Agenda item

To consider Item 7

The HR Advisory and Development Manager advised Members that  all data shown in the report was based on data as at 31 March 2022 and explained how the report was compiled.  The gender pay gap for 2022 had decreased by 0.4 percentage points to 13.4 per cent, which was below the UK average percentage.  However, when comparing the median (mid-point) the gender pay gap had increased from 9.0 per cent in 2011 to 11.7 percent in 2022.  This was mainly due to the high number of male employees in senior management roles and this was not expected to change in the short term.  The action plan had been put together to highlight areas where work could be done to decrease the pay gap but this would take time to implement gender parity. The organisation would continue to work to achieve this. 

The HR Advisory and Development Manager informed Members that the Government had discussed Ethnicity reporting but as yet it had not been made compulsory.   Some organisations had started to publish their Ethnicity Pay Gaps and the Authority would look at publishing this next year.

A Member shared their concerns about the length of time it would take female workers to reach parity with their male colleagues and asked if decisions made in the past had effected the current situation.

The HR Advisory and Development Manager advised Members that efforts had been made to reduce the pay gap, but when one female member of staff left a senior role within the organisation it made a huge difference. The action plan had been put in place to try and increase the diversity of female roles and decrease the percentage. 

The Chief Fire Officer was glad that overall the pay gap was reducing year on year but acknowledged that more work needed to be done.

A Member asked for reassurance that men and women doing the same role were being paid the same amount.

The HR Advisory and Development Manager reassured Members that the pay structure within the Authority ensured that all staff doing the same role were paid the same and there were no equal pay issues within the organisation. 

A Member asked for more information on the Mean Bonus Gap figures as the figures varied for both genders. 

The HR Advisory and Development Manager explained that payments made to employees at the Long Service Awards (25 years in service) were included on the report.

Members requested that in future the Gender Pay Gap Action plan takes a more holistic approach  to inputs by referencing cross- cutting across other people-centred action plans; that in future the ethnicity pay gap be reported annually; requested that the LGA/NFCC be lobbied with a view to ensure a consistent methodology across the sector for gender pay reporting; and that, once all of the gender pay gap data from fire and rescue authorities for 2022 has been published and captured, a report be brought to a future meeting in 2023 to show where the service sits in comparison to other services. The Chairman suggested  that more information could be included in Equality Impact Assessments (EIA) to show how decisions could have an impact on the gender pay gap.

RESOLVED –

That the content of the Gender Pay Gap Report 2022 was noted and approved for submission to the Governments website (gov.uk) as per reporting requirements.