We recognise the important role that diversity and inclusion has to play in supporting us as an employer and as a regulator.
It is important as an employer to create a diverse and inclusive culture where people can come to work and be themselves. It is also important as a regulator in providing more innovation and creativity in our approach to solving problems – leading to better decisions, outcomes and policy that help us achieve our objectives.
To achieve these aims we work towards organisational equality objectives. These objectives help us fulfil our responsibilities under the Public Sector Equality Duty.
Our organisational equality objectives for 2019-20 were to:
- establish a diversity and inclusion committee to strengthen leadership, accountability and governance around diversity and inclusion
- develop a longer-term diversity and inclusion strategy and action plan
- complete existing external diversity benchmarks, eg Disability Confident and Stonewall Workplace Equality Index
This report highlights the progress we are making towards these objectives and what we’re committed to focus on next year.
Progress on objectives
Establish a Diversity and Inclusion Committee to strengthen leadership, accountability and governance around diversity and inclusion
We have made significant progress towards establishing a Diversity and Inclusion Committee to strengthen leadership, accountability and governance around diversity and inclusion. We created a diversity and inclusion governance framework to provide clarity on how decisions are made and by whom, and to identify where accountability lies for ensuring actions are delivered. Under the governance framework overall accountability for our diversity and inclusion strategy lies with our Executive Committee (ExCo) and this is now reflected in ExCo members’ performance objectives.
Our internal and external diversity and inclusion agenda is delegated to the committee, which is a sub-committee of ExCo. The committee is responsible for providing direction and taking decisions on diversity and inclusion-related matters and championing inclusion throughout the organisation.
The committee is co-chaired by two Executive Directors - the Executive Director of Strategy and Risk, and the Executive Director of Regulatory Policy, Analysis and Advice.
Standing members will include representatives from HR, Communications, Data Insights, Diversity and Inclusion, Diversity Network Groups and two representatives from other areas of The Pensions Regulator (TPR).
The main role and purpose of the committee will be to lead and direct TPR’s internal and external diversity and inclusion agenda.
To provide the foundations for the committee, we have created a Diversity and Inclusion Committee Terms of Reference, role descriptions for committee members, and objectives for committee members to be built into their yearly set of objectives.
Our next steps are to get the committee operational. We will do this by appointing committee members and holding a facilitated session with the newly formed committee members to bring the governance framework to life.
Develop a longer-term diversity and inclusion strategy and action plan
The committee will be responsible for setting the diversity and inclusion strategy and action plan for the organisation, and ensuring all elements of our internal and external diversity and inclusion obligations and aspirations are identified, with accompanying strategy, action plans and measures put in place to monitor progress. This includes our responsibilities under the Public Sector Equality Duty. This work will be a key focus next year.
Complete existing external diversity benchmarks
We continued work to embed and build on TPR’s Disability Confident Employer accreditation and towards submitting an entry into Stonewall Workplace Equality Index 2021. We supported the set up of a Disability Network to support our Disability Confident journey.
See diversity and inclusion for further details on our equality objectives.
Gender pay gap action plan
We also continued working towards our gender pay action plan, which focuses on three priority areas for action:
- continuing to ensure that our recruitment practices are fair and transparent
- encouraging internships and apprenticeships in areas with a larger gender pay gap
- ensuring our entire workforce receives education around unconscious bias and other principles around diversity and inclusion
Our gender pay report 2019 showed that our median gender pay gap is 8.7% and our mean gender pay gap is 11%. This is an increase of 1.7% and 3.1% respectively. TPR’s pay gap is almost half the national average of 17.3% published in the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in 2019, comparing favourably. We maintain a strong overall gender balance with 51% females to 49% males overall, a 50/50 gender balance at Executive Committee leadership level and a 50/50 gender balance at Senior Leadership Team level.
See diversity and inclusion for further details on our equality objectives and the actions we have taken towards our gender pay gap action plan.