Notts Council aims to drive down gender pay gap

The authority has published new data revealing the average difference between the earnings of its male and female staff.

It shows on average, women’s earnings are 8.4 per cent lower in the hourly rate as at March 2021.

But this has decreased since data was first recorded in 2017, when the gender pay gap stood at 12.3 per cent. In 2019, the mean average was 9.3 per cent.

This means there are more men employed with senior, high-paid roles than women.

The mean average is calculated by adding together the salaries of every member of staff and dividing the result by the number of staff who work for the authority.

However, the figure does not take into account any disparities in gender balance in some job sectors, such as health and social care roles attracting predominantly female applicants.

Progress

Gill Elder, council head of human resources, told a personnel committee meeting: “Slow, steady, incremental progress is actually a good place for this council to be.

“There are a number of additional factors that create the gender pay gap for this organisation.

“We are a predominantly female organisation with more than 70 per cent of our workforce being female.

“There are still significant numbers of those female employees who work part-time in lower-paid roles.

“The pandemic has also had an impact on turnover and indeed the challenges we face in particular areas regarding recruitment and retention.”

Council documents show in the last 20 months, there has been a need for increased recruitment in key areas including adult social care – where the majority of recruits are female.

Coun Gordon Wheeler, committee chairman, said: “We’re not stopping, we are going to work harder, if that’s possible, to drive down that gap.

“We want people to work for us, we are a fabulous employer to work for.”

Coun Jonathan Wheeler said: “I want to reinforce the great work Jill and the team are doing in terms of trying to ensure everyone across the council knows their gender isn’t a barrier.

“Anyone is welcome to join the authority, no matter their gender or background.”

There is a requirement for employers of more than 250 employees to report their gender pay gap.

A message from Jon Ball, your Chad Editor: Please support your Chad by becoming a digital subscriber. You will see 70 per cent fewer ads on stories, meaning faster load times and an overall enhanced user experience. Click here to subscribe.