Issue - meetings

INFORMATION NOTE OF THE SENIOR HR AND CONTRACTS MANAGER

To receive an update regarding equality at the Council

IT WAS AGREED: That the Information Note entitled Equalities Update March 2022 be noted.

REASON FOR DECISION: To enable the Committee to consider the Information Note entitled Equalities Update March 2022.

Audio Recording: 25:05

The Senior HR & Contracts Manager presented the report entitled Equalities Update March 2022 and drew attention to points including:

·         The graphs in Appendix 1 set out the data provided in the report;

·         The equalities figures are from 2021;

·         Overall the figures are stable; very few changes in the last few years;

·         Notable increase of those in the 35-44 and 45-54 age bracket and a decrease in the 25-34 group;

·         21% increase of those under the age of 25 leaving the Council;

·         No change in the number of staff declaring a disability since last year;

·         No notable change in amount of staff in ethnic minorities or gender;

·         Numbers of long term sick cases have had little change in the past three years;

·         2021 saw the highest number of leavers since 2015 and represents a 50% increase from 2020;

·         During 2021 the percentage of leavers who resigned increased by 4% to 70%;

·         The latest equal pay review has shown it is very stable; used a traffic light system to focus on the most important reports;

·         The majority of cases in the equal pay review was due to the increments of pay rewarded to those who have stayed in a position longer;

·         Now have figures from the 2021 Gender Pay Gap review, which will be published in the next couple of weeks; have an improvement in mean and median gender pay gaps; now at its lowest level;

The following Members asked questions:

·         Councillor Claire Strong

·         Councillor Kate Aspinwall

In response to questions the Senior HR & Contracts Manager advised:

·         Long term sickness cases are discussed as a part of Business Partner team meetings, they will take that opportunity to look for patterns that may be concerning. We have a wide range of reasons at this point and see no pattern. Occupational health are always providing information to the senior team.

·         The flexible return to work is available to everyone.

·         The equalities data is published on the website; HR also look at the data to pull out any themes or actions to progress.

·         There was a change to the gender pay gap group in 2021, this has developed into a broader group of the inclusion group. The actions from the gender pay group have been integrated into the inclusion group;

IT WAS AGREED: That the Information Note entitled Equalities Update March 2022 be noted.

REASON FOR DECISION: To enable the Committee to consider the Information Note entitled Equalities Update March 2022.