Contradiction of pay-gap reasons
ONE North East council has blamed a lack of outsourcing for its gender pay gap, while another has said outsourcing has had the opposite effect.
Across the region, the gender pay gap in the private sector is significantly worse than in the public sector.
However, there is vast disparity from council to council and the two with the largest pay gaps have given conflicting reasons for the lower female average.
South Tyneside Council has the largest gender pay gap. At the authority, the women’s median hourly rate is 20.9% lower than men’s – meaning women earn 79p for every £1 men earn.
The authority has said it believes the gap is because it does not outsource as much work as some other councils.
Cleaning roles and school meals are all dealt with ‘in house’ and these are lower-paid roles - predominantly held by women on a part-time basis.
Councillor Ed Malcolm, lead member for innovation and resources, said: “Part-time workers make up 55% of the council’s workforce and women form the majority of those workers.”
Sunderland City Council has the second-highest gender pay gap but it points to the opposite problem to explain the 13.5% differential. Women’s median hourly rate is 13.5% lower than men’s, so women earn 86p for every £1 men earn.
The council said staff have been transferred from the authority to Together for Children, an arm’s-length company set up to take over the management of children’s services following a critical Ofsted inspection.
The council claims this has resulted in the number of women in the top 50% of earners decreasing. The median pay gap at Together for Children is 9.15% in favour of women.
A council spokesman said: “In the city council, as in the broader labour market, there is considerable gender segregation in the lowest pay group with women dominating catering, cleaning and business administration roles.”
The authority with the smallest gender pay gap is Northumberland, which has a median hourly pay gap of 0.5%, while North Tyneside’s is just 0.6%.
Newcastle City Council’s gender pay gap is 6.7%.
Beth Farhat, regional secretary of the TUC, pictured right, said: “More genuinely flexible work would help more women get into more senior roles.”
Unison’s head of local government Heather Wakefield said: “Councils need to do more to open up jobs at all levels to women.”
Both Sunderland and South Tyneside said they are committed to flexible working for all staff.