01 August 2008
A court ruling on equal pay has thrown town hall wage structures into chaos, just days after unions and employers agreed to talks aimed at settling the dispute over this year's pay round.
Around 58% of councils have so far either completed or implemented reviews of their pay structures under the terms of the 1997 national Single Status Agreement, which aimed to ensure that men and women received equal pay for work of equal value.
But Local Government Employers' principal strategy adviser Jon Sutcliffe urged authorities to carry out risk assessments on their pay deals after the July 29 ruling against Redcar & Cleveland and Middlesbrough councils.
The judges found that the councils' use of pay protection schemes – to shield mainly male staff from sudden wage cuts when new equal pay structures were introduced – discriminated against the women workers who had brought the case.
The women successfully argued that had they originally been paid on equal terms to comparable male workers, they too would have been eligible to benefit from the protection schemes.
Local authorities could feel the effects of the 'Bainbridge and others' judgment. 'Some of the deals [made under Single Status] will be open to renewed challenges' by women staff, Sutcliffe warned. Councils should identify where women workers might make a claim and 'try to accommodate them', he said.
The ruling came after the LGE issued a joint statement with the Unison and Unite unions on July 24, announcing 'immediate, serious and meaningful negotiations over a range of issues, including those in the trade union claim this year and a full review of the national conditions of service'.
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