February 15, 2019 2.17 pm This story is over 69 months old

County council reduces gender pay gap

An improvement on last year’s figures

Lincolnshire County Council reduced its gender pay gap by 11% this past year.

The authority had been the fourth highest council for the pay gap in the county, according to government data from 2017.

Now, latest figures show that the county council reduced its gender pay gap from 13.3% to 2.1%.

It means that women earn 98p for every £1 that men earn at the authority, an increase from 87p in 2017.

The council said measures such as secondments and career development programmes helped to reduce the number.

Lincolnshire County Council sign outside head offices on Newland, Lincoln. Picture: Calvin Robinson

Debbie Barnes, head of paid service at the county council, said: “Reducing the gender pay gap is a result of much of our long-term work which has included a strong focus on developing our existing staff.

“Because we have a higher proportion of women in our workforce, this work is particularly seeing more women moving into higher paid roles.

“One example of this is by offering secondment opportunities to all staff, which often then gives them the confidence to take on more senior roles.”

The gender pay gap is the average difference in earnings between working men and women.

Companies are required by law to submit pay gap data to the government every year.

Firms with 250 employees or more are required to submit the difference in pay between male and female employees.


SUBSCRIBE TO LOCAL DEMOCRACY WEEKLY, our exclusive email newsletter with highlights from our coverage every week and insights and analysis from our local democracy reporters.