A GENDER pay gap still exists for employees working for Bolton NHS Trust, a report has revealed.

The trust collected data as at March 31, 2020, which showed the workforce was 86 per cent female with 4,878 women employed and 764 men.

The report presented to the trust’s board, stated: “It is common within the NHS that the workforce is predominately female.

“In Bolton we are above the national average of 74 per cent female and 26 per cent male.

“Therefore we have a worse gender balance than the national average and we may wish to consider how to attract more male applicants to posts.”

The report uses the measures of mean gender pay gap which shows the difference in average hourly pay between men and women and the median gender pay gap which is the difference between the median hourly rate for male employees and the median hourly rate for female employees.

The report states that on a mean average men earn more than women by 29.4 per cent which is a slight increase of the gender pay gap of 0.2 per cent from the previous year.

On a median indicator men earn more than women by 12.9 per cent which is an overall increase of the gender pay gap of 2.4 per cent from previously.

The widest pay gap is within the administrative and clerical workforce in which the gap is 19.12 per cent.

This group includes all corporate and senior management posts and consists of 1,164 staff members of which 173 are male.

The largest staff group in which there was a positive pay gap, in which men are paid less than women were registered nursing and midwifery where men on average were paid 22 per cent less than women.

The report, stated: ” The cause of the gender pay gap is complex, and as the report will show there are certain issues peculiar to specific staffing bands and levels.

“Understanding these peculiarities is important as this will help us in Bolton to address the gender pay gap disparity in the years to come via robust actions.

“The ‘gender pay gap’ should not to be confused with ‘unequal pay’.

“Unequal pay is the unlawful practice of paying men and women differently for performing the same or similar work or work of equal value; whereas the gender pay gap is a measure of the difference between the average hourly earnings of men and women.”

Analysis of the data said the gap in hourly earnings could be partially down to the fact that in the medical profession which has 376 staff members, the number of the highest earning male consultants had been in post on average 1.36 years longer than female their female counterparts.

The report said: “This partially explain the gap but not enough to suggest that there isn’t a gender bias within the medical workforce in the upper quartile, the bulk of which are consultants.”

Men made up 53.7 per cent of the medical group which has decreased from 56.44 per cent in 2019.

Dr Francis Andrews, medical director at the trust, said: “I’m really worried

about the gender pay gap for medical staff.

“There are historic reasons for it but I don’ think that’s the full explanation.

“In discussing awards we remove all references to name and gender.

“It is a neutral process so I’m disappointed in last award round we didn’t get it equal.

“It maybe something to do with female applicants being disadvantaged with inequality in childcare. We have work to do.”