Chief: ‘No quick fix’ for disparity in police
THERE will be no quick fix to close the gender pay gap within West Midlands Police, its chief constable has admitted.
Women in the force are paid an average of eight per cent less than their male counterparts, a new pay gap report has revealed. This compared to the national average pay gap of around 18 per cent.
Chief Constable Dave Thompson acknowledged the reasons for the disparity and said some of the gap was due to more men being in higher graded posts.
Within all ranks and grades, men also typically had longer service and were therefore higher up the pay scale.
More men also work full time, with greater access to additional payments such as weekend and shift working.
The report said 58 per cent of its total workforce was male.
Mr Thompson said: “We aim to ensure people are treated fairly, whether this is about the way we treat the public in the provision of our services to them or our officers and staff in the way they are treated at work.
“We are pleased that our reported gender pay gap is under half the national average.
“We work very hard to have equal pay, through systems, processes and decision-making across all sectors of our workforce.
“However, we do have a gender pay gap and we’ve identified the m a i n issues for this as being longer-serving male officers and staff in the higher two quartiles of the pay structure and a higher percentage of male staff employees in full-time roles accessing additional payments. “We know that working on these areas will take time and there is no immediate quick fix. “But we are confident our future plans for recruitment and resourcing, promotion and talent management and reviewing terms and conditions will incrementally narrow th i s gap and ensure a fairer for all who work for us.”
There was no gender pay gap for community support officers because there were equal numbers of men and women in post. They are appointed to a set salary, not based on length of service or other criteria.
The force said it had now introduced a number of initiatives including job evaluation schemes and recruitment policies which are free from gender bias and support women into senior roles.
It is also offering support to help women stay in work after changes to personal circumstances and target promotions while senior leaders will act as role models for aspiring future women leaders. future