The Assistant Director of Human Resources and Organisational Development introduced the report of the Director of Resources which, in line with the Equality Act 2010, provided transparency with regard to the average difference between earnings of women and men. The report must be published by 31 March each year, reflecting the gender pay gap as of March the previous year. This report reflected the position as of March 2022.

Members sought clarity on the Council's median gender pay gap for 2022 which was 5.01%, this had decreased from 7.7% the previous year. The mean gender pay gap also decreased from 5.9% to 4.4%, reversing the increase seen in the 2021 report. The Assistant Director of Human Resources and Organisational Development outlined that this wasn’t about men being paid more than women for the same role it was about the nature of the roles men and women undertook and this was subject to the ebbs and flows of the workforce. It was reported that the report for 2022/23 was likely to show the effect of transferring Wirral Evolutions back into the Council as this was a predominantly female workforce. The Assistant Director of Human Resources and Organisational Development emphasised that the key focus was to remove barriers for females to progress into senior roles and be a progressive employer on issues such as childcare and maternity which traditionally may have had an impact.

Resolved – That the publication of the Gender Pay Gap report be noted and endorsed.