With the gender pay gap currently dominating national headlines, the gender pay gap at St Albans City and District Council is below the average for public sector organisations.
Male employees of the Council receive 7.3 per cent more pay than female employees on average. That is well below the 17.7 per cent gap for the public sector as a whole.
The gender pay gap is not a measure of equal pay, the principle that men and women doing the same or similar jobs should receive the same wage.
It shows the difference in the average pay between all men and women in a workforce, regardless of the jobs they do. Employers with 250-plus staff are now required under law to publish gender pay figures. This is intended to highlight any imbalances and encourage equality in the workplace.
A gender pay report was submitted to the Council’s Cabinet at its meeting on Thursday January 25.
This shows there are a higher proportion of women in the Council’s lower-paid roles, resulting in their average pay being lower.
Another figure the Council is required to publish is the bonus pay gap which is 57.3 per cent. Only 16 employees – 3.3 per cent of the workforce – received bonuses during the year to the end of March 2017. Two of the male employees received higher bonus payments than anyone else, resulting in the wide gap.
Councillor Alec Campbell, the Council Leader and Portfolio Holder for Resources, said: “I am encouraged by the results of our gender pay report. It shows that we are a progressive employer and have been successful in providing equality in the workplace.
“Our gender pay gap is narrow and a long way below the figure for the public sector as a whole and many private sector organisations that have reported recently. This gap at the Council, in any case, is not the result of us failing to pay men and women equally, but is due to the distribution of men and women within the organisation.
“We have long had systems in place to ensure we provide equal pay for male and female employees doing work of equal value. This includes grading jobs in a non-discriminatory way.
“At the next reporting period, we expect the pay gap will narrow even more because of some recent appointments at the most senior levels.”
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