Equal Pay Audit April 2013 to March 2014
1. / Introduction and BackgroundThe Council supports the principle of equal pay for work of equal value and recognises that we should operate a pay system that is free from bias and is based on objective criteria.
This is the third Equal Pay Audit that has been carried out at Wyre Council since the implementation of the single status agreement in January 2009. The previous Audit, carried out for the period April 2011 – March 2012, did not identify any significant equal pay gaps or issues but did find a predominance of male employees within senior roles and female employees in part time roles.
2. / Methodology
The Equality and Human Rights Commission guidelinesforundertaking Equal Pay Auditshas been followed and the data has been analysed using the definitions and methodologies advocated in national guidelines. In line with their recommendations pay gaps of 5% or more are being interpreted as ‘significant’ with a gap of 3% or more warranting further investigation.
Data has been drawn from the HR and Payroll database for analysis as follows:
- Workforce composition including male, female, BME* and disability
- Average male/female pay gap across pay grades
- Distribution of males/females across pay grades
- Distribution of full and part timers across pay grades
- Gender profile of full and part timers
- Correlation of male/female length of service and salaries earned
- Age profile of staff.
2.1 / Further information has also been considered as part of the audit in relation to additional payments including:
- Overtime payments
- Activity related allowances
- Non-discretionary allowances e.g. tool allowances, first aid allowance
3. / Workforce Distribution
The workforce as at 31 March 2014 has a composition of:
Male / Female / Total
Full-time / 166 / 96 / 262
Part-time / 17 / 99 / 116
Total / 183 / 195 / 378
The total male/female split is fairly equal at 48% / 52% however the comparisons of part time and full time are quite different with females holding 37% of full time roles and males holding 15% of part time roles.
Disabled / Total / BME* / Total
Male / Female / Male / Female
Full-time / 16 / 10 / 26 / 1 / 4 / 5
Part-time / 2 / 7 / 9 / 0 / 2 / 2
Total / 18 / 17 / 35 / 1 / 6 / 7
The numbers of disabled and BME staff are low in comparison to the total workforce representing just 9% and 2% respectively. As can be seen from the table above the majority of disabled (74%) and BME* staff (71%) are in full time roles.
4. / Equality analysis / pay gap identification
Overall, the average basic pay for female staff is 5.3% lower than the figures for male staff. This is attributed to the higher number of female part time staff employed by the Council. The gap is considerably lower than the provisional gap shown by the Office of National Statistics for 2014.
Wyre Council has less than 1% pay gap for full time staff and the figures show that the part time pay gap is significantly higher and in favour of female staff, this is because there are far fewer part time male staff employed in the more senior grades.
Hourly Earnings / National Pay Gap Public Sector
% / Wyre Male @ 31/03/14 (£) / Wyre Female @ 31/03/14 (£) / Wyre
Pay Gap
%
Full-Time / 11 / 12.46 / 12.38 / 0.6
Part-Time / -5.5* / 9.89 / 10.78 / -9*
All / 19.1 / 12.22 / 11.57 / 5.3
*ONS – Office of National Statistics
* a negative figure is where female staff earnings are higher than male staff earnings.
4.1 / The negative values in the chart above show where female staff earn more than male staff.
As the chart shows no significant gaps (i.e. gaps of 5% or more) were identified between male and female staff in the same grade. Any gaps that are shown will reflect the grading structure at Wyre and will be due to incremental progression.
4.2 / Equally, as the charts show there are no significant gaps (i.e. gaps of 5% or more) across the grades when breaking down staff into part time and full time. The maximum gap being 2.33% for part time staff and 2.68% for full time staff.
4.3 / The chart below shows that, whilst grade 14 and above reflects male dominance, most of the managers in grade 10 and 11 are female.
5. / Ethnic Group Pay Gaps
The very low levels of ethnic groups within the Council hindered the analysis of pay by ethnic group and made it difficult to draw any definite conclusions in relation to pay gaps. There are only six members of staff with an ethnic origin other than White or White British and only one of these is male. The grades of these staff span from grade 3 to 13 with the female staff being employed in grades 3, 4, 6, 9 & 13 and the male staff member employed in grade 8.
6. / Disability
There are thirty six members of staff designated as disabled, nineteen males and seventeen females. As above due to the low numbers it is difficult to draw any definite conclusions in relation to pay gaps. The grades of our disabled staff members are shown in the chart below.
The significant increase in numbers since the last equal pay audit (from 23 to 36) has been attributed to the recent data cleansing exercise undertaken by the payroll section whereby the information held is now considered to be accurate.
7. / Full and Part Time Staff
Overall when standardised at a FTE salary, average basic pay for part-time staff is 17% lower than the corresponding figure for full-time staff. The chart below illustrates the higher numbers of part time staff in the lower grades which would explain this difference.
This chart also shows the high numbers of part time females in the lower grades and the dominance of full time males in grades 6 and above. The high number of part time female staff in the lower grades will contribute to the overall pay gap.
8. / Length of Service
The scatter diagram below shows the relationship between salary and length of service and shows a positive trend for both males and females meaning that generally for both, the longer their length of service the higher the salary they receive. The parallel trend shows that there is the same relationship between length of service and salary for both males and females however with the trend that males receive a slightly higher salary than females.
9. / Age Analysis
The average full time salary increases by age until the 35-44 age group, remains relatively constant between the age of 35 and 54 and falls off in the 55-64 age group.
Full time females and part time staff reach a salary high within the 35-44 age group with males and full time staff reaching a peak in the 45-54 age band.
On average full time females between the ages of 35 and 44 earn more than menfrom which point the males start to earn more. Full time male staff earn on average 5% more than full time female staff over their working life to age 65. This is because of the higher number of male staff in higher grades.
10. / From the chart below it can be seen that the highest number of staff (37%) fall into the age band 45-54 and a total of 62% are over the age of 45.
11. / Additional Payments and Allowances
Overtime Pay
A total of 137 staff received overtime payments during the period investigated 62% of whom were males. The average payments received by males were 9% higher than those received by females, males receiving an average of £13.50 per hour and females £12.38 per hour. This pay gap is significantly less than the 21.3 % calculated at the last Equal Pay Audit (2011-2012) and could be attributed to the number of lower paid full time male staff who work regular overtime that have transferred into the Authority since April 2012.
Enhanced rates can only be paid once staff have worked a 37 hour week so part time staff will be more likely to receive plain time overtime whereas full time staff will receive enhanced rates, as a higher percentage of female staff work part time compared to males this would contribute towards the size of the pay gap.
12. / Standby Payments
Standby payments were made to 9 males and 5 females however the average payments made over the last year were higher on average to females at £1,963.19 per person than males who received on average £1,063.91 per person.
13. / Allowances
The types of allowances paid to staff include first aid, tool allowance, telephone allowance, shift allowance and tidal allowance.The numbers of males in this category far outweigh the females with 42 males and 14 females being in receipt of allowances. The amounts received are also different with males receiving an average of £284.14 per person and females receiving an average of just £85.98 per person. The tool allowance, tidal allowance and shift allowance payable to 16 male staff increased the average payments made for 2013/2014.
14. / Council Policies and Procedures
The Council already has a number of policies and systems in place that help to achieve equal pay and contribute to minimising the gender gap. These include:
- Alignment to an agreed national grading structure
- A structured pay system, underpinned by the Job Evaluation Scheme
- Pay and Grading Policy
- Incremental progression practices
- Work life balance policies and initiatives
- Recruitment and Selection Policy
- Equal Opportunities Policy
15. / Pay and Grading Policy
The Council’s Pay Policy which covers Wyre’s pay procedure was last reviewed in 2014. It sets out Council policy in relation to pay procedures and additional payments and allowances. The common pay practices that pose risks in terms of potential non-compliance with our legal obligations are shown below.
- New Appointments – council policy sets out that staff newly appointed to a position will start at the initial point of the established grade to the post unless their skills, experience or previous salary justifies their starting at a higher scale point within the grade.
- Incremental Progression – progression from one increment to the next within a grade will normally take place on the 1 April each year although officers working in a new post are required to be in post for 6 months before incremental progression is awarded. The maximum number of scale points within one grade is four and all posts are restricted to one grade with the exception of career graded posts which require the achievement of a qualification or achievement to progress to the next grade. Career
- Market Supplements – the council does not have and is not proposing to introduce market supplements to any posts at this point in time. However it is agreed that market supplements may be used if there is an evidenced recruitment and retention problem. A single payment of £3,500 was made in 2013/14.
- Additional Payments and Allowances – covering:
Saturday and Sunday Working
Night Work
Evening Work
Irregular Hours Payments
Public and Statutory Holiday
Standby arrangements
Food Safety Inspections
16. / The council does not operate a performance related pay system but has introduced a performance related bonus system for a sales orientated post which is also linked to the grading that has been established through job evaluation. The bonus will be calculated based on the amount of additional revenue achieved by the post holder against agreed criteria.
17. / Pay Protection
The Council’s Redeployment Policy and Procedure sets out the council’s policy in relation to pay protection and provides staff with a maximum of 2 years’ pay protection when re-deployed into a suitable alternative position as a result of a potential redundancy situation. It is accepted that pay protection can create equal pay gaps and, as such, is restricted to a maximum of two years.
There are 2 employees on pay protection which will end during 2015.
18. / Conclusion
This Equal Pay Audit has not identified any significant pay gaps or any evidence of equal pay issues which shows that council policies and processes are working effectively.
Since the last equal pay audit there has been an increase of females in the higher graded jobs although the dominance of part time females in the lowest graded posts remains the same.
There is still a dominance of females in part time roles and consideration could be given to further promotion of our work life balance and flexible working options.
The council’s succession planning will need to take consideration of the age profile of the workforce with 62% being over the age of 45, 58% of staff being reaching the age of 65 within the next 20 years and 23% within the next 10 years.
The investigation of the allowances received by staff shows the greatest difference between average amounts received by males compared to females. The figures are swayed considerably by allowances received by two post holders for working on sea defences. These are manual roles that are traditionally more popular with males rather than females.
The Council’s Job Evaluation procedure provides a consistent and objective approach for the evaluation of new roles and, that as far as possible equal pay is maintained within the council.
Appendix 1
Common pay practices that pose risks in terms of potential non-compliance with an employer’s legal obligations[1]:
- Lack of transparency and unnecessary secrecy over grading and pay
- Discretionary pay systems (for example, merit pay and performance related pay) unless they are clearly structured and based on objective criteria
- Different non-basic pay, terms and conditions for different groups of employees (for example, attendance allowances, overtime or unsocial hours payments)
- More than one grading and pay system within the organisation
- Long pay scales or ranges
- Overlapping pay scales or ranges, where the maximum of the lower pay scale is higher than the minimum of the next higher scale, including ‘broad-banded’ structures where there are significant overlaps
- Managerial discretion over starting salaries
- Market-based pay systems or supplements not underpinned by job evaluation
- Job evaluation systems which have been incorrectly implemented or not kept up to date
- Pay protection policies