Issue - meetings

To consider the report of the Director Corporate Services.

Agreed:

RECOMMENDED that Council:-

(1) note the findings and observations report as follows:-

·         the average rate of pay for females is higher than males across the Council;

·         the mean average difference has decreased since last year from 3.91% to 2.91%;

·         the median average difference has decreased since last year from 10.42% to 9.71%; and

·         that there are nearly three times more males in the lower quartile of earnings than females.

(2) approves the publication of the Gender Pay Gap Report on the Exeter City Council website, and to the centrally held database on gov.uk;

(3) approves the annual review of the report to track the relationship between female and male earnings.

Reason for Decision: As set out in the report.

The Executive received the report on the Gender Pay Gap, which was a statutory requirement of the Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties and Public Authorities) Regulations 2017, for local authorities who employed over 250 or more employees to produce gender pay gap information relating to employees. The Act required the Council to report on the criteria outlined in the report and to publish the gender pay report by end of March 2024.

Particular reference was made to:-

·         the average rate of pay for females working for Exeter City Council was still higher than of males and that average rate had also decreased since last year;

·         there were three times more males in the lower level pay than females; and

·         the Office of National Statistics (ONS), showed that the medium hourly pay for full time employees, was 6.7% less for women than for men and could take nearly 28 years to close the national gap between men and women's pay.

Councillor M. Mitchell, as an opposition group leader enquired if information was available in regard to male and female pay for similar levels of work?

An Executive Member enquired on whether the quartile of earnings was similar to the previous year’s report.

The Director Corporate Services in responding to questions raised by a Members advised that the JCNC ensured roles were evaluated and compared correctly. The quartile of earnings from the previous year would be looked at for inclusion in future reports.

RECOMMENDED that Council:-

(1) note the findings and observations report as follows:-

·         the average rate of pay for females is higher than males across the Council;

·         the mean average difference has decreased since last year from 3.91% to 2.91%;

·         the median average difference has decreased since last year from 10.42% to 9.71%; and

·         that there are nearly three times more males in the lower quartile of earnings than females.

(2) approves the publication of the Gender Pay Gap Report on the Exeter City Council website, and to the centrally held database on gov.uk;

(3) approves the annual review of the report to track the relationship between female and male earnings.