From 1 February 2024, Bury Council is responsible for managing and maintaining all council homes previously supported by Six Town Housing.
Please use this website and other contact points as usual. Further information is also available on the council’s website.
Find out more here: Six Town Housing Update
Six Town Housing is an Arms Length Management Organization (ALMO) with responsibility for managing, maintaining and improving Bury Council’s housing stock. We also have freeholder responsibility for over 300 properties sold under leaseholder sales and a range of other Council assets, including garages, shops and a number of community facilities. We own 103 of our own properties and we manage 34 properties on behalf of another housing provider.
The structure of Six Town Housing is designed to meet these objectives. We are structured into three directorates
- Assets Directorate – which has responsibility for the maintenance, repair and improvement of our properties. Over half our employees are based in this business area and there are a variety of roles at technical and operations levels, including Trade employees (such a plumbers, joiners, bricklayers etc.), Stock Condition surveyors, Sustainability Project Advisors and Technical Specialists.
- Neighbourhoods Directorate – which has responsibility for the management, maintenance and support of our tenants and their tenancies. This also includes work in developing our Communities and leading tenant employment initiatives such as our Steps to Success programme. Employees in this business area include Neighbourhood Advisors (with responsibility for Neighbourhood matters, Anti-Social behaviour concerns and Rents), Community Development Workers and Tenancy Sustainment Advisors.
- Business Support – which has responsibility for the Governance of the organisation, Communications and Marketing, the Customer Hub and internal support such as IT, HR and Finance. Roles in this business area include Business Improvement Advisors, Customer Service Advisors, Finance Advisors and HR Business Partners.
As an employer with 250 employees we are required by law to publish an annual gender pay gap report showing the pay gap between male and female employees.
Six Town Housing has a pay and grading system in which each role is subject to a Job Evaluation Scheme ensuring equal pay for work of equal value. Grades vary according to the level of responsibility that staff have and cover a range of administrative, trade, technical, professional and managerial roles.
Each grade has a set pay range with pay differentials between grades or, in some cases, an overlap of one scale point. Where pay grades overlap and staff are promoted between those grades, staff are appointed to the next higher pay scale point to ensure there is financial progression. Staff are expected to move through the pay range for their grade, therefore the longer period of time that someone has been in a grade the more we would expect them to earn irrespective of their gender.
The Executive and Senior Management Team is composed of 50% female and 50% male.
Six Town Housing’s report is based on a snapshot date of 31 March 2018 with an employee number of 250.
Our data is shown below
The mean is the average of the ‘hourly pay’ for all relevant full-pay employees.
Six Town Housing’s Mean is – 8.13% (minus 8.13%)
This figure shows that the mean average pay in Six Town Housing is higher for females than for males.
The median is the number which splits the top 50% of the ‘hourly pay’ figures from the bottom 50%.
Six Town Housing’s Median is – 6.03% (minus 6.03%)
This figure shows that the median average pay in Six Town Housing is higher for females than for males. This figure compares favourably to the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) 2018 published by the Office of National Statistics which gave a national gender pay gap median of 17.9.
Six Town Housing do not operate any performance related pay or bonus scheme and therefore this data has a 0 response.
Six Town Housing’s Mean Bonus Gender Pay Gap - 0%
Six Town Housing’s Median Bonus Gender Pay Gap - 0%
Six Town Housing’s employees Receiving Bonus Payment - 0
The breakdown of the Pay quartiles by gender for Six Town Housing can be seen in the summaries below.
The breakdown shows that there is a higher ratio of females in the two higher quartiles than in the lower two quartiles
Additionally, when looking at the number of females in each quartile against the total number of females employed, it demonstrates that the majority of females are employed in the higher two quartiles (Lower Quartile Band 17.8% of employed females, Lower Middle Quartile Band 19.8%, Upper Middle Quartile Band 33.7%,Upper Quartile Band 28.7%)
| Lower Quartile Band |
Males: 71% Females:29% |
Within this quartile the employees are either
- in basic trade roles (such as labourers, caretakers)
- in basic administrative roles or
- new to the particular role and so are at the bottom of the pay range for that role (progression through the pay range for a role is based on service). As they move up the range they could move into the next quartile.
Traditionally the basic trades’ roles have been and are occupied by males - this is reflected for STH in the quartile figures shown above with 96% of the males in this quartile undertaking a trade role.
| Lower Middle Quartile Band |
Males: 68% Females: 32% |
Within this quartile the employees’ roles include Multiskilled Trade roles (e.g. Multiskilled Joiner, Multiskilled Plasterer), more specialised administrative roles (e.g. Assistant Rent Advisor, HR Assistant, Customer Service Advisor) or the employee is new to role at this stage of their career and through pay progression could move into the next quartile.
The quartiles figures here reflect the fact that the Multiskilled Trade roles are again traditionally occupied by males. Within STH 91% of the males in this quartile are employed in a trade role.
When looking at the employees in this quartile who are not in a trade role this produces an 82% female/18% male split.
| Upper Middle Quartile Band |
Males: 46% Females: 54% |
Within this quartile are more specialised trade roles (e.g. Multiskilled Gas Fitter), those Multiskilled Trade employees at the top of their grade pay range and technical or business focused advisor roles (e.g. Neighbourhoods Advisor, Financial Advisor, Business Improvement Analyst).
The figures for this quartile again reflects that the trade roles are traditionally occupied by males (100% of the trade roles in this quartile are occupied by males). When looking at the non-trade roles this is not the case, with 67% of the non-trade roles in this quartile occupied by females.
| Upper Quartile Band |
Males: 53% Females: 47% |
Within this quartile are management roles (e.g. Executive, Business Managers and Coordinators), specialised roles (e.g. Stock Condition surveyor), professional roles such as Principal Accountant or those specialised trade roles at the top of their grades’ pay range.
The figures for this quartile reflect that when looking at a quartile in which there are fewer trade roles, which are traditionally occupied by males, there is a more even split between the genders.
Six Town Housing’s commitment
How we will continue to demonstrate our commitment to fair and equal pay regardless of gender
- We operate non--discriminatory job descriptions and analytical job evaluations, with regular monitoring of the job evaluation scheme ensuring a fair structure.
- We have gender neutral practices in our recruitment including job adverts having gender neutral language and using differing marketing sources.
- The Human Resources Team are involved in each internal and external recruitment procedure ensuring fair and unbiased selection processes are followed. The HR team also regularly monitor and report on Equal Opportunities data.
- We have a wide range of flexible working options to enable employees to effectively manage their work/life balance such as shared parental leave, job sharing, part-time, compressed hours and flexitime.
- We regularly compare Six Town Housing’s data against similar and comparable organisations.
- We are actively promoting work opportunities in the trades to females involved in our Steps to Success Programme, aimed at reducing worklessness as well as with work experience placements.