Trend report: housing associations as fair employers
Joe Malivoire takes a look at data on housing associations’ gender pay gap and CEO to worker pay ratio, and whether they pay staff the real living wage
Picture: Alamy
Sharelines
Of 60 housing association (HA) respondents, 16 reported a gender pay gap greater than the national average across all industries of 14.9 per cent in 2022, according to Social Housing’s analysis of environmental, social and governance (ESG) reports published for the year.
A total of 21 HAs reported a gender pay gap between zero and five per cent, while four HAs stated a slight gap in favour of women, demonstrating a broad range of figures in the industry.
Read more
Community Housing Group recorded the largest imbalance in favour of men at 29.8 per cent. The organisation explained in its report that the main reason for this was the high number of predominantly female care home staff (in a typically low-paid sector), set against a disproportionate number of men working within their higher salaried property care team. The HA stated that efforts are ongoing to address this issue through their Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging Strategy 2022-25.
While 57 per cent of the HA workforce is female, only 45 per cent of executive level and 42 per cent of board level roles are held by women, the National Housing Federation’s (NHF) Equality, Diversity and Inclusion report has found.
Although under-represented at board level, this figure is above the national average across all industries by three percentage points, according to the NHF report. The report also found that only eight per cent of the housing association workforce has a disability, compared to 24 per cent of the wider population.
It is clear from this analysis that a pay gap between men and women prevails in the sector, but it is also important to recognise HAs’ vertical pay gap.
Of the 59 HAs that responded, 46 claimed a CEO:worker pay ratio between 5:1 and 11:1, according to their annual environmental, social and governance reports. Ten HAs’ pay ratio was less than five. Peabody, Places for People and Anchor reported the largest ratios at 12, 18 and 26:1 respectively.
In its ESG report, Anchor noted: “Anchor increased pay for lower-paid colleagues twice in the reporting year; 1 April 2021 and 1 December 2021, including adopting the real living wage. This resulted in a reduced ratio compared to [the previous year].”
Jane Ashcroft, former chief executive of Anchor, received £445,475 in total salary for the year, according to Inside Housing’s 2022 chief executive salary survey. This was the second-highest in the sector. Total salary includes car allowance, bonus and cash paid in lieu of pension. Anchor has many care staff. Although it pays the real living wage, care work tends to be low paid compared to other roles in housing.
The real living wage, calculated according to the cost of living and based on the household basket of goods and services, is a voluntary wage rate set at £10.90 across the UK and £11.95 in London. Of the 65 HA respondents, 51 are currently paying this to their employees, with an additional four HAs paying it to all apart from apprentices.
The majority of the 10 HAs that stated they did not pay the real living wage in their 2022 ESG report cited care home staffing costs, as well as the knock-on effect that paying the real living wage has on tenant service charges, as their reason for being unable to commit to the wage rate. These HAs do claim to pay the majority of their staff the real living wage or above, where possible.
Click on the button below to download the data for ‘Trend report: housing associations as fair employers’*.
*This feature is only available to Social Housing Data subscribers.
Sign up for Social Housing’s data analysis newsletter
Picture: Alamy
New to Social Housing? Click here to register and sign up for our data analysis newsletter
The data analysis newsletter is a twice-monthly round-up of Social Housing’s leading data analysis, keeping you up to speed on key trends and pointing you to all the data you need on financial and operating performance in the sector and beyond.
Already have an account? Click here to manage your newsletters.
- © Social Housing
- All rights reserved