The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has today called on employers to close the pay gap for women, as he launched a major action plan to ensure full pay equality across the Greater London Authority and its functional bodies.
Sadiq Khan’s vow to support women in gaining equal pay and equal access to senior positions comes as he fulfils a manifesto commitment, with City Hall today publishing a full gender pay audit of all its staff.
The Mayor is instructing other bodies within the Greater London Authority family, including Transport for London, the Metropolitan Police and the London Fire Brigade, to follow suit by producing their own gender pay audit and publishing follow-up plans on how they propose to narrow any gaps.
Sadiq Khan’s plans to boost female representation at the most senior levels at City Hall include increasing the availability of part-time and flexible-working options and aiding career progression within those roles. City Hall is also offering mentoring, career-support programmes and sponsorship for qualifications. It is training managers to ensure the recruitment process is as fair as possible and piloting “no name” application forms.
Sadiq Khan said: “I have vowed to be a proud feminist at City Hall, and I am determined to make the Greater London Authority a model employer that removes any barriers to women by adopting the highest possible standards for fair pay, good working conditions and gender equality.
"These figures show that, while City Hall compares favourably with the London average for employers, much more needs to be done to get our own house in order.
"There is an unacceptable pay gap between men and women at City Hall – caused by not having enough women in senior roles. I am determined to address this - and have tasked my officials to bring forward an urgent plan to do so, if necessary by bringing in outside experts."
“My mother sewed clothes for 50 pence a dress to bring in extra money for our family and now, as the dad of two teenage daughters, I want to do all I can to ensure women have the same opportunities as men in London so that their hard work and talent is fully and fairly recognised by employers.
“It is unacceptable that in London, one of the world’s greatest and most progressive cities, someone’s pay and career prospects can still be defined by their gender. I want City Hall to be a model employer, adopting the highest standards to support women in the workplace and I challenge both ourselves and others to take action to break the glass ceiling that still exists to limit their success.”
Today’s audit reveals that, at the end of March 2016, women employed at City Hall on a full time contract are paid an average of £21.40 per hour, while their male counterparts earn on average £22.44*. This equates to a pay gap of 4.6 per cent. The pay gap for all full-time London workers is 11.9 per cent.**
52 per cent of City Hall staff are women and 41 per cent of senior staff earning £60,000 or more are women. 29 per cent of staff earning over £100K are female.
Since he became Mayor two months ago, Sadiq Khan has appointed women to a series of top positions at City Hall. Sadiq has named Valerie Shawcross as Deputy Mayor for Transport, Sophie Linden as Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime, Justine Simons as Deputy Mayor for Culture and Creative Industries and Joanne McCartney as Statutory Deputy Mayor. He has also appointed Fiona Twycross as Chair of the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority.
To view details of the City Hall gender pay gap audit visit www.london.gov.uk/gender-pay-audit
Notes to editors
*These figures are calculated according to the median average – the middle value of all City Hall salaries.
** Paygap for London workers is according to the 2015 Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ONS).
The Greater London Authority employs 795 people. 417 are women and 378 are men.
Salaries at the Greater London Authority are determined through a job evaluation scheme which evaluates the job and not the post holder. It makes no reference to gender or any other personal characteristics of existing or potential job holders. This means that the GLA is paying the same salary to roles of equal value.
Differences in the figures do not show a difference in pay for roles of equal value but recognise the need for more female representation at the most senior levels of the organisation.