THE gender pay gap at St Helens Council has been revealed.

From 2017, any organisation that has 250 or more employees must publish and report specific figures about their gender pay gap.

Employers must report their data to Government online and publish their gender pay gap data and a written statement on their public-facing websites.

The first report must be calculated using a specific reference date of March 31, 2017 and must be published by March 30, 2018.

Details of the council’s gender pay gap can be found in its Pay Policy Statement 2018-19, which was discussed by cabinet on Wednesday.

The council’s workforce is 68.2 per cent female and 31.8 per cent male.

At March 31, 2017, the mean hourly rate across the council was £11.70. For women the rate was £11.36 and for men it was £12.44.

This means the mean gender pay gap is 8.7 per cent. The council’s median gender pay gap is 6.9 per cent.

Speaking at Wednesday’s cabinet meeting, Cllr Derek Long asked to look at gender pay gap data from other local authorities to see how St Helens Council compares.

He said: “It would be if possible, nice to see what other councils are doing as well just to give us some sort of sense of comfort and context to our news.

“It feels like that’s the way councils are and obviously it would be preferable if we can close the gender pay gap, and surely we will do that as time goes on.

“However, it would be useful to know where we stand in relation to other councils.”

St Helens Council’s cabinet agreed to send the Pay Policy Statement for 2018-19 to full council for approval on Wednesday.

If it is approved, it will then be published on the council’s website.

Below is a list of councils with more than 250 members of staff that have submitted its gender pay gap data to the Government at the time of publication.

The table shows both the mean and median gender pay gaps for women, with it stating if women's hourly pay rates at the respective council is higher or lower than men's.

St Helens Star: