DUDLEY Council says it has decreased its gender pay gap thanks to a range of measures including family friendly working policies.

Employers with 250 or more workers must publish figures on the disparity in pay between male and female employees through the Government's gender pay gap service.

Most local authorities in England and Wales submitted figures for the year to March 2022, with around a third of councils already doing so for the latest financial year.

Bosses at Dudley Council say the gap has dropped to an all-time low and now stands at 6.5 per cent - down from 7.8 per cent last year, while the median pay gap is down to 12.7 per cent from 13.1 per cent last year.

The authority said the pay gap figures have reduced thanks to ongoing work to tackle the problem including the provision of family friendly policies to support work/life balance and flexible working, with requests for part-time, flexible or job share working considered for all positions including senior posts.

The council also plans to introduce menopause champions and refreshed recruitment and selection training to ensure staff undertaking interviews have a relevant understanding of equality, diversity, and inclusion.

Bosses say the council has also continues to ensure pay rates reflect the real living wage which impacts predominantly on lower paid employees who are mainly female and ensures a minimum hourly rate is paid as calculated by the Living Wage Foundation.

Councillor Patrick Harley, leader of Dudley Council, said: “These impressive figures show the work we are doing to tackle the gender pay gap in Dudley is working.

“Our focus now is on improving recruitment processes, and the development and promotion of flexible working. We know we need to improve career development opportunities and the chance to progress within the organisation.

“Our approach, across the whole workforce is one of ‘growing our own’ which will not only ensure we have the best people in post to serve our residents but will also help us to continue to narrow the gap.

“I’m really proud of the work we’ve achieved so far and hope to see us build on this for the future.”

Women make up 64 per cent of the council’s workforce and the authority says it offers part-time hours for many roles, with more than 80 per cent of part-time roles taken by women. These tend to be lower paid roles and as more women opt for such roles the gap widens.

The findings, however, show that while women make up the majority of the lower paid roles, they also make up 54 per cent of employees in the upper end of council pay scales, outnumbering men.

The council says it will continue to build on efforts to narrow the gap by encouraging candidates from under-represented groups to apply to work with the council, rolling out new inclusive leadership training, undertaking further work to fully understand the financial disparity between men and women across all grades and aiming to understand and address inequalities and looking at service areas where the gender pay gap is above the Dudley average.

A report on work done to tackle the gender pay gap is due to go before Dudley Council's cabinet on Thursday March 16.