Mayo County Council’s 2025 Gender Pay Gap Report shows women are earning more than men
Mayo County Council has published its Gender Pay Gap Report for 2025 showing women are earning slightly more per hour than men.
The gender pay gap calculates the percentage difference between the average earnings of men and women across an organisation, regardless of their role.
These figures are different from Equal Pay, as all employees in local government are paid the same wage for the same work.
The Council employs more than 1,200 people and is required to publish its figures annually under the Gender Pay Gap Information Act 2021. The data is based on a snapshot of staff taken on 30 June.
Jobs are also divided into quartile pay bands, listing employees from lowest to highest based on hourly rates, to help demonstrate the gender split across different earning levels.
Mayo County Council’s workforce is currently 60pc male and 40pc female.
The report first looks at the mean gender pay gap, which measures the percentage difference in the average hourly rate of pay.
It is calculated by subtracting the female hourly rate from the male and expressing the result as a percentage of the male hourly rate.
Mayo County Council’s mean gender pay gap is -0.48pc, meaning that on average, women earn slightly more per hour than men.
The median gender pay gap is also analysed. The median represents the middle hourly rate when all salaries are lined up from lowest to highest.
It is calculated by comparing the middle hourly rate for men with the middle hourly rate for women and expressing the difference as a percentage of the male median.
For Mayo County Council, the median gender pay gap is -8.20pc, meaning the median hourly rate for women is higher than the rate for men.
The report explains that the pay gap reflects differences in where men and women work across the organisation, rather than differences in pay for equal work.
A breakdown by quartile highlights where these differences occur. The lowest quartile shows a 54pc to 46pc male to female split.
The lower middle quartile is heavily male-dominated, with men making up 85pc of employees within that band.
Women slightly outnumber men in the upper middle quartile, with a 52pc to 48pc female to male split.
In the highest paid quartile, men hold 54pc of roles, while women hold 46pc.
Overall, three of the four quartiles are fairly representative of the overall gender split at Mayo County Council of 60pc male and 40pc female.
The Senior Management Team at the council is currently made up of 67pc men and 33pc women.
The Council says it intends to continue supporting the advancement of women into senior roles through initiatives such as its Women in Leadership Programme under the Further Education Scheme.
Data for part-time and temporary employees was also published in the report.
Around 19pc of all staff were working part-time on 30 June, of whom 63pc were men and 37pc were women.
The part-time mean pay gap is -0.66pc and the median stands at -3.35pc, both showing that part-time female employees earn more on average than part-time men.
The Council notes that flexible working options, although available across the organisation, tend to be taken up more often in administrative and clerical roles.
It also points out that part-time work is a standard feature of some job categories, such as the fire service, libraries, lifeguards, burial-ground caretakers and cleaning roles.
Temporary employees account for around 5pc of the workforce, and 52pc are female.
The mean temporary pay gap is -5.25pc and the median is -3.78pc.
These types of roles include seasonal staff such as lifeguards, as well as graduate placements and project-specific employees.
Gender pay gap statistics can shift throughout the course of the year, depending on recruitment, retirements and seasonal employment patterns.
Although women make up 40pc of Mayo County Council’s workforce, their relatively strong presence in senior and higher-paid positions explains the nearly 8pc difference between the mean and median pay gap.
Women hold 46pc of roles within the highest-paid quartile and this, combined with 85pc of men working within the lower-middle quartile, pushes the median female hourly rate above that of men.
This article has been funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.