WOMEN working for Oxford City Council earn 10.2 per cent less than their male colleagues on average.

Oxford City Council has published its latest annual performance report on the gender pay gap, covering last year up to March 31, 2019.

This is the first year that the city council report has not included the Oxford Direct Services workforce, which has changed the stats and means the gap has risen significantly.

In 2018, the mean pay gap was -0.7 per cent, meaning women earned slightly more on average than men.

ODS is a council-owned company which carries out maintenance, bins and recycling services, and construction.

2019 first year that the workforces have been separated the gender pay gap shows that, averaged across the whole council workforce, women earn 10.2 per cent less than men.

The council’s workforce is mostly female, 401 staff or 58 per cent of the workforce, many at lower grades.

The ODS workforce is overwhelmingly male at all levels of the organisation, with 570 staff or 88 per cent of the workforce, as of March 31 last year.

ODS is now a separate company from the City Council and reports its gender pay gap data independently.

What has the council said about the pay gap?

Councillor Nigel Chapman. cabinet member for safer communities and customer focused services, said: “This year’s report reflects the change in the balance of the way women and men are employed within the city council’s workforce after you have removed the ODS workforce data.

Oxford Mail:

Nigel Chapman.

"Most importantly, it also shows that women are still not reaching the highest levels of the organisation in equal numbers as men.

He added: "We have strong policies to support flexible working, parental leave and career development, which are shown to support women’s career progress.

"We are actively addressing the barriers through a planned programme to support more women and BAME candidates to progress internally, and to attract more diverse external candidates.”

A statement from the council said 'closing the Council’s gender pay gap will be achieved through its employment policies and practices'.

These include:

• training to encourage and support greater levels of participation by female colleagues within higher graded roles in the Council

• employment policy and technology which allows greater flexibility so staff can achieve a better balance between work and home commitments

• recruitment approaches and methods that promote the council as an employer of choice and place to build a great career, with access to a range of flexible working arrangements

What does the data for 2019 show?

The data shows that:

• mean gender pay gap (basic pay) is 10.2 per cent

• median gender pay gap (basic pay) is 12.1 per cent

• mean gender bonus gap for 11.6 per cent

• median gender bonus gap is 9.26 per cent

• proportion of male employees receiving a bonus is 83.7 per cent

• proportion of female employees receiving a bonus is 84.2 per cent

The city council's Scrutiny Committee is due to meet tonight at 6pm to discuss the gender pay gap report.