The UK's most up-to-date social housing and public sector news website
Equal Opportunities Commission 'pays women less than men'
Other Central Government stories
- Brown and Blair lead tributes to 'unexplained death' Labour MP
- Cost of social care for UK's elderly 'set to double'
- Government plans to reduce ballooning debt 'not ambitious enough'
- Worklessness in London costs £5 billion a year, says London Councils
- Labour MP, aged 53, found dead at home
Advertisement
The UK's equality watchdog was accused of hypocrisy tonight for paying its female staff less than the men.
The Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) receives £9 million a year from the Government to push for employees to be treated the same regardless of their gender.
However, the average salary for women working at the EOC is £25,128 - almost £2,000 less than the £26,962 paid to men.
Tory MP Philip Davies - who tabled questions in Parliament to obtain the figures - said the organisation should "practise what it preaches".
He told the News of the World: "It is unbelievable that an organisation that gets taxpayers' money to promote equal pay for men and women pays its male workers more that it pays its women.
"You really couldn't make this up. The organisation can't even practise what it preaches to everyone else.
"You really have got to ask what the point of the organisation is."
An EOC spokesman said direct comparisons between pay for men and women were difficult.
"Of course we are committed to treating men and women staff equally - it is our remit," he told the newspaper.
Nationally, the average full-time hourly wage for a man is £14.08, compared to £11.67 for a woman.
The Commission for Equality and Human Rights is due to replace the EOC, the Commission for Racial Equality and the Disability Rights Commission in October.
Copyright Press Association 2007.
Don't miss the 24dash.com audio bulletins for the latest news and information - http://www.24dash.com/podcasts
