North Wales Fire and Rescue Service has developed a strong reputation for successfully recruiting women in to operational and non-operational roles in recent years.

Our commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion goes well beyond our legal requirements and nine protected characteristics. It is about ensuring that everybody feels included and they are able to perform to the best of their ability.

Since 2018, regulations introduced under the Equality Act 2010 require all public sector organisations and UK companies with 250 or more employees to carry out ‘Gender Pay Gap Reporting’.  This shows the difference between mean (average) and median (mid-point) earnings of men and women in the workplace.

The GPG is a different concept to that of equal pay.  It is a legal duty to ensure Men and women are paid equally for work of the same or similar value, and our Service pays men and women equally at every grade.  However, where one gender dominates higher pay graded roles, then naturally there will be a gender pay gap.

To promote openness and transparency, our Service publish the annual GPG report.  This report considers the pay of all staff across all roles, part time and full time.  Please note, the report for 2023 shows figures taken on the ‘snapshot date’ - 31st March 2023.

The pay for operational staff and non-operational staff is agreed nationally and is contained in the ‘Grey Book’ and ‘Green Book’ respectively.  Like most fire and rescue services in the United Kingdom, our Service has a higher number of operational staff and the majority of our operational staff are men. On the whole, the pay points for operational staff are at a higher rate than staff in non-operational roles.

Although our Service have various women in senior position, figures also show that we have more men than women in senior and management roles overall.  These factors contribute to the gender pay gap currently.  The Service is prioritising attracting a more diverse workforce, particularly in terms of gender, and is carrying out a range of specific interventions to address the gender imbalance in the workforce.

North Wales Fire and Rescue Service’s GPG Report for 2023 can be accessed here.