Gender pay gap

We are required to report and publish our gender pay gap, which is a snapshot of pay data taken from 31 March 2022.

The purpose of gender pay gap to show any difference between the hourly wage of male and female employees. The figure is affected by how many females are at a given grade and their position on the pay scale. It shows the difference in the average pay between male and female employees.

Gender pay gap is not the same as equal pay. Equal pay looks at the difference in pay of men and women doing the same or similar job, or a job of equal value. 

This is the first gender pay gap report for North Northamptonshire Council since becoming a unitary authority. 

Employee data

As of 31 March 2022, there were 2,765 employees that met the requirements to be included within the gender pay gap calculation:

• 71% of these employees were female
• 29% of these employees were male

Mean calculation

The mean is the number you get by dividing the values by the total number of values in the set. The:

• mean pay gap is 7.6%, which translates to a female earning £0.92 for every £1 a male earns
• female mean hourly rate of pay is £14.94
• male mean hourly rate of pay is £16.11
• male mean hourly rate is £1.17 more than the mean female hourly rate

Median calculation

The median is the middle number in a set of values when those values are arranged from smallest to largest. The:

• median pay gap is 9.2% which translates to a female earning £0.91 for every £1 a male earns
• female median hourly rate of pay is £12.92
• male median hourly rate of pay is £14.21
• male median hourly rate is £1.29 more than the female median hourly rate

Quartile data

Quartiles are our pay bands split into 4 equal bands from the lowest to the highest. The lower quartile is the lowest paid band, and the upper quartile is the higher paid band.

To have no gender pay gap, the quartile percentages would reflect the total employee percentage (i.e. 71% female and 29% male). 

The lower middle quartile is the only quartile that reflects this. The upper and upper middle quartiles show that there are around 5% less females than what you would expect to see if there was no gender pay gap.

The lower quartile shows that there are 8% more females than what you would expect to see if there was no gender pay gap.

Steps to reduce the gender pay gap

• Increase the availability of part-time roles in the upper quartiles
• Manager training on gender inclusive recruitment, retention and training
• Gender awareness briefings and programmes
• Increase the data collection to allow analysis of the gender ratios of leavers and applicants at different grades within the authority

Last updated 26 January 2023