Gender pay gap

Gender pay reporting legislation requires employers with 250 or more employees to publish statutory calculations every year showing how large the pay gap is between their male and female employees.


Summary data on gender pay gap in local government 2019

This paper summarises the data submitted by English local authorities. The data has been analysed as submitted to the Government’s gender pay gap service. In the analysis, councils have not been weighted by workforce size. 

A total of 322 local authority submissions were identified – the remainder fall below the 250 employee threshold although 11 below the threshold submitted data voluntarily. It includes comparisons between sectors and local government data including:

  • mean gender pay gap
  • median gender pay gap
  • proportion of men/women in each quartile pay band.

The report from 2018 is also available.

Government Equalities Office - What Works guidance

The Government Equalities Office (GEO) has published its What Works Guidance. This guidance is part of its ‘Actions to Close the Gap’ work with the Behavioural Insights Team. It sets out effective actions that employers can take to improve the recruitment and progression of women and close their gender pay gap. 

For further information visit the GEO website.

Gender and diversity “workforce innovation team” (WIT)

The workforce team recently began work with a group of councils in the East of England to enhance shared working and problem-solving on diversity issues including the gender pay gap. The work is being carried out as a pilot for our “workforce innovation team” (WIZ) approach and we will report back on the project in due course. Meanwhile, a couple of helpful presentations from the first project session are available from the Government Equalities Office and the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

Gender pay gap – LGA research summary report

This report - which you can modify online, changing the area and comparison group - summarises the mean and median pay gaps in local authorities, as well as the distribution of staff across pay quartiles.

Gender pay gap reporting

We have been working in partnership with Genesys Human Resources to make available software that will enable authorities to calculate and show the pay gap between male and female employees. Following successful trialling with the London Borough of Hillingdon and Exeter City Council we are now pleased to be able to offer it to all authorities. The software comes with detailed guidance and access to other sites to support you in your reporting.

There is a charge of £350 for the software and guidance. To obtain your copy please contact:

Liz Cole, Programme Support Officer,

Tel: 020 7664 3027

Email: Liz.Cole@local.gov.uk

Further information

If you need further information about the product please contact:

Adam Barker Senior Workforce Advisor

Tel: 07884 312232

Email: [email protected]

Martin Denny Senior Workforce Advisor

Tel: 07796 376354

Email: [email protected]