By Harry Shellard
Leicester city council are to hold a meeting tomorrow (MAR19) which will discuss the pay policy statement for this financial year.
It’s required that all local authorities including the council are to publish details of the Gender Pay Gap report for public scrutiny, transparency and fairness, which all come under the Localism Act 2011.
Since the council’s previous report from 2018, the Council has made great strides in reducing the gender pay gap between staff.
2018’s report revealed that Leicester City Council was one of only three out of 40 local authorities in the same employee headcount band (5000-19,999) with a zero median pay gap between its male and female employee’s.
It was also found that the council’s mean pay gap was closest to zero, meaning that Leicester city council had the smallest difference in average pay between men and women of the 40 other authorities.
In the 2019 report, the median gender pay gap had remained zero, as the median hourly wage for men and women working in the council was equal.
The report also showed that men were being paid a slightly larger sum (£14.57) compared to women (£14.55) with the mean gender pay gap sitting at 0.1%. This figure has however moved closer to equaling.
On the 2018 pay policy City Mayor Peter Soulsby said: “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 ensure 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.”
The aim of tomorrow’s meeting is to discuss and approve the Council’s pay policy for the 2020/21 financial year
All council members are due to attend tomorrow’s 5pm meeting which will be held on the first floor of the Leicester town hall. The meeting will also be broadcast online.
For more information, you can access the meeting’s agenda here. Or contact Matthew Reeves at 0116 4546352 (376352), or Matthew.reeves@Leicester.gov.uk.
