by Khrista Davis
Leicester City Council will be holding a meeting today (MAR19) to discuss the Gender pay gap and approve the Annual Pay Policy Statement for 2020/21.
All councillors should be at the meeting which will be held at 5pm at the Leicester Town Hall on the first floor in the council chamber and is to be livestreamed.
The meeting will deliver the release of Leicester’s Gender pay gap report which is under Section 38 of the Localism Act 2011 which ‘places a requirement on all local authorities to prepare and publish a Pay Policy Statement for each financial year in order to achieve public accountability, transparency and fairness in the setting of local pay’.
In addition, under the Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties and Public Authorities) Regulations 2017 ‘require public sector employers, as part of their public sector equality duty, to publish specific details of their gender pay as at 31 March each year’.
According to the Agenda Document for Council, ‘The Pay Policy Statement is designed to enable communities to access the information they need to determine whether remuneration, particularly senior remuneration, is appropriate and commensurate with responsibility’.
In 2017, the figures supporting the gender gap pay were of 3.1% – the hourly rate women in Leicestershire were paid. In the 2018 report the hourly rate was higher for woman than men by 14p. But in 2019 the gap decreased with men being higher by a difference of 2p.
According to the Council gender gap report, the council’s median gender pay gap has remained at 0% over the two years – i.e. the median hourly rate is the same for both men and women which can be regarded as the ideal situation.
City Mayor Peter Soulsby commented on the 2018 report: “It is encouraging that this latest statement continues to reflect our commitment to fair pay and we’re proud to be one of just a few employers to have achieved complete parity in the average pay of our male and female staff.
“This annual statement helps ensures that our pay policy at Leicester City Council are open and transparent and this is vital during a period of long-term and severe cuts that have put council budgets under increasing pressure.”
Largely speaking, the statistics for Leicester’s gender pay gap are positive and something to look forward to in terms of it improving.
For more information or further queries, contact Matthew Reeves by email matthew.reeves@leicester.gov.uk or telephone 0116 4546352 (376352).
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