Agenda item

Report of the Director of Human Resources and Cultural Change 

Oxfordshire County Council has an agreed set of strategic priorities, one of which is to be an employer of choice.  One of the ways in which to demonstrate this to current and prospective colleagues, and to other key stakeholders, is by reporting the gender equality and ethnicity pay gap data and taking action to close it when necessary.

The Committee is RECOMMENDED to:

a) Note the 2024 gender equality and ethnicity pay gap reports.

The Committee is RECOMMENDED to RECOMMEND COUNCIL to:

b) Note the council’s statutory gender equality pay gap report of 2024 and approve it for onward submission to the Gender Pay Gap Service by 30 March 2025.

c) Note the council’s voluntary ethnicity pay gap report of 2024.

The Committee was asked to note the Gender Equality and Ethnicity Pay Gap reports and to consider recommending that Council note them ahead of being submitted to the Gender Pay Gap Reporting Service, and made available to the Council’s employees, and on its website by 30 March 2025, in accordance with statutory requirements.

Jo Pitman summarised the reports.  She explained that the Gender Equality data and report was limited to those employees who are male or female in accordance with the Government reporting requirements. She further explained that whilst it was permissible to exclude those who did not identify as male or female no-one had been excluded from this report.  She also reported that whilst the Council’s gender equality pay gap had widened from 1.2% in 2023 to 2.95% in 2024, the council performs very well against its peers, regionally, same size employers, and within the public sector. The Committee was assured that Officers were not complacent about this and would continue to focus on continuous improvement in line with the commitment to being a high performing council.

In the Ethnicity Pay Gap report, the percentage difference in mean hourly rate between white employees and employees who identify as Black, Asian, or of minority ethnicity background was 2.59% (51p per hour).  This represented a significant increase from 0.22% in March 2023 (4p per hour).

Officers were considering how to provide more regular data / performance reports on this subject which could enable them to take action at an earlier stage.

In response to questions from Members, officers replied as follows:

• The figures did not include employees of maintained schools.
• Those on maternity leave were not counted as leavers.
• The lower figure of 1.3% in 2023 may have been related to a change of the council’s workforce profile.  Officers would look into that further.
• Employees who leave the council are offered exit interviews but not all take up the offer.
• The increased frequency of gender equality and ethnicity pay gap performance reports will be agreed with the Strategic Leadership Team (SLT) but quarterly had been suggested.

• There was a range of ways to influence positive change:

Ø  Working with key partners, including the REACH and Women’s Networks, which was in the process of being put in place.

Ø  Sharing information more widely amongst the HR and Cultural Change Service, senior leaders, and managers on a more regular basis to ensure a joined-up and collaborative effort towards continuous improvement.

Ø  Training

Ø  Using the organisation redesign programme (restructure) as an opportunity to appoint or promote females and candidates from ethnic minority backgrounds to vacant senior leadership roles.

Ø  Increasing awareness of possible bias in shortlisting, and making greater use of Tribepad, the Council’s new digital applicant tracking system (launched in September 2024) to screen role profiles and job advertisements for unconscious bias.

Ø  Making greater and more effective use of the data being progressively built into Tribepad.

• The emphasis in recruitment is always on getting the best candidate.

• Apprenticeships were seen as an opportunity to move in the right direction by the Committee and more information on that area was requested.

The importance of objective criteria for selection was emphasised as there could be a tendency to be influenced by one’s own past experiences.

Members welcomed the very useful report and expressed thanks for how well it had been presented.  There was general support for the suggestion of providing reports to SLT on a quarterly basis.  

The following was requested by Members of the Committee:

• Information about the journey of progression within the council to support the council’s commitment to growing our own talent and inclusivity (focussed specifically on women, and colleagues who identify as Black, Asian, or of minority ethnicity background).

• Information on the number of apprentices and their progression within the council based on age, gender, and ethnicity.

• A better understanding of what the qualitative data arising from exit interviews is telling the council and what is being done about it, particularly amongst women and colleagues who identify as Black, Asian, or of minority ethnicity background.

The recommendations were put to the Committee and were approved.

RESOLVED to:

a) Note the 2024 gender equality and ethnicity pay gap reports.

to RECOMMEND COUNCIL to:

b) Note the council’s statutory gender equality pay gap report of 2024 and approve it for onward submission to the Gender Pay Gap Service by 30 March 2025.

c) Note the council’s voluntary ethnicity pay gap report of 2024.