Raising the policy profile of low-paid women workers
Submitting Institution
Keele UniversityUnit of Assessment
Business and Management StudiesSummary Impact Type
SocietalResearch Subject Area(s)
Economics: Applied Economics
Commerce, Management, Tourism and Services: Business and Management
Studies In Human Society: Policy and Administration
Summary of the impact
The long-term impacts outlined in this case study relate to low-paid
women workers in health and
local government sectors in the UK. Professor Carole Thornley undertook
some of the earliest and
most sustained academic research focusing on these workers. Through this
she identified
systematic undervaluation of their skills and competencies, as well as
problems with training,
career advancement, pay, and payment systems. The evidence from this
research has been used
in successive pay determination exercises and reviews of payment systems,
valuation of skills, and
to inform public policy. This has put these workers higher on the agenda
of both unions and
employers, informing their practice and leading to improvements in
training and pay conditions.
Underpinning research
Since her appointment to a lectureship at Keele University in 1992 (with
subsequent promotion to
Senior Lecturer then Professor), Thornley's research has explored the
complex reasons
underpinning women's pay inequality and their disproportionate location in
the low-paid regions of
the wage hierarchy. The research has demonstrated that the gender pay gap
within both the
National Health Service (NHS) and local government sectors has been a
continuing phenomenon.
In both sectors, the low-paid end of the workforce spectrum is
characterised by a high proportion of
female workers, especially where employment is part-time, but this issue
is compounded by intra-sector
inequality. Because low valuations are more frequently given to work
carried out in these
sectors, large pockets of low pay persist at levels just above the
National Minimum Wage (NMW);
this impacts disproportionately and negatively on women (Thornley, 2006).
The reasons for this
include systematic undervaluation of skills and competencies and of tasks
actually performed
(Thornley, 1996), and problems with training, career advancement, pay and
payment systems
(Thornley, 1998; 2003; 2008). Thornley's work has also shown that
part-time working has an
adverse effect, widening the overall gap between men's and women's pay
(Thornley, 2007).
The underpinning research has been conceptualised and conducted solely by
Thornley through a
series of nine successive commissioned research projects for public sector
union, UNISON,
running from 1994 to 2005 (in 1994, 1996 two, 1997, 1998, 1999,
2001,2001-4, 2005). Each of
these has produced one or more reports (fifteen in total). These have
ranged from an assessment
of local pay determination for nurses in the 1930s, through to detailed
studies of nurses' pay, the
pay and employment of nursing auxiliaries and health care assistants, and
the pay and
employment of local government workers and problems within the Single
Status agreement pay
system. The research has involved literature reviews and primary
documentary research, analysis
of primary pay statistics, some of the largest national surveys ever
undertaken by an independent
academic of these groups of workers, and successive research interviews
with union
representatives, employers, and workers at national, regional and local
levels. Thornley's research
has been published in highly regarded peer reviewed journals and scholarly
edited collections and
is of a quality that is recognised internationally in terms of
originality, significance and rigour.
References to the research
Thornley, C. (2008) `Efficiency and Equity Considerations in the
Employment of Health Care
Assistants and Support Workers', Social Policy and Society, 7(2),
pp.135-146. DOI:
10.1017/S1474746407004101.
Thornley, C. (2007) `Working part-time for the State: Gender, Class and
the Public Sector Pay
Gap', Gender, Work and Organization, 14(5), pp.454-475.
DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-0432.2007.00360.x.
Thornley, C. (2006) `Unequal and Low Pay in the Public Sector', Industrial
Relations Journal, 37(4),
pp.344-358. DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-2338.2006.00408.x.
Thornley, C. (1998) `Contesting Local Pay: The Decentralisation of
Collective Bargaining in the
NHS', British Journal of Industrial Relations, 36(3),
pp.413-434. DOI: 10.1111/1467-8543.00100.
Thornley, C. (2003/4) `What Future for Health Care Assistants: High Road
or Low Road?' in C.
Davies (ed.) The Future Health Workforce. Basingstoke: Palgrave
Macmillan, pp.143-160.
Thornley, C. (1996) 'Segmentation and Inequality in the Nursing
Workforce: Re-evaluating the
Evaluation of Skills', in R. Crompton, D. Gallie and K. Purcell (eds.) Changing
Forms of
Employment: Organisations, Skills and Gender. Routledge: London,
pp.160-181.
GRANTS RECEIVED FOR RESEARCH RELEVANT TO CASE STUDY:
2005 Commissioned research paper, fieldwork-based research support,
UNISON Health
2001-4 *Commissioned research with full fieldwork-based research support
UNISON Local
Government (own direct fieldwork budget £4,500-£9,000)
2001 Commissioned research paper, fieldwork-based research support,
UNISON Health
1999 *Commissioned research paper, full fieldwork-based research support,
UNISON Health
1998 *Commissioned research papers, full fieldwork-based research
support, UNISON Health
1997 *Commissioned research papers, UNISON Health
1996 £1,333* 2 Commissioned research papers, UNISON Health
1994 £900 Commissioned research paper, UNISON Health
* UNISON have provided direct administrative support for national survey
work, and direct support
for case study fieldwork and data input expenses, to an estimated imputed
value of £5,000-25,000
per project. Any figures shown represent net commission fee only.
Details of the impact
Thornley's research has made a significant, pervasive, and continuing
contribution to
understanding the issues facing low-paid women workers; the problems of
and reasons for gender
pay inequalities; and the nature of the work that women undertake. These
issues are of central
concern to unions, Pay Commissions, professional bodies, policy makers,
employers and workers.
The significance of these issues is indicated by the large number of
workers implicated: the NHS
and local government are the two largest employers in the UK, each with a
predominantly female
workforce. Around a third of all women workers in the UK economy work in
the public sector, and
disproportionately high numbers of the women employed in this sector work
part-time.
The impact of Thornley's work in the period 2008-2013 has been
underpinned by dissemination
activities in preceding years. Dissemination of Thornley's research, and
the subsequent change in
understanding by key stakeholders of the issues raised, has taken place
since the 1990s (1994-2005).
Key findings from Thornley's research have been disseminated through the
publication and
distribution of reports (see Section 2), by UNISON, to managers and other
key authorities in both
the NHS and local government. This has led to invitations for Thornley to
present her findings as
evidence to the Nurses' Pay Review Body, the Health Select Committee, and
the Low Pay
Commission. Hansard cites evidence from Thornley's UNISON report about the
nature of health
care work and unknown reasons for pay discrepancies [for example, source
1]. Thornley's findings
were used as evidence by the National Joint Council Trade Union in
national pay negotiations
(2002-2004), the Local Government Pay Commission of 2003, and the Low Pay
Commission. A
report from the Local Government Pay Commission [source 2] directly cites
Thornley, particularly
in relation to her research on the poor implementation of the Single
Status agreement.
The deliberative bodies to which Thornley provided evidence made
substantive recommendations
on the pay of workers, which have fed into policy decisions around wider
employment and payment
systems issues that have had considerable impact in the period 2008-13.
For example, the Local
Government Pay Commission Report was favourably received by both Local
Government
employers and by Central Government policy makers [corroboration from
Local Government Pay
Commission], and directly informed the 2004 national agreement for Local
Government Services
which set a deadline for the implementation of Single Status agreements,
reached in 1997,
requiring individual councils and unions to carry out job evaluation
exercises and construct new
pay structures by April 2007. Although many Local Authorities missed this
deadline [source 3], the
structures have continued to be implemented from this point onwards, the
effects of which extend
throughout the impact period and beyond. These are one of the most
significant mechanisms
through which equal pay for all workers is being delivered in the UK
[source 4].
Many of the findings of Thornley's research, particularly concerning the
substitution of lower-paid
workers for higher-paid workers, and the pay inequalities experienced by
women workers,
challenged policy makers' prior assumptions, transforming their
understanding of the problem and
their approach to dealing with it. Thornley's work continues to make a
path-breaking contribution to
understanding local government sector employment and, in particular, the
issues facing UNISION's
branches and activists in negotiations over the Single Status agreement
[corroboration from
UNISON]. Birmingham City Council has recently (October 2013) been ordered
by the Supreme
Court to pay an estimated £890 million to over 11,000 mostly female
workers occupying lower-paid
posts. Although a Single Status pay scale was introduced in 2008 it was
found to be sexist,
continuing to reward those in predominantly male-held posts (such as road
workers, street
sweepers and dustmen) with greater pay than those in predominantly
female-held roles (such as
cleaners, care assistants, caterers). Led by trade unions, the fight for
pay equality has taken place
over the past six years and resulted in the compensation pay out by the
City Council [source 5].
Thornley's work on skills, tasks and the valuation and pay of both
registered and non-registered
nurses in the NHS has been particularly influential on managers'
perceptions and in policy terms.
Her research has helped encourage recognition of the essential
contribution of these workers and
consequently led to improvement in their working conditions [corroboration
from UNISON]. In
addition to providing evidence for national pay negotiations, resulting in
similar outcomes for low-paid
health workers as in local government, Thornley's work has had a
sector-wide impact on the
valuation, education, skills and training of healthcare workers.
A significant example of this impact is in the review, development and
implementation of a national
approach to supporting and developing the clinical healthcare assistant
role in Scotland. Thornley's
research is liberally cited in the main review document published in 2010,
and used by the review
to elaborate understandings of healthcare assistant work, specifically in
relation to the role and its
evolution, the general age and experience of healthcare support workers,
and their interest in
undertaking training [source 6]. This evidence sits alongside guidance and
educational resources
for clinical and non-clinical healthcare support workers developed as a
result of the review and
launched in June 2010. This is part of an online toolkit aimed at NHS
executives, boards and
educational professionals and sets out nationally agreed education
requirements and core skills
[source 7]. As one of the main reviews of its kind to date, the Royal
College of Nursing
recommends the toolkit as a core source of guidance on good practice for
healthcare workers
across the UK, stating that it promotes high-quality care for patients and
good standards of practice
for all staff [source 8].
Understandings of healthcare assistants' work developed though Thornley's
research continue to
inform key stakeholders. For example, the Royal College of Nursing policy
briefing on Healthcare
Support Workers draws on this, as does the July 2013 Cavendish Review
for the Government into
the use of healthcare assistants and support workers in the NHS, both of
which cite her research
[source 9]. Her work is also cited in healthcare assistant training
publications, such as Clinical
Skills for Healthcare Assistants, to emphasise the importance of
such skills for high-quality patient
care [source 10]. Thornley has also written an invited piece on issues of
healthcare worker
employment for NHS publication Employing Nurses and Midwives,
distributed to NHS managers
and board members [source 11]. She is also highly cited (20 citations) in
the review of healthcare
support workforce regulation commissioned by the Nursing and Midwifery
Council [source 12].
Sources to corroborate the impact
Source 1: HC Deb 24 February 1999 volume 326 cc363-70:
http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1999/feb/24/health-care-assistants#S6CV0326P0_19990224_HOC_94
Source 2: Local Government Pay Commission Report 2003
Source 3: Personnel Today, 27th March 2007, `Equal pay
for council workers: whose bill is it
anyway?':
http://www.personneltoday.com/articles/27/03/2007/39877/equal-pay-for-council-workers-whose-bill-is-it-anyway.htm
Source 4: UNISON website, `Campaigning and Bargaining on the Living Wage
— A statement of
general principles':
https://www.unison.org.uk/upload/sharepoint/Briefings%20and%20Circulars/BG%20UNISON%20Living%20Wage%20Principles%20FINAL.pdf
Source 5: Birmingham Mail, 4th October 2013 `11,000
Birmingham City Council staff set to get
equal pay payouts'. Available from:
http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/local-news/birmingham-city-council-staff-set-6134322
Source 6: NHS for Scotland (2010) Healthcare Support Workers: The
development of the clinical
healthcare support worker role — a review of the evidence. NHS
Education for Scotland. Available
from: http://www.hcswtoolkit.nes.scot.nhs.uk/media/3752/hcsw_literaturereview.pdf
Source 7: NHS for Scotland, Healthcare Support Workers Toolkit
website:
http://www.hcswtoolkit.nes.scot.nhs.uk/developing-hcsw-roles/
Source 8: Royal College of Nursing, Healthcare Assistants —
Regulation:
http://www.rcn.org.uk/development/health_care_support_workers/professional_issues/regulation
Source 9: (July 2013) The Cavendish Review. Commissioned by the
Secretary of State for Health.
Available from:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/236212/Cavendish_Review.pdf
Source 10: Ingram, P. and Lavery, I. (2009) Clinical Skills for
Healthcare Assistants. Wiley
Blackwell.
Source 11: Thornley, C. (2008) `Balancing Cost and Fairness for Health
Care Assistants,
Employing Nurses and Midwives (June issue, number 120).
Source 12: Griffiths, P. and Robinson, S. (2010) Moving forward with
healthcare support workforce
regulation. National Nursing Research Unit.
Corroborators: Local Government Pay Commission; UNISON