Adur District Council bucking gender pay gap trend

Women working at Adur District Council are paid more per hour on average than men, a gender pay gap report has revealed.
The Shoreham Centre, where Adur council meetings are heldThe Shoreham Centre, where Adur council meetings are held
The Shoreham Centre, where Adur council meetings are held

The trend-bucking figures, which the council is required to publish, show mean hourly pay for women is 3.5 per cent higher than men, while the median rate is just over 50 per cent more.

The findings are not because men are paid less for equivalent work, however.

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A council spokesman said: “Adur District Council is committed to the principle of equal opportunities and equal treatment for all employees. We have a clear policy of paying employees equally for the same or equivalent work and evaluate all job roles using a national code to ensure a fair structure.

“We are therefore confident that our gender pay gap does not stem from paying men and women differently for the same or equivalent work. Rather its gender pay gap is the result of the roles in which men and women work within the organisation and the salaries that these roles attract.”

The majority of Adur officers also work for Worthing Borough Council – but only Adur’s figures have been released because it has more than 250 members of staff.

The lion’s share of senior roles are held by women, the report details.

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While two of the three directors are male, seven of 13 heads of service are female and women occupy 77 of the 128 line manager posts.

The spokesman said: “While Adur District Council’s gender pay gap is relatively small and indeed negative to what might be expected, we are not complacent about the subject. We are committed to doing everything we can to reduce the gap. We have recently taken a number of steps to reduce gender inequality, specifically around recruitment, flexible working and supporting parents.

“We remain committed to reporting what we are doing to reduce the gender pay gap and marking the progress on an annual basis.”

The figures quoted are a snapshot from March, 2017.

See how other companies in the area compare here.