Edinburgh considers selling assets to build equal pay fund

Edinburgh City Council is considering selling off its lucrative commercial property arm to help fund a multi-million-pound equal pay bill.

The council needs to find £25m for back pay, as well as an extra £4m for its wage bill, after a deal was agreed to introduce equal pay for male and female workers, ditching a system of different pay scales.

The deal, under the government’s single-status initiative, was reached six years ago, but local authorities are facing legal action as it has not yet been implemented.

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Counci leader, Donald Anderson, revealed that the city was considering the sale of EDI, the company it set up to build the prestigious Edinburgh Park development at the western gateway of the city.

“We are trying to explore every opportunity,” Anderson told the Scotsman newspaper. “This is going to be the most difficult budget exercise that we’ve faced in a decade. It’s going to be a horrendous challenge for us.”