Gender pay gap reporting compares the average hourly earnings of male and female staff. The regulations require employers with over 250 staff to publish six metrics each year which are calculated from a snapshot date. Data in this report is calculated from a snapshot taken on 31 March 2025. The report analyses the pay disparities between men and women.

The six metrics we are reporting are:

• The median gender pay gap using bonus pay 
• The mean (average) gender pay gap using hourly pay 
• The percentage of men and women in each hourly pay quarter
• The mean (average) gender pay gap using bonus pay 
• The percentage of men and women receiving bonus pay 
• The median gender pay gap using hourly pay 

Click here for the methods use to calculate these. 

Gender pay gap vs equal pay 

The gender pay gap measures the the differences in hourly pay between men and women, no matter what their role in an organisation. 

Equal pay is the right of men and women to be paid the same for the same work or work of equal value. Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust is committed to ensuring that it remains an Equal Pay Employer. 

For 2024 - 2025, we are reporting a mean gender pay gap, based on our March 31 snapshot of 10.81% an increase of 0.91% points on 2023-2024. Our Median gender pay gap is – (minus) 0.99%. Compared to – (minus) 2.29% in 2023-2024. This is the second year this has shown that the median hourly rate of pay is greater for women than men with a median rate for women at £18.66 (£17.16) and for men £18.47(£16.78).

Compared to last year’s figures (in brackets) it can be shown that the median gap has narrowed from a 38p per hour higher median wage for women in 2023-24 to a 19p per hour difference in 2024-2025.

Average hourly rate:

10.81% pay gap 

Male - £22.92

Female - £20.44 

Difference - £2.48 

Median hourly rate:

-0.99% pay gap 

Male - £18.47 

Female - £18.66

Difference - -£0.18

Proportion of gender in each pay band 

Trust gender profile

On 31 March 2025 we employed 8140 (8173) members of staff

6144 (6182) 75% (76%) of those were female.

1996 (1991) 25% (24%) of those were male. 

(figures in brackets from 2023-24)

How those staff are distributed within each Agenda for Change band

Percentage rounded to nearest whole number. 

If we assume that staff are distributed evenly across Agenda for Change pay bands, then it can be seen there are deviations, some more extreme than others, against the average values of 75% female 25% male. Of particular note are the splits for Bands 1 and 9 which are entirely female and male respectively. The higher than expected values for male staff in bands 3 and 8B-D and the lower than expected in bands 2 and 4-8A are likely to explain the majority of the mean average pay gap figure.

Part Time Working 

On 31 March 2025 we employed 8140 members of staff

Of those 8140 members of staff 2393 worked part time
represents 29% of all staff
1969 of all female staff worked part time
32% of all female staff
424 of all male staff worked part time
21% of all male staff

And looking only at those 2393 members of staff that worked part time
82% were female
18% were male

How those part-time staff are distributed within each Agenda for Change band 

If we assume that staff are distributed evenly across Agenda for Change pay bands then it can be seen there are deviations, some more extreme than others, against the average values of 82% female 18% male. Of particular note are the splits for Bands 1 and 9 which are entirely female and male respectively. There are higher than expected values for male staff in bands 3 and 8D, 9, Medical and Trust and the lower than expected in bands 2 will make a contribution to explaining the overall pay gap as the outlying figures will skew the mean value.

Bonus pay gaps 

Bonus payments for staff in the Trust are entirely accounted for by Consultant-grade Doctors in receipt of Award Scheme payments

54 doctors were in receipt of the award on 31 March 2025. Of those

• 25 (44%) were female
• 29 (56%) were male
• 12 of the 25 female doctors – 48% worked part time
• 11 of the 29 male doctors – 38% worked part time
• Award ranged from
  • £226 to £24,128 for female doctors
  • £2,406 to £36,192 for male doctors

Average bonus pay 

37.59% pay gap 

Male - £11,902.47 

Female - £7,428.48 

Difference - £4,473.98 

Median bonus pay 

66.67% pay gap 

Male - £9,048.00

Female - £3,015.97 

Difference - £6,032.03 

Background to bonus pay for doctors 

The National Clinical Impact Award (NCIA) scheme in England and Wales - formerly the National Clinical Excellence Awards (NCEA) scheme - aims to reward the consultants who contribute most to the delivery of safe and high-quality care and the improvement of NHS services. This includes consultants who do so through their contribution to academic medicine.

Historic CEA awards were previously structured as lifetime awards which were given to eligible Consultants at a time when female participation was much lower, and men were by definition more likely to receive the award. At the time when CEAs were introduced into medical terms and conditions of employment, full time staff were more likely than part time staff to achieve an award. This is because anyone working less than full time hours has less flexibility within their working week for the extracurricular duties which could attract a CEA. Women are more likely to work part time because of caring or parenting responsibilities outside of work and found themselves disproportionately financially impacted as an unintended consequence of the award structure.

The pay agreement for Doctors in summer 2024 signalled the end of Local Clinical Excellence Awards. The contractual entitlement to access an annual award round ceased on 1 April 2024. The 2023/24 award round was the final Local Clinical Excellence Award round. Pre-2018 LCEAs have been retained, remaining pensionable and consolidated, but their value is frozen. The review process for these awards has been removed.
 

Actions we have taken and continue to take to close the gender pay gap 

Encouraging flexible working: the Trust promotes a supportive and flexible working culture. We recognise that flexible working helps employees to achieve a better balance between their work and home life, as well as improve service delivery through a flexible workforce. It can help the Trust become an employer of choice, aid recruitment and retention, reduce sickness absence and improve employee engagement, leading to an improved patient experience.

Inclusive recruitment: the Trust has undertaken a substantial piece of work examining our recruitment processes, with the objective of removing any barriers to entry by protected characteristics as defined by the Equality Act 2010. Many of the measures we have adopted have recently been implemented. The next key piece of work that follows on from this will be a review of job descriptions. As part of this we will carefully examine and remove any gender bias that may affect the numbers of men and women applying for jobs with the Trust.

Actions we will take this year to address the gender pay gap 

Evaluation of our progress since the start of mandatory reporting NHS Employers has produced a self-assessment checklist and key actions to address the Gender Pay Gap. This will help to identify explanations for the differences and give a clear indication for actions that will address the gap.

Further analysis of the distribution of gender across the Agenda for Change Bands in the Trust. The tables for full and part time staff above show over representation of male staff in lower and higher bands. We need to understand those differences in greater detail and will also consider alongside staff survey results looking at gender differences in experience of working for the Trust that need to be addressed. 

Explore and address Intersectional issues: The diversity of our staff has changed markedly since pay gap reporting began, and we know nationally and from our own Workforce Race Equality Standard data that the likelihood of progression between pay bands is different measured by ethnicity. As part of our response to the EDI Improvement Plan, we will produce our first complete Race Pay Gap report alongside our WRES reporting this summer to collect data to look at the gaps for other protected characteristics. We will compare the results of these to the Gender Pay Gap and examine if there are intersectional issues which we need to address. Such work will also help inform our key EDI objective of progression for staff who share protected characteristics. We will triangulate these results with the Gender Pay Gap and figures for our other mandatory Equality and Diversity Workforce Reports.