Gender pay report

Trust Alliance Group exists to build, maintain and restore trust between consumers and businesses.

The Group values of being open, courageous, balanced and empathetic are reflected in how we do business with our stakeholders, and equally with each other. We are committed to creating an authentic environment where our colleagues are encouraged to be the best version of themselves which, in turn enables us to provide the best service to all our stakeholders every day.

Trust Alliance Group is made up of six individual business units (Energy Ombudsman, Communications Ombudsman, Flexible Resolution Services, Lumin, The Internet Commission and Support Services) but we assess our pay gap data at Group level.

Here’s our report for 2022/23.

Diversity, Inclusion and Equality

Ensuring that our colleagues are paid fairly regardless of gender, race, sexuality, region or any other factor is fundamental to our business and our reward strategy, hiring principles and flexible working practices are continually assessed against this principle.

We focus on ensuring we align with Equal Pay as defined under the Equality Act 2010 as this measures whether men and women are paid the same for doing similar work or equal value work.

Gender Pay Gap reporting is a requirement for all UK employers with over 250 employees to publish. This establishes the difference between the average pay of all men and all women across the business, regardless of their role or seniority.

Neither Equal Pay no Gender pay gap reporting involves publishing any individual data.

Gender Pay Gap Context

For the purpose of this report, we are required to report on the mean (average) results as well as the median results. These help us understand the following:

• The median gap enables us to assess how male and female colleagues compare by finding the midpoint in all employees’ hourly pay.
• The mean gap enables us to look at an overall average comparison by adding all employees’ rates of pay together and dividing by the total number of employees.

Our Gender Pay Gap Results for 2022/2023

Our results are based on the ‘snapshot date’ of 5^th April 2023 when we had 335 female colleagues and 264 male employees.

The median gap has decreased by 3% which means the midpoint comparison has improved year on year.

The mean has increased by 3.2% which means the average gender pay gap has increased.

We are pleased with the progress we have made on the median pay gap and appreciate the impact of a high intake of operational colleagues recruited in the last 12 months. This is in response to significant changes in our sectors, particularly in the energy sector. These colleagues typically sit within the lower hourly pay quartile, which impacted the average pay gap year on year.

Bonus Payments

In terms of bonus payments, we were again pleased to report no difference in the median gap, which does represent the majority of colleagues in key operational roles.

During this reporting year, 286 women and 213 men received a bonus. These represented the following proportions of the male and female colleague populations.

Hourly Pay Comparisons

Outlined below are the breakdowns of hourly pay by each quartile.

As can be seen, year on year the percentage of women in the lower quartile has reduced from 69% to 62%.

The percentage of women in the lower middle pay quartile has increased from 53% to 61%.

The percentage of women in the two upper quartiles has decreased, mainly due to changes in the senior leadership team and middle management.

Our Commitments

Our work continues to ensure that all colleagues at Trust Alliance Group are treated fairly, without discrimination and in line with our values. We have delivered considerable change since the formation of the Group in 2022 and we will continue with the following initiatives during 2023/24:

The calibration of roles through a consistent model and benchmarking them externally to ensure transparency, fairness and equity

The review of hiring practices and the partners we use, to ensure inclusion, equity and fairness

Ensuring that all working environments and practices offer flexible working options

Offering development and training opportunities that are accessible for all colleagues, regardless of location or working patterns.

We remain committed to ensuring that we actively seek to promote, attract and retain talented women throughout the organisation, particularly at senior levels and in STEM/Tech positions.

If you’d like to know more, we’d be happy to help. Please contact us at peopleteam@trustalliancegroup.org.