Warrington Borough Council women earn less per hour than men

Employers with 250 or more workers must publish figures on differences in pay between their employees through the Government's gender pay gap service.

These figures highlight that women earning an hourly wage at Warrington Borough Council are paid 15.1 per cent less than men on an hourly wage.

The council said around 75 per cent of its overall staff are women and the majority of its top paid workers are also women.

The council currently has a gender pay gap of around 15 per cent for employees on an hourly wage (Image: Supplied)

That's according to data for 2021/22 on the Government's gender pay gap report website - which states that for every £1 earned by men at the council, women earn 85p.

In 2020/21, this disparity was at 15.3 per cent, meaning that wages for women have increased slightly over 12 months, but a large gap still remains.

Of the 307 councils that provided data for 2021/22, the average local authority paid women three per cent less than their male colleagues – a small improvement from 3.3 per cent the year before.

Warrington Borough Council has not yet published data for 2022/23.

Across England and Wales, 12 councils showed an average pay gap of more than 20 per cent between male and female employees.

Jemima Olchawski, chief executive of the Fawcett Society, which campaigns for women's rights, said: "While it's an important step, Gender Pay Gap Reporting isn't a solution on its own.

"As these figures show, there is a gulf between the best-performing and the worst-performing local authorities."

The Local Government Information Unit said councils are moving in the right direction on the gender pay gap – but added there is 'more work to be done,' particularly in senior positions.

Jonathan Carr-West, the organisation's chief executive, said: “Just 22 per cent of council leaders are women and only 33 per cent of council chief executives.

“With women making up 78 per cent of the workforce across local government, this can have knock-on effects across service areas as well as impacting development opportunities for women at all levels."

The Government's pay gap service says that women earn 15p less per hour than men at the council (Image: Newsquest)

Speaking to the Warrington Guardian regarding the figures, a spokesperson from Warrington Borough Council said: "Our workforce is predominantly women - 74 per cent - many occupying roles that are part-time or flexible such as school catering or cleaning.

"The majority of our highest paid staff (the top quartile) are also female.

“All of our roles are subject to job evaluation to determine the rate of pay, and the schemes used to evaluate them are gender neutral.

"As a council, we’re committed to paying at least the living wage foundation rate for our lowest-paid roles. However, we will continue to focus efforts on ways in which we might address the gender pay gap.

Referencing steps that have been taken to address the gap, the spokesperson added: "We held a dedicated workshop late last year on women’s career development, to get feedback from our workforce on how we can create better opportunities for women to develop their careers.”

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