Gender pay gap report 2017

New regulations came into effect in 2017 requiring public and private sector employers with 250 or more employees to publish their gender pay gap information on the Gender Pay and our own website. As an employer with a headcount of 524 as at 31 March 2017, we are therefore required to publish the following data annually:

  • The mean gender pay gap
  • The median gender pay gap
  • The proportion of males and females in each quartile pay band

Data for the previous year is reported by 31 March the following year. Therefore this report is based on data as at 31 March 2017.

Gender profile

  • Female: 366 (54%)
  • Male: 314 (46%)

Mean and median gender pay gaps

  • Mean gender pay gap: 7.9%
  • Median gender pay gap 6.4%

(Mean - the average of all the numbers in the dataset)
(Median - the figure that falls in the middle of a range when everyone's pay is lined up from smallest to largest)

Pay quartiles by gender

Quartile Males Females Description
Lower quartile 44% 56% Includes all employees whose standard hourly rate places them at or below the lower quartile
Lower middle quartile 44% 56% Includes all employees whose standard hourly rate places them above the lower quartile but at or below the median
Upper middle quartile 44% 56% Includes all employees whose standard hourly rate places them above the median but at or below the upper quartile
Upper quartile 54% 46% Includes all employees whose standard hourly rate places them above the upper quartile

We have a policy of paying employees equally for the same or equivalent work, regardless of their sex. In order to achieve this, we:

  • operate job evaluation methodology to grade all jobs, using the Hay Job Evaluation Scheme to ensure that jobs are paid fairly;
  • ensure that allowances are awarded fairly and consistently across the Council;
  • re-evaluate job roles and pay grades as necessary to ensure a fair structure.

The small gender pay gap demonstrates that we are not paying men and women differently for the same or equivalent work and may also be as a result of the roles in which men and women undertake within the Council and the salaries that these roles attract.

The next report will be due to be taken as of 31 March 2018 which will provide us with more up to date analysis.