Agenda item

This report provides the Committee with the results for this reporting year ahead of publication on the Council’s public website by 31 March 2027 and on the Government dedicated gender pay gap reporting website.

 Discussion

The Head of Employee Relations introduced the report which provided the Council’s results for the reporting year ahead of publication on the Council’s public website by 31 March 2027 and on the Government dedicated gender pay gap reporting website. It was noted that the Council did not have a specific duty to publish data on an ethnicity or disability pay gap, but this data was also provided in the report.

Gender pay gap - In response to questions theHead of Employee Relations advised that whilst the gender pay gap had reduced significantly further work was required to scrutinise and analyse the underlying data. The introduction of the MedPay PPP pay scale had been a significant factor in reducing the gender pay gap. While this had reduced variation in pay, it was acknowledged that there could still be differences in the distribution of male and female employees across those levels. It was noted that the transition of senior leadership roles to the MedPay PPP scheme could have a future impact on the Council’s gender pay gap figures. Employees who believed they were being treated unfairly in relation to pay had access to the Council’s grievance procedures. A commitment had been included within the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Action Plan to undertake a detailed review of recruitment data through an EDI lens.

In response to questions it was advised that the gender pay gap analysis did not specifically measure the impact of career breaks, and that uptake of shared parental leave was relatively low and was unlikely to have had a significant impact on the overall gender pay gap figures.

Gender balance - It was queried whether the Council should be taking steps to encourage greater male representation within the workforce. It was agreed that the issue warranted consideration and noted that a number of traditionally male-dominated services, such as waste collection, were now outsourced and therefore not reflected within the Council’s direct workforce figures. In contrast, many of the Council’s largest employment groups, including administrative and social work roles, had traditionally attracted higher numbers of female employees. It was also noted that the Council’s family-friendly employment policies were likely to contribute positively to the attraction and retention of female employees.

Bonuses - It was queried why it appeared that there was a higher proportion of bonuses received by employees from ethnic minority backgrounds, and explained that the bonuses were predominantly associated with social workers, and where was a relatively higher proportion of employees from ethnic minority backgrounds and was a contributing factor to the bonus statistics. Further analysis of the data would form part of the wider programme of detailed workforce monitoring and review.

Members noted the Joint Consultative Committee comments from the earlier meeting.

Decision

a)            The Employment Matters Committee noted the report in relation to the gender pay gap, as detailed in Appendix 1 to the report, prior to external publication and also noted the ethnicity and disability pay gap results, as set out in Appendices 3 and 4.

b)            The Employment Matters Committee noted the Council’s intention to develop a pay gap action plan, which would use workforce and pay gap analysis to identify and address barriers to progression, representation and inclusion, including support for employees experiencing menopause.