Disability Pay Gap Report 2024
Disability pay gap report
This is the first time we have published the British Library’s disability pay gap.
From this point forward we will be publishing these figures annually, alongside
our gender pay gap and our ethnicity pay gap, with the goal of reducing
and eliminating these gaps, and ensuring that the Library as a workplace is
welcoming, fair and empowering for everyone, regardless of background.
Roly Keating, the British Library’s
Chief Executive, said:
In 2018 I committed to eliminating our
gender pay gap by 2023, the year of
our 50th anniversary. We achieved that
milestone last year, and have maintained it
since, and it’s clear to me that the annual
publication of the pay gap played a key
role both in tracking our progress and
galvanising efforts across the organisation.
This year we’re publishing our disability
pay gap for the first time, as part of our
broader efforts to support diversity, equity
and inclusion. The median gap is currently
4.20%. Clearly this is not where we want
to be and so our target is to eliminate the
disability pay gap by 2030, the end of
our current Knowledge Matters strategy
period. Annual publication of these figures
will ensure that we do so in a transparent
and accountable manner.
Jas Rai, the British Library’s
Interim Chief Operating Officer, said:
We are voluntarily publishing our disability
pay gap so we have a benchmark for
progress, against which we’ll report on
annual basis going forward. We are
disappointed with the median pay gap that
currently exists, and we have a number of
initiatives underway which we believe will
make a substantive difference – including
inclusive recruitment, disability awareness
training and our commitment to achieving
disability confident leader status (see ‘Our
commitment’, p6). By focusing our efforts,
and tracking our progress in the coming
years, we are determined to deliver positive
change in this area, as we have done with
the gender pay gap.
Disability pay gap – 5 April 2023
The disability pay gap is the percentage difference between the
median (or mean) hourly pay of employees who are disabled and
employees who are non-disabled.
Disability pay gap
4.20%
Median
5.15%
Mean
On average members of staff with
disabilities earn 95.80p for every £1 that
members of staff without disabilities earn.
Disability bonus pay gap
Bonuses do not make up a significant component of employee
pay at the British Library. Only three senior employees are entitled
to a bonus payment, in accordance with the terms of their
specific contracts. Due to the sensitive nature of this data and the
significantly low data size we are unable to share this information.
Our people
This is a snapshot of the British Library’s whole organisation
demographics broken down by disability status.
Pie char
t showi
ng the Briti
sh
Lib
rary's whole organisation demographics broken down into disability status. 12% Disabled, 65% Non-disabled, 23% Unknown.
Proportion of Disabled and Non-Disabled employees in each pay quartile
To work out the quartiles, the workforce is divided into four equal-sized
groups. Quartile one represents the lowest earners and quartile four
represents the highest earners.
Pie
ch
art
showing the proportion of disabled and non-disabled employees in the first pay quartile. 12% disabled, 56% non-disabled, 32% unknown.
Pie
ch
art
showing the proportion of disabled and non-disabled employees in the second pay quartile. 12% disabled, 64% non-disabled, 24% unknown.
Pie
ch
art
showing the proportion of disabled and non-disabled employees in the third pay quartile. 11% disabled, 69% non-disabled, 20% unknown.
Pie
ch
art
showing the proportion of disabled and non-disabled employees in the fourth pay quartile. 12% disabled, 73% non-disabled, 15% unknown.
Understanding our disability pay gap
This is the first year the British Library is disclosing its disability pay gap. It is with
a commitment to transparency and improvement that we share our findings.
Regrettably, we have identified a pay gap for colleagues with disabilities. We
acknowledge this disparity with the utmost seriousness and are actively engaged in
efforts to eliminate it. Our goal is to foster a workplace that is inclusive, equitable,
and supportive of all our employees.
While reporting a disability pay gap is voluntary, we recognise the significance of
addressing this issue. We understand the challenges in benchmarking within our
sector, but this initial report will serve as a reference point against which to measure
our progress and the impact of our strategies in the years ahead.
Key insights
Key insight one
High percentage of
unknown category
At every quartile there
is a high percentage
of employees in the
unknown category,
with the highest in
quartile one (32%).
This is affecting the
data and limits the
analysis that can be
made of the disability
pay gap.
Key insight two
Pay parity in
quartile one
Quartile one has
negative pay gaps
in both the mean
(-1.42%) and median
(-0.35%). Meaning
that disabled staff are
paid more than staff
without a disability
in this section of
the Library.
Key insight three
Higher pay gaps
in quartile four
Quartile four has
the highest pay gaps
in both the median
(2.5%) and the mean
(6.3%). This means
that quartile four
contributes the most
out of any other
quartile to the
disability pay gap.
Our commitment
Our target is to eliminate the disability pay gap by 2030. To do this we will be
monitoring our progress on an annual basis by publishing the disability pay gap
report alongside the gender pay gap and ethnicity pay gap.
We will take the following actions to reduce and eliminate the
disability pay gap:
• Undergoing an inclusive recruitment
audit to highlight any barriers in the
process for applicants. The review
will also look at the differences in
recruitment across both of our sites
• Organising disability awareness sessions
for both staff and managers covering a
range of topics
• Investing in specific leadership
development workshops on disability
and senior leader impact
• Embedding diversity and inclusion
learning into all new training
programmes
• Implementing ‘reasonable adjustment’
passports at the British Library
• Improving our data monitoring and
collection to generate more specific and
targeted analysis of experiences
• Increasing disclosure rates of disability
across the organisation
• Continuing our early careers training
placements providing opportunities for
disabled people entering the sector
• Continuing to work towards becoming
a Disability Confident Leader and
implementing the associated actions
• Continuing to collaborate and work
with Trade Union colleagues and the
Disability and Carers Support Network.
A pay gap is not the same as
unequal pay
A pay gap is not the same as unequal pay.
Unequal pay means that employees performing
equal work, or work of equal value, are not
receiving equal pay – which is unlawful.
The disability pay gap is a measure of the
difference in average earnings between
people who are disabled and people who are
non-disabled’s average earnings across an
organisation as a whole over a period of time,
regardless of role or seniority. It is not a like-for-
like comparison of disabled and non-disabled
employees. This means that although we
have a fair pay and reward policy, and equal
pay, we may still have a pay gap.
Mean and Median explained
The mean and median are different ways of
calculating the average of a dataset and are used
to calculate pay gaps. Both are used as they tell
us different things about the data. The mean or
mathematical average is worked out by adding
all the data values together and dividing by the
total number of values in the data set.
The median is the positional average. It is found
by ordering all values (in a data set) in numerical
order and finding the middlemost value. The
advantage of the median over the mean is that
the mean is affected by any outliers in the data
set (such as a very small or large value), whereas
the median looks for the value ‘positioned’ in
the middle of the data set. Therefore, we lead
with the median figure.
Statistical robustness
There is currently no guidance on how to
calculate the disability pay gap. However, we
have followed methodology equivalent to
that set out by the government based on the
gender pay gap and the new guidance on the
ethnicity pay gap reporting on gov.uk. This
official guidance recommends any group needs
a minimum of 50 individuals to be reported on
as a separate category. This ensures anonymity
of data – data concerning health is a protected
category of data under GDPR, and we have a
duty under the law to protect this data. It also
allows for statistical validity, meaning that there
are enough data points within the overall data
set to trust the results.
Due to this need for statistical robustness,
we have grouped disability categories into
one overall category to calculate the disability
pay gap.
The individual categories are: • Long term chronic/progressive conditions • Physical • Neurodiverse • Sensory • Hearing • Learning • Mental health • Mobility • Speech