Gender Pay Gap narrative 2023-24

The gender pay gap is a measure of the difference between the average hourly earnings of men and women.

This involves carrying out legally required calculations that show the difference between the average earnings of men and women in our organisation.

The gender pay gap should not be confused with unequal pay, which is the unlawful practice of paying men and women differently for performing the same or similar work or work of equal value.
 

Statistics as at 31 March 2024

Hourly Rate 

Mean: 7.8% in favour of Women - Women have a higher Mean pay than Men in our organisation. Last year, our organisation was 7.6% in favour of women. 
 
Median: 6.7% in favour of Women - Women have a higher Median pay than Men in our organisation. Last year, our organisation was 9.4% in favour of women. 

These calculations make use of two types of averages: 

• A mean average involves adding up all of the numbers and dividing the result by how many numbers were in the list. 
• A median average involves listing all of the numbers in numerical order. If there is an odd number of results, the median average is the middle number. If there is an even number of results, the median will be the mean of the two central numbers. 

Pay quartiles – the percentage of men and women in each pay quarter

Women occupy 54.2% of the highest paid jobs and 43.3% of the lowest paid jobs. 
 
Top quartile of staff by earnings

Men: 45.8%
Women: 54.2%

Upper middle quartile

Men: 49%
Women: 51%

Lower middle quartile

Men: 62.4%
Women: 37.6%

Lower quartile

Men: 56.3%
Women: 43.7%

Bonus pay

Our bonus pay at Colchester City Council is received by our Recycling and Refuse teams, as an attendance allowance in return for ‘no annual leave, no sickness absence’ during the holiday period in December. The majority of these teams are male employees.  

Mean: 95.77% in favour of men

Median: 88.65% in favour of men

Of those who received bonus pay:

Men: 23.7%
Women: 4.29%