Ethnicity Pay Gap Report 2024
Ethnicity pay gap report
This is the first time we have published the British Library’s ethnicity pay gap.
From this point forward we will be publishing these figures annually, alongside
our gender pay gap and our disability 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 ethnicity
pay gap for the first time, as part of our
Race Equality Action Plan, and our broader
efforts to support diversity, equity and
inclusion. The median gaps are currently
5.33% for Asian colleagues and 13.03%
for Black colleagues. Clearly this is not
where we want to be and so our target
is to eliminate both these gaps 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 ethnicity
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
gaps that currently exist, and we have
a number of initiatives underway which
we believe will make a substantive
difference – including career development
opportunities, inclusive recruitment and our
commitment to the Race at Work Charter
(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.
Ethnicity pay gaps – 5 April 2023 The ethnicity pay gap is the percentage difference between the median (or mean) average hourly pay of employees in different ethnic groups. For the British Library’s ethnicity pay calculations, we have calculated the average percentage earnings for our Asian and Black colleagues relative to our white colleagues. This gives us two separate pay gaps – one for each ethnic group. Asian pay gap 5.33% Median 3.95% Mean On average Asian members of staff earn 94.67p for every £1 that white members of staff earn. 13.03% Median 16.80% Mean Black pay gap On average Black members of staff earn 86.97p for every £1 that white members of staff earn. Ethnicity 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 the high-level ethnic groups in line with the Ethnicity facts and figures guidance on gov.uk Pie c hart showi ng 73 % White , 9% Un kn own , 3% Other, 2% Mixed, 6% Black, 7% Asian 12% 23% Proportion of Black, Asian and white employees in each pay quartile To work out the quartiles, the workforce is divided into four equal-sized groups starting with the lowest salaries in the organisation. Quartile one represents the lowest earners making up the first group, and quartile four represents the highest earners in the last group. Pi e cha rt sh ow ing the proportion of Black, Asian and white employees in the first pay quartile: 68% white, 12% unknown, 7% Asian, 9% Black, 2% Mixed, 2% Other. Pi e ch art s ho wing the proportion of Black, Asian and white employees in the second pay quartile: 68% white, 9% unknown, 9% Asian, 7% Black, 3% Mixed, 4% Other. Pi e ch art s ho wing the proportion of Black, Asian and white employees in the third pay quartile: 75% white, 9% unknown, 6% Asian, 4% Black, 2% Mixed, 4% Other. Pi e ch art s ho wing the proportion of Black, Asian and white employees in the fourth pay quartile: 82% white, 7% unknown, 5% Asian, 3% Black, 2% Mixed, 1% Other.
Understanding our ethnicity pay gaps
In our commitment to transparency and fostering an inclusive workplace, the British
Library is proud to share our first report on ethnicity pay gaps. Regrettably, our
analysis has revealed existing pay gaps among both Asian and Black colleagues.
We are actively engaged in implementing strategies to reduce and eliminate these
disparities.
It’s important to note that reporting ethnicity pay gaps is a voluntary initiative, and
we acknowledge the inherent challenges in benchmarking within our sector as a
result. Despite these obstacles, we are dedicated to establishing a robust framework
for measurement and improvement. This initial report serves as our baseline for
assessing future progress.
Key insights
Key insight one
Percentage of
employees in each
quartile
In the first quartile, colleagues
in the Black, Black British,
Caribbean and African ethnic
group, represent 9% of staff
and this reduces to 3% in the
fourth quartile. The colleagues
in the Asian or Asian British
ethnic group represent 7%
of staff in the first quartile,
increasing to 9% at the highest
in the second quartile and
reducing to 5% in the fourth
quartile. This means that
representation decreases in
the higher grades of the British
Library.
Key insight two
Difference in quartile
pay gaps
In quartile one the median
and mean pay gaps are both
negative (-2.65%, -0.53%)
for colleagues in the Black,
Black British, Caribbean and
African ethnic group, whereas,
in quartile four the pay gaps
increase to 4.0% (median) and
14.12% (mean). This means that
quartile four contributes most
heavily to the overall pay gap for
Black, Black British, Caribbean
and African colleagues.
Conversely, we see negative
pay gaps in both quartile one
(-4.06% median, -4.63% mean)
and quartile four (-9.16%
median, -5.49%) for colleagues
in the Asian or Asian British ethnic
group. Meaning the lower middle
and upper middle quartiles are
where we see pay gaps for Asian
or Asian British colleagues.
Key insight three
Percentage increase
of white employees
Whilst the percentages of
other ethnic groups generally
decrease, the percentage of
white employees is at its lowest
with 68% in quartile one and
increases by 15% to 82% in
quartile four – the highest
percentage increase
of any ethnic group.
Our commitment
Our target is to eliminate the Asian or Asian British and Black, Black British,
Caribbean or African ethnicity pay gaps by 2030. To do this we will be monitoring
our progress on an annual basis by publishing the ethnicity pay gap report alongside
the gender pay gap and disability pay gap
We will take the following actions to reduce and eliminate the
ethnicity pay gaps:
• Investing in career development
opportunities for Asian, Black, mixed
race and other ethnically diverse
colleagues
• 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 sites
• Investing in specific leadership
development workshops on race and
senior leader impact
• Embedding diversity and inclusion
learning into all new training
programmes
• Improving our data monitoring and
collection to generate more specific and
targeted analysis of experiences
• Continuing to implement our Race
Equality Action Plan across the
organisation
• Continuing to work towards the seven
calls to action set within the Race at
Work Charter
• Continuing our reciprocal mentoring
scheme for Strategic Leaders and Black,
Asian, mixed race and other ethnically
diverse colleagues
• Continuing our early careers training
placements providing opportunity for
Black, Asian, mixed race and other
ethnically diverse people entering the
sector
• Continuing to collaborate and work
with Trade Union colleagues and the
Cultural, Racial and Ethnically Diverse
staff 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.
An ethnicity pay gap is a measure of the
difference between ethnic groups’ 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 employees
of different ethnicities. 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.
Terminology
We have calculated the ethnicity pay gaps based
on the list of high-level ethnic groups as found
on the 2021 census and recommended by the
Ethnicity facts and figures guidance on gov.uk.
These are ‘Asian or Asian British’, ‘Black, Black
British, Caribbean or African’, ‘mixed or multiple
ethnic groups’, ‘other ethnic group’ and ‘white’.
This contrasts with using terms such as ‘BAME’
(Black Asian and minority ethnic) and calculating
only one pay gap. By reporting on separate
Asian and Black pay gaps we aim to highlight
the different experiences of these groups and
therefore develop more targeted and effective
measures to address each of these gaps.
Statistical robustness
The Government recommends any group needs
a minimum of 50 individuals to be reported on
as a separate category. This ensures anonymity
of data – ethnicity 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 statistical robustness, there are only
two ethnic groups that we can draw a pay
gap for; Asian or Asian British and Black, Black
British, Caribbean or African. mixed or multiple
ethnic groups and other ethnic groups are
shown in the pie charts showing the organisation
demographics and quartiles, but the pay gap has
not been calculated. The white ethnic group is
the reference group that the other groups are
compared against to calculate the ethnicity
pay gaps.