Five Rivers Child Care Reduces Gender Pay Gap
At the start of the year, we published our 2020-21 gender pay gap report which shows a 1.13% median pay gap. This is one of the lowest median pay gaps across the sector and is a significant reduction from the previous year’s results. Over four years, we have reduced the pay gap by over 13%.
This blog is published as news has revealed that the social work gender pay gap is widening. Data has shown that, on average, male social workers earn 3.4% more than females [1]. According to the Office for National Statistics, looking outside of our sector, the gap across the UK is as wide as 15.5% (November 2020) [2].
Chief Operating Officer, Ben Wallage said “We are proud of our latest report. When we look at other child care providers, we are reporting one of the lowest pay gaps in our sector. Whilst a lot has been achieved, we welcome campaigns such as Reset the Timeline which is calling on qualifying employers to follow a ‘sooner, better, more’ approach to their reporting. As such, we are already planning our next report so that we have the time to review the results and take measured, meaningful action to keep reducing the gap or remedy things if we find the gap has widened.”
Five Rivers Child Care provides therapeutic services for looked after children and has a 80% female workforce, with over 50% of females making up the senior management team and a further 50% of females on the Board. In recognition of the gender pay disparity reported externally, the organisation has undertaken an extensive pay review to remedy the pay gaps reported in previous years.
Head of HR, Kate Bromfield said “The latest results show that we are a progressive organisation that values women’s work equally. We don’t just talk about equal pay, we take meaningful action to make it a reality and as a result, contrary to the trends we’re seeing across our sector, we have drastically reduced the gender pay gap here at Five Rivers Child Care. We work hard to ensure all of our staff are fairly rewarded and remunerated for the incredible work they do. With the far-reaching impacts on women as a consequence of the pandemic, transparency over pay gap reporting and women’s rights has never been more important”
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