Gender pay gap alive and well at Kent County Council

Kent County Council (KCC) continue to pay men more than women. In 2018/19 KCC reported a median pay gap of 11.7%, meaning on average women are paid 88.3 pence for every £1 a man earns at County Hall in Maidstone.

Changes to the Equality Act, which came into force on 6 April 2017, made it compulsory for companies in Great Britain (but not Northern Ireland) with more than 250 employees to report their gender pay gap figures at the end of every financial year.

Public bodies must report by 30 March and private companies must do so by 4 April. Organisations are also required to publish the breakdown of men and women in different pay quartiles and details of the proportion of men and women in the company who receive bonuses.

The gender pay gap is the difference between the average hourly earnings of a company’s male and female employees. If an organisation has, for example, a 5% gender pay gap it means that women earn an average of 5% less per hour (excluding overtime) than men, or in other words the average female employee would earn 95p for every £1 earned by a male employee. A negative 5% gender pay gap would mean women earned an average of 5% more than men per hour.

In 2017/18 Kent County Council reported a median pay gap of 18.2%, meaning on average women were paid 81.8 pence for every £1 a man earned at County Hall in Maidstone.

For the year 2018/19 Kent County Council have reported a median pay gap of 11.7%, meaning on average women are paid 88.3 pence for every £1 a man earns at County Hall in Maidstone.

This means the gender pay has narrowed in the last year, by 6.5 pence. Although this shows an slight improvement, the Gender pay gap at KCC remains alive and well

In 2018/19 the figure widens to a 31.7% median bonus gap, meaning on average women are awarded 68.3p to every £1 awarded to a man in bonus pay.

In 2017/18 the median bonus gap figure was 25.1%, meaning on average women were awarded 74.9 pence to every £1 awarded to a man in bonus pay.

This means women are receiving less in bonus payments in the present year 2018/19 than in 2017/18.

Evidence shows that most employers such as Kent County Council are unlikely to voluntarily take action on gender equality, predominantly because they unduly think they’re already treating all their staff fairly. The challenge as we see it, is for KCC to decide whether to be sector leaders and demonstrate their commitment to gender equality, or to risk reputational damage by doing nothing.

For an alternative take on the Gender Pay Gap watch this:

The Shepwayvox Team

Dissent is NOT a Crime