WOMEN working for an Oxfordshire council earn a quarter less than the men, official figures show.

Organisations employing more than 250 staff had to file their pay gap data to the Government before midnight – or faced being forced to do so by the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

West Oxfordshire District Council’s figures showed that the mean average women’s hourly wage was 72p for every £1 men earned. The median hourly rate was 26.2 per cent lower than men’s – or 74p for every £1 earned.

Jenny Poole, chief finance officer at West Oxfordshire District Council said: “We have a predominantly female workforce with many choosing to work part time in lower paid customer services and administration roles.

"Manual work, such as collecting bins and grounds maintenance, is predominantly male and is also in the lower pay ranges, but most of these roles are now contracted out and so are not represented in the council figures.

“In addition, since these figures were first published, West Oxfordshire’s senior management team has amalgamated with Cotswold District Council and other partners. For example, the four director level appointments across three councils now comprise two women and two men.”

The median is generally more representative because the mean wage can be skewed by higher salaries. The median is more useful in showing the typical experience at an organisation.

South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse District Councils’ figures show women’s mean hourly rate is 1.1 per cent lower than men’s but that the median hourly rate for women is 8.7 per cent higher than men’s. That means, on that average, women earn £1.09 for every £1 men earn by that scale.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission said reasons for the differences could be that women are more likely to take part-time jobs.

But it said in jobs requiring considerable expertise, gender pay gaps are still expected. Women in medicine are paid 30 per cent less than men, on average.

Oxford City Council has no gender pay gap, judging by the median, and its mean pay gap was 0.1 per cent in favour of men.

The county council’s mean pay gap is 3.5 per cent and its median gap is 0.1 per cent.

Cherwell District Council’s pay gap was 3.3 per cent – so women earned 97p for every £1 – for the mean average, whereas its median hourly rates was 6.9 per cent lower for women than for men.

The difference was greater at Oxford University, where women’s median hourly rate was 13.7 per cent lower than men’s.

The mean hourly rate for staff at its central offices was 24.5 per cent less for women.