FIGURES reveal that women working for Hampshire County Council, earn less than their male colleagues. 

Employers with 250 or more workers must publish figures on differences in pay between their employees through the government's gender pay gap service.

The figures show the median hourly salary for women at Hampshire County Council (HCC) was 16.3 per cent less than for men in the year to March 2022. 

Of the 307 councils that provided data for 2021-22, the average local authority paid women three per cent less than their male colleagues, a small improvement from 3.3per cent the year before.

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Data for 2022-23 puts the pay gap at around 2.9 per cent, although only 119 have submitted data so far, with HCC still to do so.

Meanwhile, 88 other councils paid women more than men, including Test Valley Council and Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council. 

The number of outsourced employees and differences in the services provided by each council is like to play a role in the variation between them.

HCC's statement on gender pay, as published on their website, stated that the council is restricted in how it may present this information, and it is important to note that the "gender pay gap is not the same as equal pay".

Their statement says: "While women’s general hourly rate is 16 per cent lower than men, this is not as a result of paying men more than women for the same or equivalent work. County council staff are paid the same for the same job, but the gender pay gap exists due to the council's workforce profile."

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This refers to the majority of HCC's workforce being women, who are more pronounced at the lower pay grades. 

Also, while the council has kept a number of services in its direct control, there are agencies who 'outsource' services, which tend to employ mostly women.

If these services were excluded from the data, the council would have a gender pay gap of 10.4 per cent.

The statement added: "Women are progressing to higher grade jobs across the County Council, with women continuing to make up 57 per cent of senior managers within the organisation."

For HCC's full statement go to hants.gov.uk