Issue - meetings

The Committee was informed that the Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2017 imposed obligations on employers with 250 or more employees to publish information annually relating to the gender pay gap in their organisation.  In particular, employers were required to publish, amongst other information, the difference between the average hourly rate of pay paid to male and female employees; and the relative proportions of male and female employees in each quartile pay band of the workforce.

The Committee therefore considered Guildford’s Gender Pay Gap Report for 2021, which would be published on the Council’s website and on a publicly accessible Government website and retained for a period of three years.

The figures in the Report, which were based on hourly rates of pay, showed that:

·       the Council’s female employees had an average hourly rate that was 10.3% higher than male employees’ hourly rate; and

·       at the mid-point within the range of hourly earnings that the Council paid its employees, female employees had an hourly rate that was 21.7% higher than male employees’ hourly rate.

The main reason for this gender pay gap was an imbalance of male and female colleagues across the services as there was a much higher proportion of men working in the Waste Collection and Parks & Landscape Services.  Many of the roles within those services fell within the lower pay bands. 

In response to an enquiry as to whether any comparative analysis had been done in respect of job roles performed by both male and female employees, the Lead Specialist (Human Resources) confirmed that this could be undertaken, but it would be preferable to look at conducting such analysis on completion of the current restructure.

The Committee

RESOLVED: That the Gender Pay Gap Report for the year 2021, attached at Appendix 1 to the report submitted to the Committee, be noted.

Reason:
To comply with the Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2017.