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Homes England boss bemoans slow pace of change in sector as body records small gender pay improvement

The chief executive of Homes England has said change is happening at an “all too slow a pace” in the housing sector, as the organisation’s annual gender pay gap revealed a slight improvement in performance.

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Nick Walkley, chief executive of Homes England (picture: Andrew Firth)
Nick Walkley, chief executive of Homes England (picture: Andrew Firth)
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Nick Walkey said Homes England's gender pay gap figures are “disappointing” #ukhousing

The Regulator of Social Housing recorded a gender pay gap of 17.5% in its first annual report #ukhousing

In a foreword to the report, Nick Walkley said the results were “disappointing”, after the organisation reported a pay gap of 15.5% when comparing the median hourly salaries of men and women.

The figures, which are based on a snapshot taken on 31 March 2019, show a 2% improvement on last year, when Homes England recorded a median pay gap of 17.5%.

The median is regarded widely as the best way to measure gender pay, as the mean can often be skewed by high-earning individuals, regardless of being male or female.

The reaction from Mr Walkley this year mirrors comments that he made last year, when he slammed Homes England’s results and said that the organisation’s progress on gender pay had been too slow.

Last year, Mr Walkley pledged to combat the issue with a series of changes at the organisation, including ensuring its workforce panels were mixed, introducing more flexible work patterns for staff, and increasing unconscious bias training for staff. However, the measures appear not to have had the success hoped for.


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The mean gender pay gap at Homes England has remained largely static: in March 2019 the organisation had a mean gender pay gap of 18%, compared with 18.2% in 2018.

This is likely due to there being more men in higher positions at the organisation. When Homes England reported the figures, 100% of the directors at Homes England were men.

Since 2017, the government has required organisations with more than 250 employees to report annually on their gender pay gap.

The government has suspended this year’s deadline for submitting gender pay gap reports for all organisations as a result of coronavirus, meaning the majority of housing associations have not submitted their reports for this year.

In addition to government requirements, Homes England has begun recording its figures on a quarterly basis. Its December 2019 figures demonstrated a median pay gap of 12.5% and mean pay gap of 15.3%, suggesting an improvement has been made since the official numbers were reported.

Mr Walkley said: “Our values are the backbone of Homes England and we have been having honest conversations about what it means to be diverse.

“This year’s gender pay gap report doesn’t quite hit the mark and we know we’ve still got lots to do, but at the same time we have made a step change in the last year.

“While we all get used to working in a different way, we will continue our work to ensure Homes England is a fair and inclusive employer for everyone, as well as an exemplar to the rest of the sector. This will remain a priority both throughout and after this challenging time.”

Meanwhile, the Regulator of Social Housing has published its first gender pay gap report since the organisation was launched in 2018.

As of March 2019, the English regulator had a median gender pay gap of 17.54% and mean gender pay gap of 15.23%.

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