The Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties and Public Authorities) Regulations 2017 requires public sector employers with 250 or more employees to publish details of their gender pay gap. This must be done no later than 30 March each year, using pay data as of 31 March the previous year.
Read our Gender Pay Gap Report 2024 here.
You can also read our previous gender pay gap reports for 2023, 2022 and 2021:
Some questions you might have about the report are answered below.
Does the council not already undertake equal pay reviews?
Promoting equality of opportunity for our workforce and tackling workplace exclusion is important to achieving our vision and values. In support of this, the we've been voluntarily undertaking equal pay reviews since 2007.
Equal pay reviews were superseded by the requirement placed upon us to undertake mandatory gender pay gap reporting. However, we recommenced undertaking equal pay reviews in 2024 in addition to gender pay gap reporting.
For 2024 we've voluntarily chosen to include information relating to ethnicity and disability pay gaps within the gender pay gap report. The report is now titled the Gender, Ethnicity and Disability Pay Gap Report.
What's the difference between equal pay and gender pay?
Equal pay deals with the pay differences between men and women. In particular, those who carry out the same jobs, similar jobs or work of equal value. It's unlawful to pay people unequally because they're a man or a woman. The gender pay gap shows the differences in the average pay between men and women.
Are there any specific requirements that the council have had to follow?
Yes. We've followed the guidance developed by the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS). This helps us to carry out mandatory gender pay gap reporting and calculate and publish the:
- mean and median gender pay gap
- mean and median bonus gender pay
- proportion of male and females receiving a bonus payment
- proportion of male and females in each quartile pay band
Has any information been excluded from the council’s gender pay gap report?
Yes. In accordance with the government guidance the following haven't been included in our gender pay gap reporting:
- employees on casual contracts
- employees of maintained schools
- employees of academies
What statistical measure has been used to calculate the gender pay gap?
There are two statistical measures of 'average pay' that have been used to calculate our gender pay gap. These are as identified in the government guidance:
- Mean average - this involves adding up all of the numbers and dividing the result by how many numbers were in the list.
- Median average - this involves listing all of the numbers in numerical order. If there are an odd number of results, the median average is the middle number. If there's an even number of results, the median will be the mean of the two central numbers.
Does the council have a gender pay gap?
Yes, but the 2024 report highlights positive progress and demonstrates our ongoing commitment to addressing equality and any imbalance by voluntarily including pay data on other protected characteristics which we'll continue to report on in future years.
Overall the workforce composition remains predominantly female, with 67.9% female compared to 32.1% male. This is a slight decrease in female workers from the previous year (2022 to 2023).
The most significant difference remains for pay grade 1 to 3 roles, with 71.1% female compared to 28.9% male. We've seen a slight increase in the proportion of females in pay grade 12 to 17 and senior management roles, with 64.4% female, compared to 35.6% male.
A female employee now earns on average (median) 4.1% more than a male employee, reflecting an increase in the gender pay gap over the last two pay periods.
Ethnic minority employees earn on average (median) 11.4% more than white employees providing positive diversity indicators. However, they only reflect 2.4% of the workforce.
A disabled employee earns on average (median) 0.6% less than a non-disabled employee and are under-represented within grades 14 and over.
What's being done to address the council’s gender pay gap?
We're committed to tackling low pay. We continue to pay a low pay supplement equivalent to the foundation living wage rate. This is paid wherever our minimum hourly rate of pay is less.
We’ve taken encouraging strides over the last 12 months to build an inclusive and diverse workplace. We’ve developed our menopause friendly support offer and our range of employee networks including age friendly, disability and neurodiversity, and young employee networks. We’ve been closely reviewing our workforce demographics and supported the development of career pathways within our services.
There’s still work to do and it's worth noting that this is still a long term piece of work. We have an action plan which is aligned with our key workforce strategies and through this we'll continue to review the way we capture, store and report equality data to improve data quality and reduce gaps. We also plan to review our recruitment processes to remove potential barriers for applicants and address any areas underrepresented.
We'll learn and act on any feedback received and will continue to show our full commitment to addressing our gender, ethnicity and disability pay gaps.