Angus Council’s male employees earn an average of nearly £1 per hour more than women, despite being outnumbered three to one.
New figures have revealed the average hourly rate for a man in 2012 was £11.89, compared with £10.94 for a woman. The trend marks a slight step towards narrowing the gender pay gap since 2011, when the rates were £11.64 and £10.61 respectively.
The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) claims that 40 years after the Equal Pay Act, women working full time in the UK still earn an average 12% less than men and an average 17% by some measures.
Angus Provost Helen Oswald said: “I would say that although the improvement is slight, things are moving in the right direction.
“It is interesting that in the recent recruitment of two strategic directors, one of the two appointments was female. This was based on appointing the right people for the jobs, irrespective of gender.”
The latest data was based on 3,016 women and 1,104 men employed by the council in 2012 in jobs graded levels one to 14. Men outnumbered women in all of the top three job levels but none of the other 11.
Occupational segregation figures showed around 84% of those in level one roles, such as toilet attendant or cleaner, were female, while males had 64% of the top level 14 positions.
Women accounted for 91% of administrative roles, 92% of care and support, 56% managerial, 34% operative, 63% professional, 36% technical and 68% specialist.
All the council’s 19 refuse drivers were male, as were 19 out of 21 caretakers and 33 out of 34 janitors.A total of 276 out of 288 social care officers were female, as were 55 of 63 social workers and six out of seven solicitors.
A statement in the council report said: “Angus Council supports the principle of equal opportunities in employment.
“And it believes, as part of that principle, that male and female employees should receive equal pay for the same or broadly similar work, for work rated as equivalent and for work of equal value (other than where the difference in pay is genuinely due to a material factor which is not the difference of sex).
“The council recognises that it is in our interest and that it is good business practice that pay is awarded fairly and equitably.
“To achieve the principle of equal pay for employees doing equal work, the council recognises the need to operate pay systems which are free from sex bias and to eliminate any unfair, unjust or unlawful practices that impact on pay.”
The council undertook a gender pay gap audit in 2012.
Although the report excludes chief officers and teaching staff, future documents will capture pay data for all employees.
Guidance from the Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) suggests organisations should fully investigate gaps greater than 5%.
While the council’s overall gap figure for 2012 was 8%, taken by individual job level the figures are much closer and none are more than 0.92%
The 14 pay grades have different salary levels because of the value of the jobs to which they are attached.
Different levels of pay within each grade are a consequence of individuals’ varying levels of progress through the increments within the grade.