Gender pay gap at Rother council revealed

Rother District Council has one of the worst figures for local authorities in Sussex with women’s mean hourly rate 21.3 per cent lower than men’s.

Meanwhile the median hourly rate is 20.7 per cent lower for women compared to men.

The gender pay gap happens where companies or organisations employ more highly paid men than women and is not the same as having unequal pay, which has been unlawful since 1970.

The deadline for firms and public sector organisations with more than 250 staff to publish data passed on Wednesday (April 4).

Malcolm Johnston, executive director of resources at Rother District Council, said: “We should be clear that the disparity between men’s and women’s pay is not the result of paying women less than men for doing the same job.

“We have a clear policy of paying the same salary to employees doing the same or equivalent roles, whether they are a man or a woman, and when it comes to recruitment we’re only interested in employing the best person for the job, regardless of their gender.

“The pay gap in our organisation comes from the fact we have more men in higher-paid senior roles and more women in lower-paid roles, and while of course we’d like to see this gap narrowed in the future, there is no quick fix as this is a complex issue.

“We are an equal opportunities employer and, through measures such as ensuring our vacancies are advertised externally, training and development of our existing workforce, offering parental leave and flexible working, endeavour to make careers at the council attractive to a broad cross-section of society.

“We welcome the Government’s legislation on the gender pay gap and a full report will in due course go before members, who will consider whether there’s anything more we could be doing to address this issue.”