Open data

Gender pay gap

From 2021 to 2022 there was a small movement in favour of men in ordinary pay, represented by changes to the proportions of men and women in the two lower pay quartiles.

In the area of bonus pay, there have been significant changes in the last year. The reasons for this are bonus payments ending in two business units during the period, which are in areas of the organisation where the workforce demographics are predominantly male. An increase in the use of ‘welcome and retention payments’ in social worker roles in vital areas of social care delivery has also factored into this change as this area predominantly comprises a female workforce.

Headline numbers

Difference in mean hourly rate of pay: -5.50% (20/21: -7.49%, 19/20: -6.62%)

Difference in median hourly rate of pay: -7.77% (20/21: -10.79%, 19/20: -10.02%)

Difference in mean bonus bay: -0.19% (20/21: 93.42%, 19/20: 91.84%)

Difference in median bonus pay: -152.63% (20/21: 89.79%, 19/20: 90.68%)

Proportion of male employees who were paid a bonus: 4.62% (20/21: 4.91%, 19/20 4.53%)

Proportion of female employees who were paid a bonus: 3.20% (20/21: 1.37%, 19/20: 1.21%)

From 2021 to 2022 there was a small movement in ordinary pay in favour of men, represented by a 1.99% increase in mean hourly rate of pay to -5.50% and a 2.89% increase in median hourly rate of pay to -7.90%. This is explained primarily by increases in the number of men in the lower middle quartile (an increase of 1.51% to 42.46%) and a decrease in the number of men in the lower quartile (a decrease of 4.02% to 65.29%).

In bonus pay, as noted there have been significant changes. The difference in mean bonus pay decreased by 93.61% to -0.19% and the median bonus pay decreased by 242.42% to -152.63%. Allied with this is an increase in the number of women receiving bonus pay, an increase of 1.83%, with a drop in men receiving bonuses.

The reason behind this is due to several factors. ‘Welcome and retention’ bonuses for social workers have increased, which has slightly favoured women due to gender demographics but has significantly raised the median and mean payments to women. Women’s bonuses are associated primarily with these and with long service awards paid within the workforce.

Male bonuses, however, are more diverse as building worker bonuses and SMS bonuses are significantly in favour of men, due to the gender demographics in these areas of work. The council’s decision to end bonuses as a pay component in these areas has therefore considerably affected men more, reducing the median and mean gaps.

These bonuses were paid briefly in Q1 of 2022 to 2023, but have now ended. Consequently, long-term bonus payments will be centred focused on long service awards and ‘welcome and retention’ bonuses for social workers. The expectation is that median and mean pay will favour female employees in future years, due to gender demographics in social work.

Page last updated: 01 October 2024