Our women employees earn, on average, 6% more than men, the latest gender pay gap figures show.
Gender pay gap measures the difference between men’s and women’s average earnings across the organisation. Our latest figures reveal that the average, or mean, gender pay gap in hourly pay is -6.1% (up from -5.8% last year).
The mean hourly rate for women working for the council is £16.09 (up from £15.42) and for men £15.16 (up from £14.58 last year).
What the figures show
Women make up 60% of our workforce and more women hold higher paid roles in the council. Of those on basic hourly rates of £11.19 or more, 62% are women, compared to 38% men. Of those paid basic hourly rates of £10.97 and under, 53% are women and 47% are men.
Our workforce equalities data shows women generally out-performing men in recruitment processes and being more successful in getting promoted.
Nationally the median gender pay gap shows men earning 15.5% more than women, reflecting the fact that more women work in lower-paid part-time jobs.*
Councillor Steph Powell, Co-Char of the Tourism, Equalities, Communities & Culture Committee said: “Year on year our council continues to buck the national trend by having a negative pay gap. These figures help to highlight the work we’re doing in enabling women to develop their talents and progress within the council.
“Progressive policies such as flexible working, career breaks, parental leave, discretionary leave and children’s vouchers have all helped to make the council an attractive place for women to work and develop a career.
“Thanks to this progressive work we have more women working part time in higher paid jobs. Sixty per cent of women work part-time in the council, compared to 27% of men.
“As an employer we’re doing everything we can to go against the long history of discrimination that women have faced in pay and employment. I hope that other employers look at what we’ve done to address the gender pay gap and see how they can change.
“However any pay gap is still inequality and we’re working to increase inclusion, equality and the diversity of all our workforce.”
How we report the figures
The gender pay gap in hourly pay is also calculated in the middle to produce a ‘median’ figure. In our case the median (middle) gender pay gap in hourly pay is -2.5%, again showing women earn more than men (less than last year’s gap of -4.9%).
Figures shown for four pay band sections, known as quartiles, reflect the lowest paid up to the highest in Brighton & Hove.
Learn more about gender pay gap reporting
The data is based on an annual ‘snapshot’ pay period of nearly 4,900 council employees (excluding school based staff) who were employed on 31 March 2020 and casuals paid during that month.
All employers with more than 250 employees must now publish their gender pay gap report annually. We published our gender pay gap for the first time in 2018.
What we will do with the information
Continued activity for years 2020-2022 will be:
- Agree actions to reduce the gender pay gap
- Review potential barriers to recruitment to improve workforce diversity
- Engage with community groups and schools to raise the profile of the council as a potential employer for people currently under-represented in the workforce
Read the 2020 gender pay gap report.
*Source: ONS