A survey by the GMB union is showing that Wandsworth Council has one of the lowest proportion of ethnic minority employees in top-paying jobs.

The union is calling for appointments and promotions to be based on merit to reflect the make up of the local population.

Hackney Council came top with 27.7% of the top 5% earners employed in all services except education from minority ethnic communities.  At at the other end of this league is Richmond where just 1.3% of the top 5% earners are from minority ethnic communities. Wandsworth came 30th with 4% of workers from ethnic minorities in top paid 5% jobs. We asked Wandsworth Council for a comment on these figures but have yet to receive a response.

The figures for all 33 areas in London are shown below. The report was debated at the GMB National Equality and Inclusion conference which took place in Manchester on May 21st and 22nd.

This new analysis by GMB is from data on the latest available official, Best Value Performance Indicator (BVPI) 2008/09 published by the Audit Commission for 149 counties, boroughs and local authorities in England.

Ranking of 33 councils in London

Rank	Council	% of workers from ethnic minorities in top paid 5% jobs
1	Hackney	27.7
2	Waltham Forest	24.1
3	Lambeth	23.5
4	Croydon	23.0
5	Ealing	22.1
6	Hillingdon	19.7
7	Haringey	19.0
8	Harrow	18.9
9	Camden	18.9
10	Islington	18.0
11	Tower Hamlets	17.4
12	Lewisham	16.9
13	Southwark	16.0
14	Greenwich	15.1
15	Brent	13.6
16	Hounslow	13.6
17	Newham	13.3
18	Hammersmith & Fulham	12.2
19	Enfield	11.5
20	Barnet	11.3
21	Merton	10.2
22	Bromley	9.8
23	Redbridge	9.7
24	Barking and Dagenham	8.2
25	Westminster	8.1
26	Havering	6.5
27	Kensington & Chelsea	6.2
28	Kingston Upon Thames	6.1
29	Sutton	5.7
30	Wandsworth	4.0
31	Corporation of London	3.0
32	Bexley	2.3
33	Richmond	1.3

Kamaljeet Jandu, GMB National Equality and Inclusion Officer said:
“GMB believes that employers should reflect the make up of local communities and travel to
work areas in their workforces. GMB commend those local councils which have achieved this at the highest pay level in their organisations as a commitment to equality and real progress.
There are lessons here for employers in the public and private sectors who have not acknowledged this and made progress. GMB believe that appointments and promotion should be based on merit to achieve this objective.”