Background to the Research

• Since the start of the competitive tendering process in health and education services, the EOC has been involved in a number of discussions with representatives form trade unions and others who have expressed concern regarding the impact of this process on women's employment in the public sector. In Northern Ireland there has been little information in the public domain regarding the process in general or its impact on women's employment in particular.
  
  
• In view of the above, the EOC conducted a general formal investigation into the impact of competitive tendering in health and education services in Northern Ireland on the numbers of men and women employed and their terms and conditions of employment.
  

Research Approach

• The investigation focused on 20 contracts in the ancillary services of catering, domestic service, linen and grounds maintenance in Health and Education Boards. Data on employment and terms and conditions of employment was collected and interviews were conducted with trade union members and officials in order to ascertain the impact of competitive tendering on men and women's employment in these services.
  

Main Findings

• The majority of services selected for competitive tendering were female dominated.
  
  
• There was a higher rate of overall job loss for women (14%) compared with that for men (6%).
  
  
• There was a significant decrease in the availability of full-time employment. Forty-five per cent of female full-time jobs were lost compared to 17% of male full-time jobs. There was an increase in the proportion of work that was part-time only in the female dominated services of catering and domestic service.
  
  
• Women's average working hours were reduced by 11%, a much greater percentage than men's at 5%.
  
  
• There was differential impact on women's and men's weekly wages. Most women were already on lower wages and experienced a proportionally larger reduction than did men. Eighty-seven per cent of women and 67% of men received lower weekly ages after competitive tendering.
  
  
• There was a 3% increase in the overall differential between women and men's weekly pay after competitive tendering.
  
  
• There was an increase in the number of employees who had limited or no access to statutory employment rights because of the reduction in their hours after tendering. There was more than a 50% increase in the number of people, mostly women, working under 16 hours. There were no men working under eight hours a week, but the number of women working these hours almost doubled after tendering.
  
  
• The reduction in hours and wages increased the number of people who were not entitled to a range of contributory national insurance benefits because their pay was under the lower earnings limit. Seventeen per cent of women and 0.4% of men before tendering compared with 31.1% of women and 7.2% of men after tendering had airings under the lower earnings limit.
  
  
• Using the Low Pay Unit's definition of low pay almost all employees were earning low pay before tendering, but the proportion increased after tendering. Ninety-nine per cent of women and 95% of men had basic wages below the pay threshold after tendering.
  
  
• Contracting out resulted in a differential impact in women and men as there was a 37% female job loss compared with a 2% male gain. In addition, women's average hours were reduced by six hours (21%) which was significantly larger than the male decrease of three hours.
  
  
• Hourly wage rates were decreased on a number of job titles in private contracts. Women were more likely than men to be employed in those job titles where there were decreases. Only 10% of women compared with 21% of men were employed in jobs in private companies where there were hourly wage increases.
  
  
• Contracting out resulted in a deterioration of terms and conditions of employment. The changes included the total loss of some benefits, more stringent qualifying conditions for others, as well as lower level entitlement than was available before tendering. Part-time workers, 96% of whom were women after competitive tendering, were particularly affected by these changes. While under Board/Trust management part-time workers had full access to the range of benefits available, there was less access for part-time workers on private contracts.
  
  
• None of the Boards or Trusts monitored the impact of competitive tendering on gender representation or impact in terms and conditions of employment.