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Latest NewsEqual payTrade unionsPay settlements

Birmingham City Council to settle 6,000 equal pay claims

by Kavitha Sivasubramaniam 10 Dec 2024
by Kavitha Sivasubramaniam 10 Dec 2024 Shutterstock / 4kclips
Shutterstock / 4kclips

Birmingham City Council has agreed to settle 6,000 equal pay claims brought by both past and present staff four years after they were launched.

The local authority is expected make the payments to the predominantly female low-paid workers in mid-2025.

A deal was reached after council bosses re-entered talks with GMB Union and Unison, establishing a framework agreement to settle the claims.

While details of the agreement are confidential, a “historic outcome” has been delivered, according to GMB. It revealed the payouts are likely to be up to four times higher than the amount the workers were offered in 2021.

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Rhea Wolfson, the union’s head of industrial relations, said: “This result would not have happened without their dedicated and tireless leadership of a campaign which was overcome huge odds. They were told there wasn’t enough money, that they must accept that women workers are paid less. But they showed Council bosses that the show doesn’t go on without them.”

The long-running dispute concerns claims that employees in female-dominated positions, such as teaching assistants, have for a long time been paid less than those in male-dominated ones.

Councillor John Cotton, leader of Birmingham City Council, said: “This framework agreement marks the end of an intense period of dialogue between the council and its unions. It is an important step on the council’s improvement journey.”

He believes the agreement aims to “mark the start of a new era of productive and progressive industrial relations built on trust and mutual respect”.

Cotton added: “The next phase of the equal pay programme will be to deliver a new pay and grading model and job evaluation scheme so that pay inequality at the city council can end once and for all.”

Since a landmark equal pay claim was brought against Birmingham City Council in 2012, the authority has paid out almost £1.1bn in cases. In 2023, it estimated the bill had surged to £760m.

Also commenting on the deal, Unison West Midlands head of organising Claire Campbell claimed it was good news for the council’s low-paid female workers, who would “at last get the pay justice they deserve”.

She said: “Birmingham City Council has longstanding industrial relations issues, but this agreement will show what can be achieved when the council negotiates constructively and in good faith. This will hopefully be the much-needed turning point for staff, services and local communities across the city.”

The council’s cabinet is set to finally approve the agreement on 17 December.

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Kavitha Sivasubramaniam

Kavitha Sivasubramaniam is an experienced journalist, editor and communications professional who has been working in B2B publishing for more than 17 years. After graduating from Bournemouth University with a degree in Multi Media Journalism, Kavitha started her career in local and regional newspapers, before moving to consumer magazines and later trade titles, as well as PR. Specialising in pay and reward, she has been editor of a number of HR publications including Pay & Benefits, Employee Benefits, Benefits Expert, Reward and CIPP’s membership magazine, Professional. In June 2024, she won Pay, Reward and Employee Benefits Journalist of the Year at the Willis Towers Watson media awards. She was also named one of Each Person’s top 20 influential HR bloggers and managed a highly commended content team of the year in 2019.

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