Gender Pay Gap

Gender Pay Gap Statement as at 31 March 2023

From March 2018, public sector employers with more than 250 employees were required by law to report and publish gender pay gap information using employee data from the previous year.  The gender pay information details the difference between men and women's aggregate hourly pay.

The Council have published the gender pay gap data from March 2023 as required on the .gov website. This information is presented below and includes available comparisons and analysis against data from previous years, and March 2023 average data from comparative organisations.

Background

By law, men and women must receive equal pay for:

• The same or broadly similar work;
• Work rated as equivalent under a job evaluation scheme; or
• Work of equal value.

South Holland District Council 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.  It is committed to paying employees equally for the same or equivalent work, regardless of their sex (or any other characteristic set out above).

Across the UK Economy, men are more likely that women to be in senior roles (especially higher senior roles), while women are more likely than men to be in front-line roles at the lower end of an organisation.  Women are also more likely than men to have time off from work which has affected their career progression, for example bringing up children.  They are also more likely to work part time and many of the jobs available across the UK on a part time basis are relatively low paid.

The figures set out below have been calculated using the standard methodologies required by the Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2017.

Gender Pay Gap Information March 2023

• The mean gender pay gap for SHDC is -3%
• The median gender pay gap for SHDC is -1%
• No bonuses were paid in the period

The mean pay gap is a negative figure at -3%, demonstrating that pay for female employees is proportionately higher than for males.  Women earn £1.03 for every £1 that men earn when comparing hourly wages.

This is predominantly owing to the following factors:

• Two of the highest paid male employees in the Council left employment between April 2022 and March 2023.  One vacant role was temporary and was disestablished and the other was filled with a seconded manager from East Lindsey District Council.
• There was an increase of male employees in lower paid roles across the Council in areas such as Waste, which increased the number of lower paid male workers.
• The highest paid new starter between April 2022 and March 2023 was female.

The median pay gap is a negative figure at -1%, demonstrating that the mid-range level of pay for females is higher than that of males.  The number of males and females as distributed across the 4 quartiles of the organisation vary, with a noticeably higher level of males at the upper pay quartile, and a higher level of males in the lower quartile. This helps to balance the gender pay gap figure.

Pay Quartiles by Gender

This shows South Holland's workforce divided into four equal-sized groups based on hourly pay rates, with band A including the lowest paid 25% of employees (the lower quartile) and band D covering the highest paid 25% (the upper quartile). In order for there to be no gender pay gap, there would need to be an equal ratio of men to women in each band.

Owing to the increase in the number of lower paid male employees the lower quartile has seen a 10.2% increase in the number of males.  Despite the number of higher paid male employees reducing, the percentage of male and female employees in the upper quartile has remained static.  This is because whilst there have been some changes in the structure over this year (one female high paid leaver and two male high paid leavers with no replacements), the number of males and females sitting within this quartile hasn't changed.

Comparison of South Holland Gender Pay Gap Figures

The Council have only been required to report their gender pay gap since March 2020, as in previous years the number of employees fell below the required 250 to require the pay gap figures to be reported.

The gender pay gap for the Council had been increasing since March 2020, however the mean figure is now the lowest it has been for 4 years.  The main contributors to the reduction in the gender pay gap is detailed above.

Comparison to Other Organisations

When examining the Council's figure from 2023 and comparing to the submitted figures from comparator organisations, the mean figure for the Council is lower than the comparator average by over 5%.  The Median continues to remain lower than average, this was previously at 0% and has decreased again since last year by 1%. The comparators were selected from the .gov gender pay gap submission page, Borough and District Councils were selected between 250 and 499 employees.  As at February 2024, 32 Councils of this size submitted their gender pay gap figures.

The percentage of females who were present in the lower quartile was lower than the comparator average, showing there are less female lower paid employees than the average.

The Council has a lower than average percentage of females across all four quartiles, with the most significant difference being in the lower quartile.  This demonstrates that on average, comparator organisations have a 14% lower ratio of females in the lower quartile. 

Addressing the Gender Pay Gap

There has been a decrease in the mean and median gender pay gap since the previous year which is a positive trend and demonstrates the effectiveness of the measures the Council have put in place to create equal opportunities for male and female employees.

South Holland District Council remain committed to doing everything that it can to equalise pay wherever possible.  To date, the steps that the Council has implemented several initiatives over the past couple of years to contribute to the reduction in the gender pay gap and promote gender diversity in all areas of its workforce including;

• Ensuring their Flexible Working Policy, which is currently under review to update in line with recent legislative changes, provides greater flexibility for employees wishing to alter their contract of employment to improve their work life balance.
• Fully supporting employees prior to, during, and on return from maternity leave and other parental .  There are robust Maternity, Paternity and Shared Parental Leave policies in place to shape how the Council pledges to do this.
• Investing in an online applicant tracking and recruitment system which is able to provide detailed data on applicants to all roles across the organisation.  This data can be collated and analysed to improve the diversity of applicants and assesses the effectiveness of recruitment processes in increasing gender diversity within the workforce.  A recent review of the gender profile data of applicants to senior posts (Grades G and above) showed 31% of applicants were female.  Consideration will be given as to how senior roles can be promoted to encourage female applications.
• Using a Job Evaluation process to assess the skills, knowledge and demands of roles within the organisation, grouping equivalent jobs and ensuring there is no pay disparity between equivalent roles.
• Continuing to invest in the future leaders programme, to identify and develop employees who show potential to be future leaders within the organisation, regardless of gender; 53% of the programmes 2023/24 cohort are female.
• Using the Agile Working Policy, implemented in February 2023 to enable employees to work remotely and with greater flexibility, within contracted hours and service demands, with an onus on performance.

Next Steps

South Holland District Council will continue to report the gender pay gap information on an annual basis in accordance with legislative requirements.  They will also publish the gender pay gap report on the Council website in a manner that is accessible to all employees and the public.  It will be uploaded onto the .gov website designated by the Secretary of State as supporting documentation for the gender pay gap figures for 2023 currently published.