Caerphilly cbc gender pay gap statement 2023
Background
Under the Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties and Public Authorities) Regulations 2017, all organisations listed at Schedule 2 to the regulations that employ over 250 employees are required to report annually on their gender pay gap. Other organisations in the private and voluntary sectors with 250 or more employees need to comply with the Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2017.
This data is required to be published on the Council’s website and a government website by 30th March each year. The salary data within this statement is based on the snapshot date of 31st March 2023. The regulations also require employers to calculate and publish a separate gender bonus pay gap report. The Council however has no bonus scheme in place.
The gender pay gap is a high-level snap-shot of pay within an organisation and shows the difference in the average pay between all men and women in a workforce. This requires the examination of aggregate workforce data. Where the data highlights a gender pay gap, this does not mean that the Council is paying males and females differently for work to be deemed of equal value. The identification of a gender pay gap however provides a trigger for further investigation about the reasons why the pay gap exists.
In contrast ‘equal pay’ is a more specific legal concept that deals with the pay differences between men and women carrying out comparable jobs. It requires the scrutiny of information at the level of the individual employee to satisfy that there is equal pay for equal work. The Council is confident that its gender pay gap does not stem from paying male and female employees differently for the same or equivalent work.
Gender pay gap data
The employees included in this snapshot of data are predetermined by the Specific Duties and Public Authorities Regulations. The Regulations apply the same definition of employee as the Equality Act 2010. This is a broad definition which includes zero hours’ workers, apprentices and self-employed people.
In the table below ‘Ordinary pay’ means basic pay; allowances; pay for leave; and shift premium pay. It does not include overtime pay; redundancy pay; pay in lieu of leave, or non-monetary remuneration. The Council does not offer piecework or bonus incentive schemes.
The data is based on a snapshot date of 31st March 2023.
| Total Number of Employees included in this data: | 6550 |
|---|---|
| Number of Females: | 4629 (71%) |
| Number of Males: | 1921 (29%) |
| Mean Gender Pay Gap – Ordinary Pay | 5.6% |
|---|---|
| Mean Hourly Rate – Ordinary Pay (Male) | £14.93 |
| Mean Hourly Rate – Ordinary Pay (Female) | £14.10 |
| Median Gender Pay Gap – Ordinary Pay | 8.7% |
| Median Hourly Rate – Ordinary Pay (Male) | £13.66 |
| Median Hourly Rate – Ordinary Pay (Female) | £12.47 |
| Mean Gender Pay Gap – Bonus pay in the 12 months ending 31st March 2023 | 0 |
| Median Gender Pay Gap – Bonus pay in the 12-months ending 31st March 2023 | 0 |
| The proportion of male paid a bonus in the 12-month period ending 31st March 2023 | 0 |
| The proportion of female employees paid a bonus in the 12-month period ending 31st March 2023 | 0 |
Proportion of male and female employees in each quartile
| Quartile | Female % (People) | Male % (People) |
|---|---|---|
| First Lower Quartile (£10.37 - £10.98) | 87.5 (1434) | 12.5 (204) |
| Second Quartile (£10.98 - £12.70) | 64.5 (1057) | 35.5 (581) |
| Third Quartile (£12.70 - £15.63) | 62.6 (1024) | 37.4 (613) |
| Fourth Quartile (£15.63 - £69.46) | 68.1 (1114) | 31.9 (523) |
Organisational context
The data identifies that there are significantly more women than men occupying posts in every quartile of the data due to our predominantly female population.
Proportionately, the data shows against the pure male population of the workforce that 10.62% of the 1921 employed occupy posts in the lower quartile, 30.24% in the 2nd quartile, 31.91% in the 3rd quartile and 27.23% in the 4th quartile.
This compares to 30.98% of the 4629 pure female population of the workforce that occupy posts in the lower quartile, 22.83% in the 2nd quartile, 22.12% in the 3rd quartile and 24.07% in the 4th quartile.
We are confident that our gender pay gap does not stem from paying male and female employees differently for the same or equivalent work. The gender pay gap is the result of roles in which male and females currently work and the salaries that these roles attract.
Our gender pay gap is reflective of the causes of gender pay gap at a societal level. Research has shown that caring responsibilities and part time jobs continue to be shared/occupied unequally and that it is women who are predominantly drawn to part time jobs. These can often be jobs that are below the employees’ skill levels, and offer fewer progression opportunities. In this snapshot of data, whilst part time roles are supported across the whole of the Council’s staffing structure, it remains the case that the vast majority of advertised part time posts and thus part time workers fall into the lower quartile of pay, for example our cleaning and catering assistant posts.
The opportunity to work part time in all other posts across the Council’s structure, is supported by an array of family friendly policies that offer men and women the opportunity to find a balance between work, leisure, family and caring responsibilities.
Flexible working and agile working methodologies are intrinsic in supporting the reduction of the gender pay gap. The Council offers numerous benefits aimed at making it easier for employees to balance home and work life commitments including agile working opportunities, flexible working, home working, career breaks, adoption leave, carers leave, a flexible working hours scheme, salary sacrifice and childcare voucher schemes, job share, leave of absence, parental, shared parental and paternity leave, part time working, shift/day swapping and term time only working opportunities.
Whilst over a number of years, men have become more interested in/attracted to these policies, it remains the case that far more women than men have taken up the opportunities that these policies present. Whilst the Council continues to deliver diverse services with a very high concentration of part time posts in the lower earnings quartile, the opportunity to close our gender pay gap will be limited based on the pure number of women that currently occupy and continue to be attracted to these posts.
In seeking to address the gender pay gap differential:
The Council is transparently opposed to discrimination in any form and our elected members and employees work to ensure that everyone in the communities we serve have access to and benefit from the full range of services, regardless of their individual circumstances or backgrounds. The Council is committed to doing all that it can to respect the diverse nature of those who live in, work in and visit the County Borough.
The different areas covered by the Council’s legal requirements, called “protected characteristics” which include gender and other, wider equalities, human rights and language strands are covered in detail in the Council’s Strategic Equality Plan Strategic Equality Plan 2020 - 2024
The Council has developed and will continue to develop policies, procedures and programmes of action to meet its legal and moral obligations in the area of equal opportunities and is committed to equal opportunities in all aspects of employment. The Council takes positive steps to reduce any disadvantage experienced by all individuals and groups. It recognises that equalities contribute to the most effective utilisation of employee skills and abilities.
We have invested heavily in creating a non-discriminatory, transparent pay and grading structure and conditions of service that fully comply with the Equal Pay Act and any other anti-discriminatory legislation.
In support of some of our lowest paid members of staff across all directorates, we pay our workforce the Real Living Wage, which was £10.90 per hour on 31st March 2023. Previously £9.90 per hour, the £1.00 increase to the hourly rate meant that this rate had increased disproportionately to all other pay points on the Council’s pay structure as of this date. Largely due to this reason our Gender Pay Gap data as of 31st March 2023 shows a slight reduction in our mean (-1.7%) and median (-1.3%) gender pay gap figures.
We are committed to ensuring equality of opportunity in all aspects of employment and service delivery as outlined in our Strategic Equality Plan and recognise that people have different needs, requirements and goals. The Council works actively against all forms of discrimination by promoting good relations and mutual respect within and between our communities, residents, elected members, job applicants and workforce.
We are committed to developing a healthy organisation, one which provides an environment that nurtures employees, provides opportunity for personal and professional development and recognises excellence. We will continue to develop our work life balance policies to cater for the varying and changing needs of our staff and thus, we are committed to modernising our practices, moving away from traditional models of delivery which restrict agility and flexibility. Our ambitious transformation agenda will also support these values.
We truly value our workforce and we put equality, inclusion and well-being at the very heart of everything we do. We continue to champion diversity and challenge conscious and unconscious bias in our decision making and we will strive to ensure all tiers are fairly represented across the organisation.
Please take the time to read the progress that the Council has made across all aspects of our equalities work.
This document is available in Welsh. It is available in other languages and formats on request.