Thousands waiting for North councils to pay out

Dec 18 2011 by Joanne Butcher, Sunday Sun

THOUSANDS of workers are still waiting for their equal pay claims to be resolved by North councils...and the bill could run to more than £50m.

The Sunday Sun can reveal that a third of claims, around 9,100, are still to be settled – and estimates put the bill to resolve them at £52m.

The claimants, including cleaners, carers and lollipop ladies, discovered they’d been paid less than men in equivalent roles since 1997.

Over the next few years, many launched joint claims for their cash through their trade unions, while others put in individual claims.

Originally, the Government set a deadline of 2007 to sort out the mess and deal with the flood of compensation.

But years down the line, more than a third of claimants in the North are still waiting for their money from the councils – with the legal fees racking up by the day.

Back in 2004 the Sunday Sun first revealed the scale of the problem and using Freedom of Information powers we can tell you that the problem still isn’t sorted.

As councils everywhere try to squeeze their budgets, many are asking whether women will ever get what they are owed.

One council told us: “We have set aside a budget to pay for these claims but have asked Government for permission to spread the cost of them over a number of years.”

Newcastle North MP Catherine McKinnell, who has campaigned for councils to get their act together over the equal pay fiasco, said: “It’s appalling that hard-working women across the North East are still waiting for payments.

“I understand that local councils are struggling to balance the books in tough times. But they have a duty to ensure that staff who have served them loyally, often for many years, are paid what is due.

“I have already written to the Equalities Minister on this matter, but ultimately this is the responsibility of the local authorities, and they must act now without delay.”

Some women are locked in internal negotiations with councils while others are chasing their cash through the employment tribunal process.

We asked every local authority in the region how many claims it had settled, how much that had cost and how many claims were still outstanding.

The answers we got back were shocking, with around 34% of claims unpaid. That is despite councils spending over £116m on settling claims so far.

Based on the average amount paid out per settled claim, the cost to settle the remaining claims could run to £52m.

Many councils have blamed the delays on the complexity of the legal situation and the difficulties of assessing claims which date back many years.