Women in Wigan workforce still facing gender pay gap

The coronavirus pandemic means it is not a legal requirement to disclose the gender pay gap this year.

In the borough 13 large employers have done so, which is under half the number which completed reports for 2018-19.

The gender pay gap looks at the difference between the average ages of men and women, not whether the two sexes re paid the same for equal work.

Nine of the organisations and firms in the borough had a pay gap in favour of men in 2019-20, with four paying the average female employee more.

Across the country, out of 5,555 employers which voluntarily submitted data 81 per cent had a pay gap in favour of men, analysis by the JPIMedia Data Unit found.

Just 12 per cent of those who responded had a gender pay gap in favour of women.

The biggest gap in favour of men in Wigan in 2019-20 was at Ashton-based company TXM Plant, which paid the average woman £6.67 for every £10 the average male employee received.

At the other end of the results spectrum was care concern Cuerden Estates, which paid the average woman £10.95 for each £10 the average man was given.

Of the nine Wigan firms which have a gender pay gap favouring men, eight now pay their average female staff member more than they did in the 2018-19 data.

While of the four whose gender pay gap favours women, only one has seen the margin between male and female employees grow since 2018-19.

The organisations which have supplied the data include Wigan Council, Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh (WWL) NHS Foundation Trust and Wigan and Leigh College.

The average pay gap across all reporting companies was 12.9 per cent in favour of men.

While the incomplete nature of this year’s dataset makes comparisons with previous years difficult, a leading gender equality charity said it was vital the information continued to be made available.

Gemma Rosenblatt, head of policy and campaigns at the Fawcett Society, said: “This data shows why it is important that the Government doesn’t drop the ball on the gender pay gap.

“The coronavirus pandemic has hit women’s incomes hard, so it’s more important than ever that this data is published.”

Baroness Berridge, minister for women, said: “Tackling the underlying issues that hold women back in the workplace will be important as we look to recover from this crisis.

“We recognise the unprecedented pressure and uncertainty that is currently facing employers, which is why we have taken the decision to suspend the enforcement of gender pay gap reporting this year.”

Since 2017 any organisation with 250 employees or more has been obliged to report their gender pay gap.

The analysis is done using the median hourly pay gap. This shows the difference in pay between the earnings of the middle-ranking man and woman.