Essex County Council has reported a mean gender pay gap of 9.7% for average hourly pay as at April 2019.
The organisation, which currently has 43,000 employees, reported its gender pay gap data in line with the government’s gender pay gap reporting regulations.
The reporting regulations require organisations with 250 or more employees to publish the differences in mean and median hourly rates of pay for male and female full-time employees, the gap in men and women’s mean and median bonus pay, the proportions of male and female employees awarded bonus pay, and the proportions of male and female full-time employees in the lower, lower-middle, upper-middle and upper quartile pay bands.
Due to the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic, gender pay gap reporting regulations have been suspended for the 2019/2020 reporting period, however, some organisations have chosen to do so voluntarily.
Essex County Council’s median gender pay gap is 8%, as at April 2019. On average, women earn 92p compared to every £1 their male counterparts earn.
Its median gender pay gap for bonuses paid during the reporting period is 0; compared to the 10.2% pay gap in 2018/2019. The mean gender pay gap for bonus payments is 2.8%, a significant decrease from 21.7% in the year before.
Over the reporting period, 73.7% of female employees and 74.3% of male employees received bonus payments. Just over two-thirds (68%) of employees in the highest pay quartile at Essex County Council are female, compared to 76% in the second quartile, 80% in the third quartile and 75% in the lowest pay quartile.
Essex County Council is currently focusing on finding new ways of attracting talent to the organisation, investing in learning and development, and has implemented a new performance development framework focusing on personal and career development.
Gareth Jones, chief executive at Essex County Council, said: "Our gender pay gap is one of the lowest for county councils of our size, however, our aim is to close the gap entirely.
"Our people plan activity seeks to address our gender pay gap, however, we recognise that the gap isn’t closing fast enough. Therefore, we will be commissioning an external partner to perform an independent review of our analysis, practice and performance relating to gender. This presentation also includes supplementary information on our gender profile and highlights ongoing activity to help close our gender pay gap."
