One of 12 districts in Lancashire, West Lancashire covers an
area of 347 square kilometres, stretching from the outskirts of
Liverpool to the south to the River Ribble in the north, with
Southport to its west and Wigan and Chorley to the east. The
district has a population of approximately 110,000, and is made up
of a number of small towns, villages and rural farmland. The two
largest towns are Ormskirk and Skelmersdale. We are awaiting
the release of the 2011 census data.
Within the Council, at 1 January 2012, we
employ a total of 628 people. Of these, 445 are employed in
full-time posts (36 hours per week) and 183 in
part-time posts (less than 36 hours per week).
Looking further at the composition of our
borough’s population and our workforce in respect of the protected
characteristics detailed in the Equality Act 2010, set out below
are the profiles under the various characteristics.
Gender
West Lancashire has a gender balance
of 48% male and 52% females, based on information
gathered from the 2001 Census.
The gender balance within the Council’s
workforce is 333 male (53%) and 295 female (47%). In relation
to median hourly earnings, the female median hourly earnings
figure is £12.11 with £13.07 for males. A joint median hourly
earnings figure is £12.59.
The average basic pay for females is
£19,237 pa and for males is £23,892 pa. The overall
average earnings figure is £21,564.
A more detailed analysis of the gender profile
of the workforce in grade bands is below:
| Grade Band |
Average annual earnings - male |
Average annual earnings - female |
| Scale 1(a) to scale 3 |
10591 |
4773 |
| Scale 4 to scale 6 |
19308 |
16527 |
| Scale SO1 to PO1 |
27557 |
25793 |
| PO2 to PO4 |
38480 |
34900 |
| SM1 to SM3 |
45790 |
43419 |
| Chief Officer |
58472 |
87680 |
Race/Ethnicity
The district is predominantly white. 97%
of the population are white British. In addition, there are
very small numbers of people from Pakistani, Indian and Chinese
communities. Following enlargement of the European Union in
2004 and 2007, there has been an increase in the number of people
from Eastern European countries settling in the area, mainly from
Poland and Slovakia.
Within the Council’s workforce, according to
the self-declared race and ethnicity breakdown, we have
97% declaring themselves white British, 1.59% preferring not
to declare an ethnic origin and 1.27 % from other non-white British
backgrounds. This is slightly higher than the community base.
Age
The borough has a higher than national average
population of older people. 28% of the population are between
45–64 years of age, and 18% are aged 65 or over. However,
17.5% of the population are aged between 0–14. The borough also
incorporates Edge Hill University which accommodates 24,000
students and West Lancashire College with 4,000 students.
In comparison, the Council’s workforce age
ranges are detailed below:
| Age range |
Percentage of workforce |
| 16-19 |
0.2% |
| 20-29 |
5.7% |
| 30-39 |
16.7% |
| 40-49 |
36.5% |
| 50-59 |
30.9% |
| 60+ |
10% |
Disability
According to the 2001 census, 15% of the
working-age population consider themselves to have a disability or
limiting long-term illness. However, it should be noted that not
all of this 15% are in a position to actively seek work.
Within the Council’s workforce, 5.7%
self-declared that they consider themselves to have a disability,
with 84.3% declaring they do not have a disability. This leaves
10.03% who do not wish to declare whether they have or do not have
a disability.
Religion or belief
There is no information at district level on
the breakdown of the population in terms of religion or
belief. Statistics show that at county level, Lancashire is a
predominantly Christian area. However, there are also people
of Muslim, Hindu, Jewish, Sikh, Buddhist and Bahia faith, as well
as people acknowledging that they have no religion.
Within the Council’s workforce 43.1% declare
themselves to be Christian, 0.2% are Buddhist, and 56.7% have
chosen not to declare a specific faith at all.
Sexual Orientation
Data on the lesbian, gay, and bi-sexual (LGB)
population county-wide and, for West Lancashire specifically, is
not available from national sources. A figure of between 5% and 7%
of the population is the approved statistic from Stonewall, the
national LGBT charity.
Within the West Lancashire workforce 0.6% of
staff declared themselves to be gay, 50.79% straight and
48.56% preferred not to say.
Transgender
Information on the numbers of transgender
people across the county is vague. A survey carried out by the
Gender Identity Research and Education Society (GIRES) in June
2009 identified that 20 people per 100,000 aged over 16 in
the United Kingdom classify themselves as transgender. On this
formula, approximately 200 people in Lancashire will have changed
their gender, either from male to female or female to male, or be
in the process of doing so, or will be living their lives in a
different gender to that of their birth, some of them in West
Lancashire.
We have no workforce profile data in regard to
this specific protected characteristic.