salaries by service and gender as at 1 Oct 19

1.2 Comparison of average salaries

Table 2 shows the pay differentials that are evident in the Officers and Other Ranks (ORs) sub-groups for each service.

It should be noted that this is not a valid measure of equal pay since Officers and ORs are split into 7 and 8 NATO-equivalent ranks, respectively, that represent the different levels of seniority and responsibility. The differences in average salary reflect the variations present in the distributions for men and women across respective of rank. A more accurate comparison of salaries can be deduced when looking at ranks on their own, and for ORs this can be broken down further into the different Supplements.

It is apparent there is a pattern amongst Officers with notable pay differentials overall and within each service. The consistent positive pay differential implies that across the services male Officers are being paid notably more than female Officers. The RN has the most prominent pay differential for Officers at 10.2%, the Army and RAF have differentials of 6.8% and 5.8% respectively.

Regarding ORs, there is not a notable pay differential between males and females across the services. This trend does not hold when looking at the individual services, with the RN and the RAF possessing figures exceeding the threshold value of 3%. Both services show positive notable pay differentials between males and females, consistent with male ORs being paid more than female counterparts.

All the figures in Table 2 are broadly similar to those from the last edition, with the exception of Royal Navy ORs, where there has been a 1.1 percentage point increase in the difference in favour of males.

Table 2: UK Regular personnel on the main pay scale average salaries by gender and Service as at 1 Oct 19

1.3 Officers

Table 3: UK Regular Officers on the main pay scale average salaries by gender, rank and Service as at 1 Oct 19

There is a low number of females at OF-6 level in the RN and RAF which means no inferences can be made on the presence of a pay differential. An identical approach has been adopted for those ranks where there is a female presence of less than 5 throughout this report.

1.3ai Gender pay differential at OF-1

From Table 3, there is a pay differential across the services and ranks, however the only area where there is a differential exceeding 3% is OF-1 in the RAF.

Consistent with previous audits, where there is a difference exceeding 3%, this audit will capture the effect of time in a current job/rank on average salaries. Time in current rank is not readily available on the JPA system, thereby making statistical adjustments for the whole population not practical. Instead, an estimate has been applied in further analysis where notable differentials are observed.

To take the observed differences of TIR into account when making gender comparisons in pay, Table 4 presents adjusted average basic salary figures by gender, and the resultant percentage gender difference in average basic salary. These adjusted averages were derived using the estimated marginal means from ANCOVA analysis to remove the effect which an individual’s TIR has on their basic salary, thereby providing a more representative comparison of the average basic salary of males and females at the same rank.

1.3aii Adjusting for Time in Rank in the RAF OF-1

Table 4: Comparison of average salaries of UK Regular Officers (OF-1) in the RAF before/after accounting for TIR as at 1 Oct 19

Adjusting for TIR does not result in a change in the pay differential between females and males. This means that TIR has no practical effect on the average salary in males and females at OF-1 level in the RAF.

1.4 Other Ranks (ORs) – Supplements

1.4a ORs- Supplement 1

Table 5: UK Regular Other Ranks (Supplement 1) average salaries by gender, rank and Service as at 1 Oct 19

1.4ai Gender pay differential at OR-1 and OR-2

Table 5 shows the pay differential in the ORs for those on Supplement 1. The only notable pay differentials present in the above table are OR-2s in the RN and OR-1s in the RAF. The presence of a material pay differential in the RN and RAF is suggestive of male and female personnel receiving different average salaries at the same rank.

As with Officers, TIR is not available so has been estimated in further analysis. OR-2 is the lowest rank in the RN and OR-1 is the lowest rank in the RAF, so TIR measures the time between an individual joining the RN/RAF and the situation date, in years.

1.4aii Adjusting for Time in Rank in the RN OR-2 – Supplement 1

Table 6: Comparison of average salaries of UK Regular ORs (OR-2) in the RN before/after accounting for TIR as at 1 Oct 19

Accounting for TIR pay differential between females and males for OR-2s in the RN drops from -6.1% to -1.4%, below the 3% threshold. This is consistent with equality of pay once TIR has been accounted for.

An increase in the pay differential after adjusting for TIR implies that males have a lower TIR on average than females at this rank. This could be due to a number of possibilities; a recent increase in the proportion of males at this rank or males may be promoted quicker at this rank.

1.4aiii Adjusting for Time in Rank in the RAF OR-1 – Supplement 1

Table 7: Comparison of average salaries of UK Regular ORs (OR-1) in the RAF before/after accounting for TIR as at 1 Oct 19

After accounting for TIR, the pay differential of females to males within OR-1s in RAF slightly decreased but did not fall below the 3% threshold. OR-1 is the lowest rank in the RAF, which in turn could suggest that most people will have a low value of TIR.

1.4b ORs- Supplement 2

Table 8: UK Regular ORs (Supplement 2) average salaries by gender, rank and Service as at 1 Oct 19

1.4bi Gender pay differentials at OR-1 and OR-2

From Table 8, the only pay differentials evident above are OR-1s and OR-2s in the RAF and OR-2s in the Army. A positive pay differential implies males are paid more than females.

1.4bii Adjusting for TIR in the RAF OR-1 - Supplement 2

Table 9: Comparison of average salaries of UK Regular OR-1s (Supplement 2) in the RAF before/after accounting for TIR as at 1 Oct 19

Once the TIR is accounted for, the pay differential between females and males has decreased from 3.1% to 2.7%, which takes the differential below the 3% threshold. TIR has little effect on this population, because personnel spend very little at this rank before receiving a promotion. The reason for the gap is that there are very few females in this population and most of them are on NERP.

1.4biii Adjusting for TIR in the RAF OR-2 - Supplement 2

Table 10: Comparison of average salaries of UK Regular OR-2s (Supplement 2) in the RAF before/after accounting for TIR as at 1 Oct 19

By accounting for TIR, the pay differential reduces from 6.3% to 4.8%, which is still above the 3% threshold, but below the threshold for action of 5%.

1.4biv Adjusting for TIR in the Army OR-2 - Supplement 2

Table 11: Comparison of average salaries of UK Regular OR-2s (Supplement 2) in the Army before/after accounting for TIR as at 1 Oct 19

After accounting for TIR, the pay differential reduces from 3.0% to -0.2%. This means that once the effect of TIR is removed, the pay differential drops to almost zero, with females being paid more.

1.4c Other Ranks (ORs)- Supplement 3

Table 12: UK Regular ORs (Supplement 3) average salaries by gender, rank and Service as at 1 Oct 19

1.4ci Gender pay differentials at OR-2

In Table 12, there is a pay differential between males and females exceeding the 3% for the RAF at OR-2.

1.4cii Adjusting for TIR in the RAF OR-2 – Supplement 3

Table 13: Comparison of average salaries of UK Regular ORs (OR-2) in the RAF before/after accounting for TIR as at 1 Oct 19

By accounting for TIR, the pay differential remains notable with a decrease between males and females of 7.2% to 5.3%, which is still above the 5% threshold for action. This does not show equality of pay once TIR has been accounted for.

1.4ciii Further analysis on RAF OR-2 – Supplement 3

Adjusting for TIR showed a differential higher than the 5% threshold for action. However, upon further breakdown by trade, it has been found that all unadjusted salary differentials are under 5% for each individual trade.

SECTION 2 – Analysis on average annual basic salary by ethnicity

2.1 Summary

Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) comprise 8.4% of the UK Regular Armed Forces personnel on the Main Pay Scale. The RN and RAF have similar proportions of BAME personnel with 4.3% and 2.6% respectively, the Army has the largest proportion of BAME personnel at 12.4%.

Across all services, the pay differential between white and BAME personnel is 13.3% which exceeds the 3% threshold. These pay differentials are present in all the individual services with the RN having the largest difference of 15.8%. A positive pay differential implies BAME personnel receive a lower salary than white personnel, irrespective of rank.

Table 14: UK Regular Personnel and their average salaries by service and ethnicity as at 1 Oct 19

*Unknown ethnicity is not included in the calculation

2.2 Comparison of average salaries

From Table 15 below, we can look at the pay differentials between white and BAME personnel for Officers and ORs subgroups for each service.

There is a notable pay differential for white and BAME Officers which exceeds the 3% threshold. A positive pay differential implies white Officers and ORs receive a higher average salary than BAME Officers and ORs. After breaking down to individual services, the Army Other Ranks is the only area with no notable pay differential, implying BAME and white personnel receive equal pay. The figures are broadly similar to the previous edition, with the exception of RAF Officers which has increased by 4.2 percentage points, this is due to an increase in BAME Officers in the RAF, these personnel have come in at lower levels and brought the average pay down.

Table 15: UK Regular personnel average salaries by ethnicity and service as at 1 Oct 19

*Unknown ethnicity is not included in the calculation

*Unknown ethnicity is not included in the calculation

2.3 Officers

Table 16: UK Regular Officers average salaries by ethnicity, rank and service as at 1 Oct 19

From Table 16, there were no notable ethnicity pay gap differentials within Officers. Therefore, there is no need for further analysis.

2.4 Other Ranks – Supplements

2.4a ORs- Supplement 1

Table 17: UK Regular ORs (Supplement 1) average salaries by ethnicity, rank and service as at 1 Oct 19

2.4ai Ethnicity pay differentials at OR-2

The only pay differential exceeding the 3% threshold exists for OR-2s in the RAF, with a difference of 4.8%.

2.4aii Adjusting for TIR in the RAF OR-2 – Supplement 1

Table 18: Comparison of average salaries of UK Regular ORs (OR-2) in the RAF before/after accounting for TIR as at 1 Oct 19

Once TIR is accounted for, the absolute pay differential between BAME and white reduces from 4.8% to 0.8%, which is below 3% threshold. This finding shows there is equality of pay once TIR is accounted for.

2.4b ORs- Supplement 2

Table 19: UK Regular ORs (Supplement 2) average salaries by ethnicity, rank and service as at 1 Oct 19

2.4bi Ethnicity pay differentials at OR-1 and OR-7

Pay differentials present are OR-1s in the RAF which has a -6.9% differential and OR-7s in the RAF, which has a -5.7% differential. A negative pay differential implies BAME personnel are paid more than white personnel.

2.4bii Adjusting for TIR in the RAF OR-7 – Supplement 2

Table 20: Comparison of average salaries of UK Regular ORs (OR-7) in the RAF before/after accounting for TIR as at 1 Oct 19

With TIR adjusted for, the absolute pay differential between BAME and White personnel decreased from -5.7% to -2.2%. This demonstrates equality of pay once TIR has been accounted for.

2.4biii Adjusting for TIR in the RAF OR-1 – Supplement 2

Table 21: Comparison of average salaries of UK Regular ORs (OR-1) in the RAF before/after accounting for TIR as at 1 Oct 19

The exclusion of TIR, results in the absolute pay differential decreasing between BAME and white personnel from -6.9% to -5.5%, which is still above the 5% level for action. This does not show equality of pay once TIR has been accounted for.

2.4biv Further Analysis on RAF OR-1 – Supplement 2

Table 22: Comparison of average salaries of UK Regular ORs (OR-1) in the RAF before/after accounting for TIR with NERPS excluded as at 1 Oct 19

Adjusting for TIR showed a differential higher than the 5% threshold for action. Further analysis has been undertaken to assess if there are other factors which could explain the difference in salaries between white and BAME in this instance. Personnel at this rank are initially paid the New Entrant Rate of Pay (NERP), assigned to all new joiners during their first 6 months of training, and then the starting OR2 rate of pay until they have formally promoted to OR2. These two salary rates differ substantially from one another and, once those still on NERP are excluded from the cohort, the difference without TIR adjustment is -3.4% and with TIR adjustment is -2.8%. This shows equality of pay for trained personnel in this rank once NERPs are excluded and TIR is accounted for.

2.4c ORs- Supplement 3

Table 23: UK Regular ORs (Supplement 3) average salaries by ethnicity, rank and Service as at 1 Oct 19

2.4ci Ethnicity pay differentials at OR-2

The only notable pay differentials between BAME and white SP in this table are OR-2s in the RAF, which has a gap of 4.3%, indicative of white personnel receiving a higher average salary than BAME personnel. The presence of sufficient pay differentials warrants further investigation which considers the effect of TIR.

2.4cii Adjusting for TIR in the RAF OR-2 – Supplement 3

Table 24: Comparison of average salaries of UK Regular ORs (OR-2) in the RAF before/after accounting for TIR as at 1 Oct 19

The addition of TIR results in the pay differential decreasing between BAME and white personnel from 4.3% to 2.0%, falling below the 3% threshold. This shows equality of pay once TIR has been accounted for.

SECTION 3 – Conclusion

A basis for measuring pay inequalities in the Armed Forces requires a comparison of salaries for staff undertaking similar roles. Therefore, the pay of personnel in the same service, with the same NATO rank, on the same pay scale was compared, in anticipation that this approach splits the population into groups of people doing broadly equivalent work.

Initial analysis that accounted for service, rank and pay scale shows that for the most part, there are only minor (less than 3%) differences in average pay within these groupings. However, there are a few groups showing pay differentials exceeding the 3% threshold for male and female personnel in the Armed Forces. The differences were largely observed at lower ranks for all, with the largest differential being 7.2% for the RAF at OR-2 within Supplement 3. However, this drops to 5.3% after accounting for TIR. Further analysis shows that the unadjusted salary differentials for the individual trades on that rank are below the 5% threshold.

Personnel can increment in pay spines as their time in rank increases so long as they are not already at the top increment of the spine for their rank. Although the number of spine points have been shortened as result of pay reforms, TIR does still impact the average salary. The effect of TIR on the average salaries of personnel was investigated in further analysis where notable differentials were observed. Overall, the amount of time spent in rank was found to be a contributing factor to pay differentials.

After adjustments for TIR, most pay differentials are below the 3% threshold and almost all differentials are below 5%. The only exceptions were RAF OR-2 Supplement 3 for gender and RAF OR-1 Supplement 2 for ethnicity. Further analysis of the RAF OR-2 Supplement 3 for gender shows that when broken down by individual trades, none of the salary differentials surpass the 5% threshold. Similarly, when NERPs were excluded the salary differential for ethnicity in RAF OR-1 Supplement 2 does not surpass the 5% threshold. Only four differentials above 3% are present after TIR adjustment alone, the OR-1 on Supplement 1, OR-2 on Supplements 2 and 3, and OF-1 in the RAF, where female personnel receive an annual salary lower than their male counterparts.

Similarly, analysis that considered service, rank and pay scale found few pay differentials deemed notable for white and BAME personnel in the Armed Forces. Consistent with observations for gender, these differentials were found at the lower ranks and the largest difference was -6.9% for the RAF OR-1 on Supplement 2. After the exclusion of NERP, the training rate of pay paid to all in their first 6 months of service and the adjustment for TIR, this differential dropped to -2.8%, but still in favour of BAME personnel.

This analysis suggests that once service, rank, and TIR are accounted for there is equality of basic pay for Regulars on the main pay scale irrespective of ethnicity or gender in all but two cases. In addition, for these two cases it can be shown through further analysis that the underlying differential are also below the 5% threshold where, based on guidance from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (ECHR), action to close the differential might be required.

Appendices

1. Data Quality issues

Time in Rank (TIR)

A person’s TIR is calculated as the difference between the situation date and their latest intake date or their substantive promotion date, depending on how the person entered their current rank. If the person does not have an intake date or has not been promoted since 2007, then their length of service has been taken as the difference between their entry date and the situation date of publication. These fields are taken from JPA, which is known to have issues such as administrative errors.

2. Armed Forces Salary structure

Military salary consists of 3 main components: Base pay (Core Pay plus Trade Supplement Pay (for ORs only)), X-Factor and Bespoke pay spines. Base pay is the standard salary military personnel receive and is paid in accordance with the salary paid to civilians doing jobs with a similar job evaluated weight. The X-Factor is an additional percentage added to the base salary of regular Service Personnel (and some Reserve personnel depending on commitment level), reflecting the differences between conditions of service experienced by members of the Armed Forces over a full career and conditions in civilian life.^{[footnote 2]}

Armed Forces personnel can be paid differently depending on their trade or profession. Most personnel are on the Main pay scale. Officers have a single Main pay scale but ORs are split into different supplements on the Main pay scale according to their trade and rank.

Accounting for professional skills and career structures, there are Armed Forces personnel on bespoke pay spines. Whilst they are considered, at various levels, equivalent to their main scale counterparts, with equivalent ranks, they are paid differently in recognition of their specialism.

3. Methodology

Guidance from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) suggests an audit should make comparisons on the pay of workers undertaking the same type of work. The EHRC advocates when a pay differential related to gender is less than 3%, no action is necessary.^{[footnote 3]} Where the difference is greater than 3%, there is a need to undertake further analysis and for gender pay differentials exceeding 5%, action is needed to address the issue and close the differential. In this audit, pay differentials which exceed 3% when looking at individual ranks within pay scales will involve further analysis to provide explanations. These will include factors such as TIR and pay supplements within their rank.

A basis for measuring pay inequalities in the Armed Forces requires a comparison of salaries for staff undertaking similar roles. Therefore, we compare the pay of personnel in the same service, with the same NATO rank and on the same pay scale. It is anticipated this approach will split the population into groups of people doing broadly equivalent work.

This audit focuses on Officers and ORs on the Main pay scale. FTRS personnel are excluded due to different levels of X-Factor applied to their base pay rate according to the different balances of positive and negative factors of Service life which apply to this group. Part-time personnel including Volunteer Reservist personnel are excluded due to data quality issues.

4. NATO Rank codes and UK Service ranks

Officers

Other ranks

5. Links to relevant MOD statistical publications

UK Defence Statistics (compendium publication containing a wide range of statistics) Annual Manning Report (Analysis by rank and age)

Quarterly Service Personnel Statistics

Bi-annual Diversity Statistics