Homes England boss says gender pay gap 'hasn't narrowed enough'

Homes England has failed to act decisively enough to narrow the gender pay gap across the organisation, the government agency’s chief executive has admitted.

Introducing Homes England’s second annual gender pay gap report Nick Walkley (pictured) said actions taken by the group had reduced the gap “slightly”, but it was clear “the progress we need to see is simply not happening fast enough”.

Homes England said its mean pay gap figure was 18.2% in 2018, down from 18.4% the year before, and its median pay gap was 17.5% versus 19.6% in 2017.

Walkley said: “The steps we took…were purposeful and well-intentioned, but ultimately [they] haven’t shifted the status-quo in any meaningful way.

“I accept we need to do things differently this year if we want our numbers to align with our ambitions,” he added.

Walkley said Homes England would be making “targeted interventions” aimed at encouraging diversity in recruitment and supporting women into senior roles.

In 2018 woman made up 51% of Homes England’s workforce but only 29% were in director-level posts.

The majority of women – 70% – were analysts, the most junior role in the organisation.

Women made up 67% of the lowest pay quartile and only 40% of the highest.

Homes England said a series of actions would aim to redress the balance, including regular career development discussions between staff in the analyst grade and their managers and sessions to raise awareness of the agency’s gender pay gap and appreciate the commitment to remove it.