Victory for women as city ends £20m equal pay fight

The local authority has been left facing a bill of up to £20 million after finally conceding defeat to more than 400 women employed as classroom assistants, social care workers, librarians and nursery nurses.

The council had refused to pay them the same amount as male colleagues in different posts, but doing similar kinds of work.

The council had lost a hearing at the Court of Session in November, but had warned union leaders that they were considering an appeal to the Supreme Court in London.

However, it emerged last night that the council had now decided not to contest the claims, some of which date back seven years. The women are expected to receive their back pay of up to £30,000 within weeks.

Solicitors representing the women say their victory could have implications for thousands of other council workers pursuing outstanding claims.

Carol Fox, one of the lawyers involved in the case, said: “This is an important settlement which will benefit hundreds of claimants in Edinburgh. We are pleased to have reached final settlement on terms which we can recommend to our clients to bring all the litigation against the council to a conclusion.

“As part of the settlement the council has agreed to withdraw its appeal to the Supreme Court in London. We hope that other councils will follow this lead and make the long-awaited payments due to low-paid female workers.”

The council has already been forced to fork out £44m to cleaners, home carers and catering assistants who complained they were being treated unfairly compared with male workers.

And the council has admitted it had set aside a further £46m for some 1,500 outstanding cases, which are being handled by lawyers under legislation introduced in 1999 to harmonise pay and conditions for local government workers.

Workers can claim for compensation for up to five years of work if councils accept they have been discriminated against, but any delay from the date a claim is made also has to be taken into account.

Peter Hunter, Unison’s regional organiser, said: “The council’s decision to abandon the Supreme Court appeal is another equal pay triumph for low-paid women in Unison.

“The council’s claim that women and men can be treated differently if they work in different council buildings was a fairly desperate defence.

“The time-wasting and delay must stop now – our members deserve justice. Lord knows they’ve waited long enough.”

Phil Wheeler, the council’s finance leader, said: “We had to consider and balance two important issues. “One is meeting our legal and moral obligations to staff who may have been disadvantaged by historic unequal pay.

“The second is our responsibility to use public money wisely.”