The Ford & Slater 2019 Gender Pay Gap Annual Report dated 7th January 2020

The table above shows our overall mean and median gender pay gap based on hourly rates of pay as at the snapshot date (i.e. 5th April 2019).

The gender pay gap – calculated on the mean and median measures – had reduced as at the snapshot date (5th April 2019) in comparison with the prior year when the differences equalled 28.2% and 25.7%, respectively.

It also captures the mean and median difference between bonuses paid to men and women at Ford & Slater in the year ended 5th April 2019 mainly in respect of the 2018 financial year.

Proportion of male employees awarded a bonus during year to April 2019:

Proportion of female employees awarded a bonus during year to April 2019:

The data shown above highlights that 19% of female employees received a bonus payment during the year ended 5th April 2019 – a slightly higher level than the prior year (17%).

In relation to male employees, 32% received a bonus payment during the year ended 5th April 2019; a slightly lower level than the prior year (34%).

The above pay structure is mainly a function of the following key factors:

• The company operates in the male-dominated transport sector;
• Efficiency bonuses are available to certain HGV technicians if they complete their work task in a shorter time period than normally allowed by the truck manufacturer; and
• The majority of management positions that include membership of the company annual bonus scheme are occupied by male employees with engineering expertise obtained from working as an HGV Technician or relevant parts background.

The company is confident that men and women are paid equal amounts for doing equivalent jobs across our business.

The downloadable chart above illustrates the gender distribution at Ford & Slater across four equally sized quartiles, each containing approx. 108 employees.  The key points to note are as follows:

• In the lowest quartile and quartile 2 male employees are being paid at average hourly rates that are approximately 10% lower than female employees;
• The lower 2 quartiles includes many school leavers that join the company as apprentice HGV technicians – the company makes a very significant investment in their apprenticeship training (in terms of direct cost, study leave and supervision).  The hourly pay rates for these young men reflects they are being paid whilst learning their trade;
• Within the third quartiles the gender pay gap for 2019 was 3.6%, slightly higher than in 2018 (at 2.7%);
• In the highest quartile (quartile 4) there remain only a small proportion of women in the most senior company positions; in particular all the company directors were male.

Overall Summary

At the outset, the company is committed to building a diverse and committed workplace that gives equal opportunities to all employees, irrespective of their gender.

The HGV repair sector is unsurprisingly male-dominated and, as at the calculation date, the workforce gender breakdown was 86% male employees with only 14% of the workforce comprising female staff members.

A significant proportion of the gender pay gap arises because (a) the majority of senior management positions are occupied by male employees with an engineering background gained from their prior experience as an HGV Technician or relevant HGV parts background; and (b) revenue-generating roles fixing trucks tend to be occupied by male staff members that work anti-social shift patterns incl. roadside/mobile repairs and require physical stamina – these skills remain desirable and demand higher rates of pay.

The company is considering the development of an action plan to reduce the gender pay gap in the workplace, but would comment it remains very difficult to attract females into our industry

I confirm that the data reported is accurate.

Nigel Strevens

Joint Managing Director

7th January 2020