Local authorities fail to break glass ceiling for ethnic staff

According to a recent report from the Audit Commission, almost half of England's local authorities do not (BME) communities among their top earners.

Almost half of England's 411 local authorities still do not have a single person from black and minority ethnic (BME) communities among their top earners.

The 2004-05 Best Value Performance Indicators (BVPI), show that 189 local authorities do not have a single BME employee in their top 5% of earners, compared with 181 in 2003-04.

The BVPI allows local authorities in England to review and benchmark their performance. The most recent findings show that 60% of local authorities saw a decrease in the number of top earners from BME backgrounds. The report concludes that this particular performance indicator has seen no positive improvement since 2002-03.

Women fair better, with almost three-quarters of local authorities (72%) reporting an increase in female top earners last year. On average, just under a third (30%) of the top 5% of earners were women.

Diversity statistics

• 0.8% is the average proportion of top 5% earners in local authorities from BME backgrounds.
• 189 is the number of local authorities without any BME staff among their top earners.
• 60% is the proportion of local authorities reporting a decrease in the number of top earners from BME backgrounds.
• 30% is the average of top 5% earners in local authorities who are women.