B&NES Council is continuing to reduce the gender pay gap across its workforce, however their Chief Executive has said that more work is needed to attract women to the highest-paid jobs.
New analysis reveals that in 2018 the mean average hourly rate of pay of female employees across Bath & North East Somerset Council was £13.61 while the average hourly rate of men was £14.57.
It means that over the past year the gender pay gap, the difference in average earnings between men and women, has reduced by 27 pence to 6.6%.
The median average gap is more favourable, with a mid point hourly rate gap of -0.5% which shows a slightly higher average hourly rate for female employees.
Whilst B&NES Council doesn’t pay ‘bonus’ payments, there are a small number of one off payments, including long service awards, recruitment and retention allowances, which, to maintain transparency, is reported separately.
The data shows a mean average difference in favour of females and a median average difference in favour of males.
The proportion of both male and females receiving such payments remains small at 3.9% and 3.2%.
Ashley Ayre, Chief Executive of Bath & North East Somerset Council, said: “While the council continues to make strides in reducing the gender pay gap we are not complacent.
“Sixty per cent of our workforce is female yet at the moment six out of ten of the highest paid positions in the council are filled by men. We recognise more work needs to be done to attract women to the top jobs and we are working hard to address this.
“Flexible working is now embedded into the council’s culture and we actively promote employee development through schemes such as the Springboard Development Plus programme which is designed specifically for female employees considering leadership roles.”
In a statement, a spokesperson for Bath & North East Somerset Council said it “is committed to the principle of equal opportunities and equal treatment for all employees, regardless of sex, race, religion or belief, age, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy/maternity, sexual orientation, gender reassignment or disability”.
The local authority made clear that it has a clear policy of paying employees equally for the same or equivalent work, regardless of their sex, or any other characteristic.
As such, it evaluates job roles and pay grades using the HAY job evaluation analytical methodology to ensure a fair and consistent pay structure.
The council has said it is confident that its gender pay gap does not stem from paying men and women differently for the same or equivalent work, but that the imbalance is the result of the roles in which men and women work within the organisation, and the salaries that these roles attract.