“Modernising” away gender pay inequality? Some evidence from the local government sector on using job evaluation

Abstract

Purpose -This paper aims to focus on the use of job evaluation used as a mechanism to increase gender pay equality, drawing on data from the UK local government sector. Design/methodology/approach -Several research methods are used to collect data, including requesting information from local councils using the Freedom of Information Act, 2000, together with document analyses and interview data. Findings -While the paper questions the effectiveness of job evaluation in achieving pay equality objectives, within a pay and labour market that tends to favour male-dominated jobs, it nevertheless finds some pay improvements for women resulting from job-evaluated pay system changes and suggests the use of pay progression systems could lead to further pay advancements for women. Research limitations/implications -This research has a number of limitations and further inquiries are needed to assess the impact of the slow progress of pay and grading reviews within local government. Methodologically isolating the effect of job evaluation from that of the other pay determination factors presents a significant challenge. Originality/value -Focuses on the implementation in the local government sector of the 1997 single status agreement (SSA), which has been very slow. While overall funding and resources to implement the agreement have been low, there are, it is argued in this paper, other issues, centering on assumptions about job evaluation and its use to reduce gender pay inequality, which contribute to implementation difficulties.

New initiative, old problem: classroom assistants and the under‐valuation of women's work

“…Pay equality issues in local authorities were at this stage well known across the UK, and steps to produce a single pay structure for manual and nonmanual staff were being sought through a single status agreement (Wright, 2011). In Scotland, 7 the 1999 Single Status Agreement, between local authorities and trade unions, included an obligation on councils to conduct an evaluation of all posts within their authorities and review their grading structures.…”

Promises and practices: job evaluation and equal pay forty years on!

“…The article does not attempt to question Castle's assumption that there is a link between job evaluation and pay equality but notes some recent support for this claim (EHRC, 2009;Wright, 2011). Neither does the article attempt to determine whether trade unions have been able to extend job evaluation in the past but focuses on the question of whether there is anything preventing them now from extending the use of job evaluation to try and achieve equal pay.…”

Are litigation and collective bargaining complements or substitutes for achieving gender equality? A study of the British Equal Pay Act

“…A second type of claim arose from 'pay protection schemes' under which the pay of more highly paid workers was maintained at an artificially high level for a certain period after the implementation of the SSA, thereby perpetuating historical differences that favoured the male-dominated grades. A third legal strategy was to challenge the job evaluation schemes put in place at local level as part of the process of implementing the SSA, where it could be shown that they had a tendency to discriminate (see Wright, 2011;Gilbert, 2012). Finally, challenges were mounted to 'job enrichment schemes' under which job descriptions were redefined in an allegedly discriminatory manner.…”