Moray Council has one of the largest gender pay gaps of any local authority in Scotland.
While the Scottish average for 2021-22 is 3.54%, the difference between the council’s male and female employees stands at 6.95%.
And that figure is up from 6.16% on the previous 12 months.
It means Moray Council is ranked 30th out of 32 councils in terms of the difference between men and women’s pay.
‘Significant shift’
SNP councillor for Fochabers Lhanbryde Shona Morrison raised “significant concerns” over the figures at a meeting of the corporate committee on June 13.
She said: “We are now well below the Scottish average coming in at 30th out of all local authorities.
“That is quite a significant shift.”
Head of human resources Frances Garrow said the matter was an important one, and further work will be carried out to find out the reasons behind it.
She added the rank order was not a “definitive indicator” of any particular issue, as it depends on the validity of the information submitted by local authorities.
Also more recent figures are showing a downward trend to the council’s gender pay gap.
Mrs Garrow said: “We are taking a close look at that as a result of the fact that it did go up.
“We’re sighted on that and plan to investigate further.”
Gender pay gap widens
Work to find the reasons for the gap will be taken forward as part of the next human resources service plan.
Speaking afterwards Ms Morrison said: “As councillors it’s our responsibility to make sure we’re doing everything we can to improve the situation.
“We will be keeping a close eye on things as a group, to make sure work is being progressed.”
Figures across the whole of Moray in 2021 show a 22.6% difference in men and women’s wages.
That grew from 21.9% in 2019.
Conversation