4.1
The council’s overall workforce gender profile is 58% female and 42% male. This is a 2% change from the previous year reporting period.
4.2
4,703 employees are included in the pay period comprising of 4,375 contracted employees and 328 casuals. As per reporting requirements employees on less than full pay have been excluded (76).
4.3
The mean hourly rate of pay for male employees was £15.69. The mean hourly rate for female employees was £16.93, this results in the reported -7.9% difference. This negative gap has increased by 1.8% since last year because the female mean hourly rate has seen a greater increase, of 0.84p, compared to the male mean hourly rate, which saw a 0.53p increase.
4.4
The median hourly rate of pay for male employees was £14.02. The median hourly rate for female employees was £15.16, this results in the reported -8.1% difference. This negative gap has increased by 5.5% since last year because the female median hourly rate has seen a greater increase, of 1.17p, compared to the male median hourly rate, which saw an increase of 0.38p.
| |
Male |
Female |
| Workforce Gender split |
42% |
58% |
| Employee Count |
1962 |
2471 |
| Mean hourly rate |
£15.69 |
£16.93 |
| Median hourly rate |
£14.02 |
£15.16 |
| % of employees who work part time |
24% |
57% |
| % of employees who work full time |
76% |
43% |
| Average weekly hours for all employees |
33.4 |
28.8 |
| Average weekly hours for part time employees |
21.3 |
22.7 |
4.5
Salary quartiles.
The % of female employees in each quartile is higher than the % of men. This is in line with the overall workforce gender profile, however, the % gap between the number of men and women in each quarter significantly widens between the 2 lower quartiles and 2 higher quartiles. The lower quartile has 5.2% more women than men, the upper quartile has 28.2% more women than men. This shows that a greater proportion of women hold roles which have a higher mean hourly rate of pay than men.
The % of female employees in each quartile is higher than the % of men. This is in line with the overall workforce gender profile, however, the % gap between the number of men and women in each quarter significantly widens between the 2 lower quartiles and 2 higher quartiles. The lower quartile has 5.2% more women than men, the upper quartile has 28.2% more women than men. This shows that a greater proportion of women hold roles which have a higher mean hourly rate of pay than men.
| Lower quartile |
|
Domestic Assistant
|
76% Female
|
|
Library Officer
|
61% Female
|
|
Customer Services Officer
|
67% Female
|
|
Collection Operative
|
92% Male
|
|
Housing Estates Assistant
|
92% Male
|
| Lower middle quartile |
|
Early Years Educator
|
100% Female
|
|
Community Family Worker
|
93% Female
|
|
Home Care Support Worker
|
81% Female
|
|
Maintenance Technician
|
100% Male
|
|
Refuse Collection Driver Chargehand
|
95% Male
|
| Upper middle quartile |
|
Social Worker (PQ1)
|
76% Female
|
|
Care Manager
|
84% Female
|
|
Senior Finance Officer
|
60% Female
|
|
Traffic Monitoring Officer
|
100% Male
|
|
Account Manager
|
53% Male
|
| Upper quartile |
|
Senior Social Worker
|
80% Female
|
|
Team/Pod Manager
|
82% Female
|
|
Assistant Director
|
70% Female
|
|
Head of Service/Department
|
58% Female
|
|
Accountant
|
60% Male
|
There are various job roles within each quartile and the proportion of male and female employees in each role differs. Below are some examples:
4.6
Basic Pay.
Reviewing the main basic pay grades for job roles shows a similar pattern, where a larger proportion of female employees hold higher paid roles, particularly on management grades where 62% of roles are held by women. Similarly, 62% of all roles with basic hourly rates over £11.50 (£11.50 - £84.79) are held by women, in contrast 49% of all roles with lower basic hourly rates between £9.30 and £11.27 are held by men.
Basic pay grade gender profile
What the Basic pay graph means
The graph shows the proportion of male and female employees on example council pay grades.
Proportionately a higher % of male employees hold roles on the council’s lower basic pay grade. 63% on the council’s scale 1 to 2 pay grade are male, with hourly rates between £9.30 and £9.81.
Proportionately a higher % of female employees hold roles on the higher basic pay grades. 62% on the council’s management pay grades between M11 and M4 are female, with hourly rates between £17.06 and £36.55.
You can also read this data in a table.
| Basic pay grade % gender profile |
| Pay grade and hourly rate |
Male |
Female |
| Scale 1 to 2: £9.30 to £9.81 |
63% |
37% |
| Scale 3: £10.01 to £10.21 |
49% |
51% |
| Scale 4: £10.41 to £11.27 |
40% |
60% |
| Scale 5: £11.50 to £12.69 |
33% |
67% |
| Scale 6: £13.21 to £14.02 |
46% |
54% |
| Scale SO1/2: £14.38 to £16.71 |
38% |
62% |
| Management M11 to M4: £17.06 to £36.55 |
38% |
62% |
| Chief officers: £43.24 to £65.00 |
35% |
65% |
| Chief Executive: £84.79 |
100% |
0% |
4.7
Pay and grading
The council’s annual pay policy statement provides details of the council’s pay and grading arrangements.
4.8
Allowances
27% of the workforce in the snapshot pay period received an allowance in addition to their basic pay, this is a 2% increase from 2020. Analysis by quartile of the mean and median hourly rates for employees in receipt of an allowance show that with the exception of the lower quartile, the mean and median hourly rates of female employees are consistently higher.
4.9
Working patterns
A further contributing factor to the pay gap is the working pattern of an employee. Roles where hours are worked at the weekend and night attract enhanced rates of pay, 21% of the workforce receive such enhancements. While proportionally more men receive working pattern allowances than women, the basic hourly rate of roles held by men are proportionally lower than the roles held by women. The higher basic hourly rated pay for roles held by women in addition to the enhanced rate of pay increases the mean and median hourly rates of pay for women.
| Basic hourly rate range |
Proportion of gender in receipt of working pattern allowances by hourly rate % extract |
| Male % |
Female % |
| £9.30 to £10.21 |
56 |
43 |
| £10.41 to £16.71 |
41 |
59 |
4.10
Market Supplements.
50% of employees in roles attracting a market supplement are women, 50% are men. This is a 1% increase for male employees compared to 2020. Market Supplements are subject to annual review.
4.11
Salary Sacrifice is where an employee gives up the right to receive part of their salary due under their contract of employment, in return for the employer’s agreement to provide an equivalent non-cash benefit, the value of which is exempt from tax and national insurance contributions (NICs). Schemes include:
- Cycle to Work to help employees save on bikes purchased to commute to work
- Childcare vouchers - to help employees save on childcare costs.
- Additional Voluntary Contribution (AVC) Pension – new for the 2021 reporting period, enables Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) members to increase their retirement benefits by saving money alongside their pension pot.
There has been a significant 212% increase in the number of employees signed up to a salary sacrifice scheme. Equally, this has led to a substantial increase in the average value of salary sacrifice amounts made by employees. This is mainly due to the introduction of the new AVC pension scheme.
| |
Male |
Female |
Variance to previous reported year
2021 to 2020
|
| Number of employees in a salary sacrifice scheme |
119 |
194 |
The percentage of male employees in a salary sacrifice scheme increased by 143% and 96% for female employees. Overall a 212% increase |
| Average monthly employee salary sacrifice amount |
£295 |
£219 |
The value of monthly salary sacrifice for male employees in a scheme increased by 190%, and 184% for female employees |
For the purposes of gender pay gap calculations these values must be deducted from relevant employees pay thus reducing the overall reportable pay to include for averaging.
