Exeter Council bucking trend with females earning more on average than men

Published: 6 February 2020

Female staff working for Exeter City Council are earning more on average than men at the local authority a new report has revealed.

Exeter City Council’s latest Gender Pay Gap Report shows that average female pay is £14.02 per hour compared to £13.32 for men.

The 5% difference in Exeter bucks the national trend, which sees males earning more than females.

The City Council employs 676 people, 382 of which are male and 294 female. Three out of seven members of the Council’s Strategic Management Board, which includes the Chief Executive and Directors, are female.

Cllr Amal Ghusain, Lead Councillor for Equalities, Diversity & Communities, said the Council has a proud record of equality across its personnel. She said the Council also pays its staff the Living Wage or higher, something it has done now for a number of years.

“Exeter City Council believes it should pay its staff equally regardless of gender,” she said. “It’s positive to see that Exeter is bucking the national trend and leading the way when it comes to equalities,” she said.

Under the Equality Act 2010, local authorities who employ more than 250 staff have a legal duty to produce a Gender Pay Gap Report. The report goes before the Council’s Executive on 11 February.

The latest figures relate to 2019 and show a rise in the gap from 2.25% in 2018 to 5.25%.

On the whole, there are over 2 and a half times more males in the lower quartile of earnings at the City Council than females.