NHS Providers has launched a guide for NHS trust leaders on how to understand and tackle the ethnicity pay gap.

‘Counting the cost: Understanding your ethnicity pay gap’  has been designed in collaboration with healthcare law firm Hempsons.

The guide is designed to help NHS leaders understand and address ethnicity pay gaps in a meaningful way. It explains legal frameworks; how to improve data to better recognise and tackle ethnicity pay gaps; and practical strategies to help minimise this form of inequality.

26 per cent of NHS staff are part of an ethnic minority, however, only 11 per cent of band 9 staff belong to an ethnic minority.

The guide comes a year after NHS England’s first Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Improvement Plan, which called on NHS organisations to understand pay gaps by protected characteristic and put in place an improvement plan.]

Saffron Cordery, deputy chief executive at NHS Providers said: “We know that the legal frameworks surrounding the ethnicity pay gap are shifting, but the issue itself is long-standing. This is why our guide outlining the impact of the ethnicity pay gap and practical strategies to address it is crucial.

"The NHS is made stronger through its diversity. Taking a person-centred approach is vital when tackling the ethnicity pay gap, as the issues are rooted in multiple interconnected factors including systemic racism and inequalities in recruitment, entry and progression. Our guide aims to maintain momentum on this issue and bolster the efforts of NHS organisations across England. Whilst tackling the pay gap is only one piece of the puzzle when it comes to creating fair and inclusive workplaces, it is an urgent priority.

“We hope this new report will provide helpful, practical guidance on interventions designed to eliminate the ethnicity pay gap based on learning from both within and beyond the NHS.”