Gender pay gap report 2023 - 2024

1. Introduction

Our commitment

Nottinghamshire Police recognises that our people are our most valuable asset. They are the constant and critical success factor in respect of our past achievements and will be our future successes. To deliver Our Vision, we need to ensure that our people are effectively supported, developed, motivated and representative to meet the changing needs of society.

Our aim is to develop and deliver a diverse, flexible, talented and modern workforce that people want to be a part of in support of the organisational objectives to earn the trust and confidence of our communities and to develop a workforce fit for the future.

Nottinghamshire Police supports the fair treatment and reward of all staff, irrespective of gender. Our pay approach is based on the principles of consistency, fairness and transparency, supporting the fair treatment and reward of all staff, irrespective of gender.

We are committed to being a diverse and inclusive organisation and understanding and improving our gender pay balance.

This report fulfils Nottinghamshire Police’s reporting requirements, analyses the figures in more detail and sets out what we are doing to close the gender pay gap in the organisation.

2. Reporting gender pay gaps – an overview

Many of you will have seen the coverage of Baroness Louise Casey's review of the Metropolitan Police​ and the wider discussions it is generating about trust in policing.

Chief Constable Kate Meynell said:

“No one should ever be treated differently because of who they are or subjected to inappropriate or abhorrent behaviour. We do not tolerate this in the communities that we serve and there is no place for such behaviour in our force either.

“The majority of police officers and staff are committed to protecting and respecting all communities.  Policing is more inclusive, more diverse and more reflective of our communities than we have ever been, but it still contains racism, misogyny, discrimination and bias.

“At Nottinghamshire Police we hold ourselves to the highest standards, as people rightly expect of us, and this includes treating others with dignity and respect. We actively encourage our officers and staff to challenge and take action against any behaviours that go against this, we support them in doing so, and we investigate any reports of abuse thoroughly. We have experienced cases, albeit a small minority, and we need to accept that, in order to tackle them swiftly and to demonstrate our intent to serve with integrity and transparency.

“I continue to embed my PROUD to serve pledge ensuring all officers and staff are committed in our vision to deliver an outstanding service that we can all be proud of.

“We also take every opportunity to reduce these behaviours by engaging and training our workforce on important issues that impact on our culture and our communities.

“In Notts we remain committed to doing everything we can to protect women and girls, such as our recent online campaign Call it Out, and we have recently implemented a clear strategy to tackle violence, catch perpetrators and hold them to account. This applies equally to our own officers and staff and we make it clear that no misogynistic behaviour will be tolerated in our force.

“All police chiefs have committed to change to become actively anti-racist.  Equally we are committed to a service that is anti-misogynistic, anti-homophobic and anti-discrimination of any kind. ​​This requires a much more active approach and mind-set where we look at how policing works and challenge the policies, procedures, operations and cultures.  We expect to be judged on the results that the public and our people see.

“We have a zero-tolerance approach to racism in any form and we are proactively working on our Notts response to the national Police Race Action Plan. This will improve how we engage with all our communities to ensure greater trust and confidence in policing, such as a successful event we held last week with the leaders of Black Churches in the city.

“We want to ensure everyone is treated with the same level of respect regardless of their ethnicity, and to improve representation from communities across Nottinghamshire within our ranks to enrich the service we work hard to provide."​​

Our Duty is to fight crime, protect vulnerable people and ensure our communities feel safe and listened to.

Our Commitment is to serve with pride, compassion and integrity, both in how we deal with members of the public, but also how we behave towards one another.

Our Priorities are:

• To earn the trust and confidence of our communities – public confidence is key and if we are going to be an outstanding police service, our communities need to trust us to do the right thing for the right reasons, be transparent and accountable in all we do, and work with our communities to find resolutions to the issues that affect them.

• To improve victim outcomes – this isn't just about criminal outcomes, we need to ensure that victims are at the heart of all we do, that we respond effectively – conduct investigations to the highest standards and find an appropriate resolution to their calls for service.

• To develop a workforce fit for the future – we need to invest in our people and our leaders, to ensure that they have the skills and equipment to perform their roles, that we treat each other fairly and have our resources in the right place and work to the highest standards, ensuring that all officers and staff are invested in maintaining them.

Finally, Our Vision is to deliver an outstanding service we can all be proud of.

Our Proud to Serve Pledge is underpinned by the national Code of Ethics for policing and our PROUD values. Everyone who works for the force must be PROUD to serve, and these values stand for:

• Being Professional

• Having Respect for all

• Working together as One team

• Demonstrating Utmost integrity, trust and honesty

• Doing it differently and never being afraid to try something new.

These values are incorporated into all our people processes. They are an integral part of how we recruit, promote and assess the performance and development requirements of our people. We will recognise and reward people who display the right behaviours.

We aim to create an exceptional place to work where diversity is embraced, success is celebrated, innovation is encouraged, and our people are PROUD to serve in a force that is renowned for quality.

We also introduced the new national Code of Ethics for policing, which was revised to reflect the challenges of modern day policing whilst outlining the professional behaviours that the public can expect to see from officers, staff and volunteers. 

The updated Code of Ethics consists of three principles that are easy to remember and apply – Public Service, Courage, and Respect and Empathy – instead of the nine principles from the 2014 version. This new Code of Ethics can be found on the College of Policing website and will work alongside the Code of Practice for Ethical Policing.

Chief Constable Kate Meynell said:

“Our officers and staff are entrusted with the responsibility of serving and protecting our communities and the Code of Ethics is a set of guidelines that outline the expectations of the policing profession to deliver the highest professional standards to our communities. 

“The Code of Ethics has established three new principles that complement our established Proud to Serve Pledge. These guidelines will aid you in doing what's right, in the right way, for the right reasons. The code is designed to foster a culture of openness and accountability, create a supportive and respectful environment in which our employees can thrive, and enhance the policing profession while improving our service to the community.”

What is the Gender Pay Gap Report?

In 2017, the government introduced legislation that made it statutory for organisations with 250 or more employees to report annually on their gender pay gap. Nottinghamshire Police is covered by the Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties and Public Authorities) Regulations 2017 which came into force on 31 March 2017.

These regulations underpin the Public Sector Equality Duty and require relevant organisations to publish their gender pay gap by 30 March 2018 (and then annually), including: the mean and median gender gaps in hourly pay; the mean and median gender gaps in bonus pay; the proportion of men and women who received bonuses; and the proportions of male and female employees in each pay quartile.

The gender pay gap shows the difference in the average pay between all men and women in a workforce. If a workforce has a particularly high gender pay gap, this can indicate that there may be issues to deal with and the individual calculations may help to identify what those issues are.

How is the gender pay gap different to equal pay?

The gender pay gap is different to equal pay. Equal pay deals with the pay differences between men and women who carry out the same jobs, similar jobs or work of equal value. It is unlawful to pay people unequally because they are a man or a woman.

All figures provided within the report are based on Nottinghamshire Police’s data taken from as of 31 March 2024.

3. Workers in scope

Police officers and police staff employed by Nottinghamshire Police.

• Officers: 59.5%

• Staff: 40.5%

Police officers represent 59.5% and police staff represent 40.5% of our total workforce. Whilst we have seen a small increase (1.5%) of police staff as the percentage of the total workforce. Police officers continue to be the largest proportion of the workforce.

3.1 Gender profile

The gender profile of Nottinghamshire Police is as follows:

Police officers

• Male: 65%

• Female: 35%

We have seen a slight reduction in the percentage of female police officers to 35%, which is reduced by of 0.1%.

Police staff

• Male: 37.9%

• Female: 62.1%

We have seen a reduction in the percentage of female police staff by 0.7% to 62.1%. The overall police staff numbers have increased, with female staff being the largest percentage of staff numbers.

Combined police officers and police staff

• Male: 54%

• Female: 46%

We have seen an increase in the combined figure for female police officers and police staff by 0.1%, to 46.0%.

3.2 Gender pay gap in hourly pay

• Mean gender pay gap: 8.6% (up)

• Median gender pay gap: 11.3% (up)

We have seen increases in the mean and median gender pay gap by hourly rate report.

We have also detailed below our median and mean gender pay gaps since Nottinghamshire Police started reporting.

Mean/Median	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024
Mean gender pay gap by hourly rate	11.5%	11.1%	10.2%	10.6%	9.8%	8.2%	8.6%
Median gender pay gap by hourly rate	17.6%	19.1%	19.1%	21.7%	15.8%	9.5%	11.3%

The historic gender pay gap details shows that we have seen an overall reduction in the mean gender pay gap. However, we have seen a slight increase of 0.4% in the gender pay gap report for this year. The median gender pay gap shows there had initially been increases up to 2021 with some reductions showing in 2022 and 2023. This year we have seen an increase in the median for but overall it is showing a reduction from 2018.

Gender pay gap in hourly pay - police officers

• Mean gender pay gap: 5.0% (up)

• Median gender pay gap: 0.8% (down)

Nottinghamshire Police uses the national police officer ranks ranging from constable to chief constable. Each rank has a specific pay scale. Police officers move through the pay scale within a rank based on length of service, regardless of gender.

Following the assessment period, forces introduced the Pay Progression Standards for police officers with effect from 1 April 2023. This is based on guidance from the College of Policing in line with the National Police Chiefs’ Council, designed to strengthen the link between performance and pay progression to ensure we have a highly capable workforce that focuses on support and professional development.

There has been a widening of the mean gender pay gap for police officers by 0.5%, from 4.5% to 5.0%. We have also seen a more significant reduction of the median pay gap for officers by 9.6% to 10.4%.

Pay quartiles - police officers

Female

• Lowest: 42.1% (down)

• Lower middle: 37.9% (down)

• Upper middle: 32.4% (up)

• Highest: 27.6% (down)

Male

• Lowest: 57.9% (up)

• Lower middle: 62.1% (up)

• Upper middle: 67.6% (down)

• Highest: 72.4% (up)

Women are well represented throughout all the quartiles and there has been an increase in the percentage of women represented in the upper middle quartile, which shows an increase of 6.1% to 32.4%. We have also had reductions in the percentage number of women in the other quartiles, ranging from 0.8% to 3.9.

Gender pay gap in hourly pay - police staff

• Mean gender pay gap: 5.6% (up)

• Median gender pay gap: 3.4% (down)

Nottinghamshire Police uses local police staff grades determined following formal job evaluations. Each grade has a specific pay scale. Police staff move through the pay scale within a grade based on length of service, regardless of gender. There are a small number of police staff who are on career grade schemes, who progress across grades linked to attainments such as qualifications.

In December 2023, Nottinghamshire Police revised its pay scales for police staff to ensure that all staff receive the Real Living Wage. This meant that some of our lower grades were removed from the pay scales and some of our admin grades were adjusted. Chief Constable Meynell welcomed the changes and said that these were challenging times and we needed to support our staff accordingly.

We have seen a positive reduction in the median pay gap for police staff by 0.9% and a slight increase in the mean by 0.3%.

Pay quartiles - police staff

Female

• Lowest: 71.0% (down)

• Lower middle: 67.4% (down)

• Upper middle: 56.1% (up)

• Highest: 53.9% (down)

Male

• Lowest: 29.0% (up)

• Lower middle: 32.6% (up)

• Upper middle: 43.9% (down)

• Highest: 46.1% (up)

In this reporting period, we have seen increases in numbers of police staff across all quartiles. Women are represented more in all police staff quartiles and we have seen an increase in women in the upper middle quartile.  From last year’s percentage data, there has been reductions in women in some of the quartiles from 0.9% (lowest), 0.5% (lowest middle) and 2.1% (highest).

3.3 Bonus gender pay gap - combined

• Mean bonus gender pay gap: (-) 2.0% (down)

• Median bonus gender pay gap: 7.3% (up)

This means that the mean bonus gender pay gap has widened in favour of women. However, we have seen a reduction in the mean bonus pay gap for women from (-) 6.7% to (-) 1.9%. The median bonus pay gap has increased for women.

Proportion of men and women receiving a bonus payment

• Female: 15.3% (up)

• Male: 14.4% (up)

We have seen an increase in the proportion of both female and male officers receiving a bonus payment. We have also detailed below our median and mean bonus gender pay gaps since Nottinghamshire Police started reporting.

Mean/Median	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024
Mean bonus gender pay gap	1.6%	(-) 0.2%	(-) 2.6%	6.3%	(-) 6.7%	(-) 1.9	(-) 2.0%
Median bonus gender pay gap	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%	(-) 6.7%	7.3%

Overall, the mean bonus gender pay gap report since 2019 have widened in favour of women except for the period 2021. In relation to the median bonus gender pay gap report it has generally been static except in 2023 and 2024. In 2024, the median bonus pay gap has widened in favour of men.

Bonus gender pay gap – police officers

The Police Officer Bonus Payment Procedure provides details of the bonus payment scheme within Nottinghamshire Police and the circumstances in which the bonus payment will be awarded. The objective is to ensure a consistent and fair approach to bonus payments.

• Mean bonus gender pay gap: (-) 15.2% (down)

• Median bonus gender pay gap: (-) 6.7% (equal)

Proportion of men and women receiving a bonus payment

• Female: 24.5% (up)

• Male: 18.0% (up)

Police officers are eligible to be considered for a bonus under the Police Officer Bonus Payment Scheme, as per the May 2002 Police Negotiating Board Pay Agreement.

Following on from last year, women continue to receive a higher bonus (mean and median) in comparison to men this year showing a widening of the mean bonus gender pay from (-) 6.3% to (-) 15.2% in their favour. The median bonus gender pay gap has remained neutral from last year to this year.

We have seen an increase in the proportion of both men and women being paid a bonus payment, with female officers having the larger proportion.

Bonus gender pay gap - police staff

• Mean bonus gender pay gap: 33.1% (up)

• Median bonus gender pay gap: 0 (down)

We have seen an increase for the mean bonus gender pay gap for police staff by 6.5% from 26.6% last year to 33.1%, which has resulted in the gap widening for women.

In terms of the median bonus gender pay gap for men and women this is showing neutral. We have seen the amount of the median bonus received by female staff increased from last year by £50.00 to £250.00. We have also seen an increase in the proportion of both female and male staff receiving a bonus payment.

Proportion of men and women receiving a bonus payment

• Female: 7.7% (up)

• Male: 5.3% (up)

Police staff in certain roles, are eligible to be considered for a bonus payment for undertaking formal tutoring. The Police Staff Honoraria Procedure also provides opportunities for consideration of an honoraria payment for police staff undertaking some higher-level duties or demonstrating exceptional performance over a prolonged period.

4. Future actions to remove the gender pay gap

Nottinghamshire Police is committed to addressing the gender pay gap and aims to undertake further initiatives and actions to reduce this including:

Diversity, equality and inclusion

We will review our Diversity, Equality and Inclusion Strategy and ensure that we embed it, which will include:

• Providing a service that meets the needs of all communities.

• In line with the amendment to legislation on the Worker Protection (amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023, we will review our Sexual Harassment and all forms of harassment and bullying policy and practices to ensure we take all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace.

• We will provide a working environment free from any discrimination, sexual harassment or any other types of harassment and where everyone is treated with dignity and respect and where everyone can feel supported, safe and reach their potential. This supports our commitment to ensure our communities feel safe, listened to and to serve with pride, compassion and integrity in everything we do.

• Engaging with our workforce better to develop our workforce and their understanding of DEI.

• We will commission an external company to conduct an independent, anonymous cultural audit to assist Nottinghamshire Police to gain deeper insights into the lived experiences and perceptions of middle managers. This audit will support Nottinghamshire Police to build an inclusive culture to ensure we attract and retain a talented and diverse workforce.

• Raising awareness of roles within Nottinghamshire Police and taking positive action through our recruitment.

• Recruit some key individuals to help with inclusion and positive actions.

• Continue to review our progression, retention and those that are leaving.

Family friendly policies

• We will follow the advice and guidance from government proposals to introduce a neonatal leave policy and update our policies with any changes to family friendly policies.

• We will ensure that we are supportive of our workforce and help enable all parents to take responsibility for childcare.

• We will implement a Carer’s Leave policy to support our staff with their caring responsibilities. We will also train individuals to provide, support, advice and guidance to those individuals with caring responsibilities. 

Recruitment and selection

• We intend to employ some key roles to lead, develop, drive and deliver our resourcing and attracting strategy to ensure the very best talent is selected. We will continue to do this by working with our communities to help deliver a more diverse and inclusive workforce.

• We will continue to review our recruitment data to ensure that we are attracting individuals from diverse backgrounds to apply and go through our processes, and that we have a workforce representative of the community we serve. We will continue to work with our communities to help us improve our representation and inclusivity across the force.

• We will continue to promote internal careers events to ensure individuals know about different roles within Nottinghamshire Police, support available and to help them make an informed choice.

• We will review our recruitment and selection suite of documents and accompanying processes to ensure we recruit individuals of the highest calibre, and provide a consistent, fair, inclusive and cost-effective approach.

Development and promotion

• Leadership and management will continue to be a key focus to ensure that we equip our managers with the right skills to reinforce and support diversity, equality and inclusivity and manage/help individuals in the workforce to achieve their potential and to be their true and authentic selves.

• We will introduce a study leave procedure, working alongside our career conversation process. This procedure will show our commitment to staff training and development, affording individuals the opportunity to undertake study or training that enhances their performance in their role.

• To support the reduction of the gender pay gap, some organisational issues were identified in relation to this. Focus groups will be arranged, which will consist of a diverse range of attendees from Nottinghamshire Police. The intention will be for individuals to discuss the issues, identify practical solutions, and provide recommendations to resolve these.  

• The suggestions/recommendations will then be submitted to senior managers for consideration and implementation. Thereafter, these will be fed back to the participants demonstrating the inclusion of participants to resolving workforce issues and continuous feedback. 

• In line with the feedback, we will introduce a promotion board procedure for police officers to help officers understand the promotion board procedure and make it more transparent. As part of the promotion board process, we will look at how we provide information, give individuals an opportunity for support and to provide preferences on postings, which will be considered in line with operational priorities.

• As part of the policing pledge to develop a workforce fit for the future, the Leadership and Academy team will work with the Support Networks Council to understand the reasons that appropriately qualified individuals have not considered applying for promotion. We anticipate that the results will be used to identify perceived barriers and target future support opportunities.

• We will refresh our career conversations to ensure individuals know how their roles will help Nottinghamshire Police to deliver the pledge, and ensure we deliver an outstanding service that we can all be proud of and addressing the causes for concerns raised by HMICFRS.

• We will identify targeted initiatives through surveys to help develop our staff and make them feel valued/increase satisfaction.

Pay and reward

• Following the introduction of Police Pay Progression Standards, we will continue to monitor the implementation to ensure it is being fairly implemented.

• We will continue to annually review the bonus payment for police officers and police staff, and honorarium procedures for police staff, to ensure it is available to be used where appropriate. These mechanisms can be used to reward staff and we will ensure that it is still in line with inflation.

Engage, retain and exit interview processes

• Following the roll out of the Stay Questionnaire across all of Nottinghamshire Police, we will aim for this to become a continuous cycle to capture the positives of working for the organisation and to act on any feedback that highlights areas for improvement. This will help us to improve fairness, consistency, inclusion, working practices and enable employee voice. We will provide data on themes and trends and share good practice to the Force Executive Board and the Strategic Wellbeing Board.

• Following a review and refresh of our exit interview process, we will continue to monitor the leavers and exit interview data to identify any themes or trends. We will continue to offer a safe space for individuals who are leaving the organisation to share their experiences. We will capture themes and any required learning and this will be reported on at our Learning, Ethics and Inclusion Board.

Wellbeing

• We will monitor our Wellbeing Strategy to continue to ensure that we have a highly engaged workforce, that is motivated and representative of our communities, to meet both their needs and the needs of the public.

• We will continue to review our Employee Assistance Programme to ensure we are providing a suitable free, impartial and confidential service from qualified staff, as well as reviewing the support we provide to the high-risk roles.

• We will employ a key individual to provide occupational health screening, health checks and other key wellbeing initiatives so that individuals can monitor their health and wellbeing throughout the year. This role will support our existing occupational health and complement our wellbeing provision.  The role plays a vital role in raising understanding so that individuals can make informed choices about their health and take action where appropriate.  This role will complement our wellbeing provision.

• We will continue to promote our wellbeing services and invest in our workforce by responding to the requests of our workforce and arranging evidence-led initiatives.

• We will continue to hold six-monthly Deputy Chief Constable’s (DCC) Roadshows at various locations, providing an opportunity for the workforce to engage informally with the DCC and gain an insight into any areas of improvement that can improve engagement and promote wellbeing.

• We will continue to work with our Federation, Unions, support networks and stakeholders to improve policies and practices, which will bolster the support we provide to our officers and staff.  Therefore, highlighting our commitment to fostering a healthier and more supportive work environment, whilst ensuring that our officers and staff are taken care of both mentally and physically.