Gender pay gap statement

West Kent provides housing and community services across Kent and Medway. We are committed to promoting equality, valuing diversity, and treating everyone fairly.

As West Kent employs more than 250 people it is required by the government to publish details of its gender pay gap, specifically the difference in average female earnings compared to average male earnings.

In April 2024, we had 352 full pay relevant employees (350 in 2023). Of these 66% of employees were female and 34% of employees were male, this ratio remains unchanged from 2023.

We pay individual spot salaries for each of our job roles and all roles are independently benchmarked. Men and women are paid equally for the same roles, irrespective of their length of service. Pay progression (through payment above spot salary) is linked to professional development, where there is continued exceptional performance or as part of our talent path and succession planning.

Our analysis continues to indicate that the pay gap in West Kent reflects the wide range of job roles available and the changes in number and mix of staff.

The average female employee at West Kent earns 11.4% less than the average male employee (15.4% in 2023).

The decrease in our pay gap this year is largely due to more women in the past year being recruited into roles which fall within the upper pay quarter (21.1% of new female employees, compared to 11.8% of new male employees) and more men being recruited into roles which fall within the lower pay quarter (41.1% new male employees, compared to 34.2 % of new female employees).

I declare that the information in this report is accurate.

Tracy Allison's signature