Report Summary
As a public body, SPA has a specific duty to publish relevant information to demonstrate our compliance with the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED), part of the Equality Act 2010. We publish information relating to our recruitment practices and information about employees who share protected characteristics from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024.
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Key Highlights
The data shows that the Authority workforce is predominantly female (69.88%). There is a higher representation of women in lower salary grades, particularly from grade 2 to grade 6 and more male staff at the higher salary levels from grade 11 to13. At Senior Management level, 100% of those at grade 14 are female and at Director level the split is 50% female / 50% male.
In line with previous reporting, the largest ethnic group within the Authority is White Scottish (76.76%). BME staff represent just 1.83% of the workforce overall, showing there is an under representation in comparison with the general population of Scotland (12.9%). In terms of staff who identify as BME, there is disproportionate representation across pay grades with 67% at grade 7 and below.
The age demographic of the Authority has changed over the past few years of monitoring, depicting an aging workforce. Based on the figures detailed in this report, the 45-54 age category is now the most represented across the organisation. Staff between the ages of 16 and 24 account for only 0.92% of the workforce.
Staff declaring a disability make up 6.57% of the Authority workforce. Although this is an increase on our previously published figures (5.35% in 2023), it continues to be very low in terms of the Scottish Census figures reporting that 21.4% of the adult population in Scotland had a long-term limiting mental or physical health condition or disability in 2022.
At least five religions or beliefs are represented within the Authority, the largest group being those who identify as Christian, which is consistent with previous reports. 56.88% of staff have disclosed they have no religious beliefs.
The Authority workforce profile shows 6.42% of staff have confirmed their identify as Lesbian, Gay or Bisexual (LGB). The Scottish Census (2022) shows that the percentage of LGB+ individuals aged 16 and over is 4% of the population.
The data presented within this report shows pay gaps across the protected characteristics of gender, race, and disability - evidenced by disproportionate representation at lower grades. There is also a pay gap in relation to sexual orientation which requires further analysis to determine cause(s).
It is encouraging to see improvements in disclosure rates for most of the protected characteristics. In terms of disability, however, there has been an increase in the number of staff who have chosen not to share this information. We will continue to encourage disclosure across all protected characteristics to improve the information available to us, enabling a fuller and more accurate analysis of our workforce.
