Gender Pay Gap
We are required to publish information about our gender pay gap as of 31 March each year. This is published a year in arrears.
We recognise that we are one of the minority of organisations in the UK that consistently has a gender pay gap in favour of women. The ideal situation is to be a workplace where there is a gender pay balance between male and female employees – i.e. zero pay gap.
This page sets out further information explaining our most recent gender pay gap figures and our plans to address the gap to address the gender pay difference.
What is gender pay and how is it calculated?
Gender pay is a high level snapshot of pay within an organisation and shows the difference between the average pay of the men and women in a workforce. Each organisation with 250 or more employees is required by law to publish its previous financial year’s gender pay gap information.
If all employees were lined up in two lines - one male and one female - in order of pay from the lowest to the highest, the median gender pay gap compares the pay of the male in the middle of their line and the female in the middle of their line. The mean gender pay gap shows the difference between the average hourly rate of pay for men and that of women in an organisation.
2023 - 2024 figures
[Image: infographic showing key statistic about Reigate & Banstead Borough Council's gender pay gap at March 2024. Full text description.]
In our workforce male staff are over-represented in roles at the lowest pay levels. Conversely, we have a Senior Management Team (Chief Executive, Deputy Chief Executive and Strategic Heads of Service/Statutory roles) that was predominantly female in 2023-2024 and these roles attract the highest pay levels in our organisation.
The make-up of our workforce, as outlined above, has an impact on average male and female pay and the bonus payments they receive however, we operate a transparent and fair pay structure to deliver equal pay, based on job roles and responsibilities.
The main changes, year on year, are around bonus payments.
As the data is a snapshot in time, specific events can have an impact on it.
How Reigate & Banstead Borough Council plan to address the pay gap (and support our wider commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion)
- Comprehensive review of recruitment process, to promote inclusive practices and encourage applications from under-represented groups of people. This will be tailored based on the role and make up of the team each vacancy sits within, rather than a standard organisational wide approach.
- Delivering recruitment and selection training for managers involved in recruitment and selection processes, including unconscious bias.
- Improving personal demographics data that is collected, during recruitment and with the workforce, to enable better benchmarking and visibility of patterns related to recruitment, retention and career progression applications and outcomes.
- Review and analysis of exit surveys to identify trends and opportunities to develop and improve working practices that enable all staff to succeed.
- Continued development and promotion of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) initiatives such as staff networks (including Carers, LGBTQ, workability, wellbeing), EDI training, and workplace flexibility to enable all staff (and potential staff) to feel welcome, supported and able to work in a way and in an environment that supports personal needs.
- Development of bespoke management training based on Reigate & Banstead Borough Council culture, values and practices, to ensure people managers (and aspiring managers) support the council to deliver a work environment that is inclusive and where everyone feels valued.
- Development and delivery of an organisational skills audit, to identify gaps and training needs, to direct learning and development initiatives (designed with inclusivity and accessibility in mind). This will enable us to retain, develop and support the career progression of our workforce and deliver the best services to our residents.
- Maintain and develop our practices in support of our commitment to increasing EDI – such as Disability Confident, Armed Forces Covenant – and through activities such as work experience and apprenticeships, support the development and access to opportunities for under-represented groups, where relevant working with partners to improve visibility of those opportunities.