MEN working for the Vale of Glamorgan Council are likely to be paid around 8.7 per cent more on average than their female colleagues, figures show.

The average hourly pay for male employees at the council currently stands at £13.09, while for women this drops to £12.

The figures do not include school employees, or council staff employed on casual contracts.

The number of high earners – classed as those earning more than £70,000 a year – is relatively balanced, with seven men and six women earning over the threshold.

However, with more than double the number of female employees working for the council than their male counterparts, this represents a substantial proportional difference.

Just under one in every 100 men employed by the council is currently earning in excess of £70,000, whereas this is closer to one in every 300 for women.

Public sector employers with more than 250 staff had until today, Friday, March 30, to publish figures regarding gender pay disparity, however many look set to miss the government's deadline. Private sector employers are obliged to publish theirs by April 4.

Of the other 21 local authorities in Wales, only five have published their figures as of Friday afternoon.

The City and County of Swansea Council have reported the biggest gender pay gap at present of 10.9 per cent, with Powys County Council close behind on 10.7 per cent.

At Caerphilly County Borough Council, the gap currently stands at 8.9 per cent, while Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council reported a difference of 7.1 per cent.

Newport City Council bucked the trend however, with the pay disparity between their employees reported to be just 1 per cent. The median, or middle figure actually showed that women earned fractionally more than their male counterparts.

Vale of Glamorgan Council introduced measures in September last year to try to reduce the gender pay gap between staff, by changing their pay structure to improve rates for employees working in traditionally female-dominated roles.

Nobody from the council was available for comment.