THE COUNCIL’S gender pay gap has gone down by 0.1 per cent in the last year, meaning employees see a difference of 16.2 per cent between men’s and women’s average earnings across the authority.

Yet of those employees that receive the top salary rate at Bracknell Forest Council (BFC), more than three-quarters of them are women.

A report produced for BFC claimed the pay gap decrease was “a positive step forward.”

But Louise Timlin, the Co-Leader of the Reading Branch of the Women’s Equality Party, said:

“It seems they have made little progress in closing the gender pay gap. This is disappointing as it can be seen from their figures that they have greater numbers of women than men in every pay quartile.

“Typically a lot of organisations’ gender pay gap can be explained by a lack of women in senior positions. However, despite Bracknell (Forest) Council having 76% female employees in their top pay quartile they still have disappointing hourly and bonus pay gaps.”

The 16.2 per cent difference means women earn 84p for every £13 that men earn, according to the government’s gender pay gap data service.

Women dominate every pay grade at BFC, with 94 per cent of the council’s lowest paid employees being women too.

BFC was asked to comment on the gender pay gap figures, and in response Nikki Gibbons, director of organisational development, transformation & HR at the council said: “Bracknell Forest Council continues to take its workforce equality very seriously and we have stringent policies in place to make sure all jobs, regardless of the employee’s gender, are paid at a fair and equitable rate.

“We put equality at the heart of all our practices and policies to ensure all members of our workforce are treated fairly, and we regularly identify and review the balance of gender within our workforce ensuring that we discuss and take actions to continuously improve where necessary.

“Our leadership teams are composed of 50 per cent female and 50 per cent male staff, and of the top five per cent of earners in the organisation, 53.2 per cent (49.6 per cent last year) were women.

“Overall we have continued to show a generally upward trend over the last five years and higher than the average of all councils in England, which is 45 per cent. Our aim last year was to achieve a level of 49.6%, which we exceeded.

“Our recorded pay gap is continuing to decrease with the gap for 2017/2018 at 16.2 per cent, which is lower than the 2016/2017 figure of 16.3 per cent and 2015/16 at 18.1 per cent. The councils 2017/18 figure is also lower than the national average.

“We have a policy on equal opportunity in recruitment, a flexible working policy, childcare vouchers, and all jobs are subject to a rigorous evaluation process to ensure that they are paid at a fair and equitable level regardless of gender.”

The average gender pay gap at UK organisations is 17.9 per cent, meaning BFC’s difference is 1.7 per cent lower.

Neighbouring authority Wokingham Borough Council has a gender pay gap of 13.88 per cent.