Gender pay gap increases for Peterborough council employees with men earning an average of £1.27 more than women per hour

The difference between the hourly wage paid to male and female employees at Peterborough City Council (PCC) is higher than at any other time in the past five years.

The gender pay gap stands at £1.27, on average, up from 71 pence last year.

The figures suggest that men are disproportionately represented among the top earners at the council, while women are disproportionately represented among the lowest earners.

They don’t mean men and women are paid different wages for the same work.

Public sector organisations are legally required to publish gender pay gap data every year.

PCC also chooses to publish its ethnicity pay gap, which is smaller than in the previous year but still larger than its gender pay gap.

In 2023, white employees earned £1.76 more per hour, on average, than employees belonging to an ethnic minority, down from a £2.03 difference in 2022.

But PCC says it’s difficult to present accurate figures for ethnicity as this data is self-reported and more council employees haven’t shared it (173) than those who’ve identified as an ethnicity other than white (152).

It also says that “small changes in the workforce” can have a significant impact on the data and that this is an “important reason” for the gender pay gap jumping from 3.7 per cent in 2022 to 6.1 per cent in 2023.

There was an eight per cent increase in women in the lowest paid quartile of council jobs in this period, PCC says, which is reflected in the figures.

Meanwhile, the largest proportion of male employees is in the highest paid quartile, while the smallest proportion is in the lowest paid quartile.

But there are more women than men in every quartile: 74 per cent of PCC’s overall workforce is female.

The council’s pay gap is also better than the national average for public sector employees, which stands at 11.5 per cent.

The gap is calculated by adding together the hourly rate of pay of all male employees on a particular “snapshot” day and dividing the total by the number of male employees.

The same is then done for female employees and the difference between them calculated.

This year, that difference was £1.27 (6.1%), compared to 71p in 2022 (3.7%), £1.22 in 2021 (6.3%), 95p in 2020 (5.1%) and 98p in 2019 (5.4%).

PCC only began reporting its ethnicity pay gap data last year, but that shows a £1.76 gap in 2023 (8.7%) and £2.03 gap in 2022 (10.6%).

The overall average hourly rate for men is £20.75, while for women it’s £19.48.

For white employees, it’s £20.20, while for non-white employees it’s £18.44.

The council says it’s “committed to reviewing the results of equal pay audits it carries out to ensure there is no gender or ethnicity bias in respect of pay or in recruitment and other processes”.

It provides opportunities for apprenticeships and other qualifications for staff, it says, which provides its workforce in typically female-dominated sectors such as social care and education to have their skills formally recognised.

It also offers working from home opportunities, it says, which can help with caring responsibilities, although employees are required to come into the office at least two days a week.

PCC’s gender and ethnicity pay gap reports will be discussed by councillors at a meeting on Monday, 11th March.