Equal pay reforms

The government has announced that it will simplify procedures at tribunals in equal pay cases. This will mean employers having to respond to questionnaires from tribunals within specified time limits, rather than being able to delay claims for months or even years. More than one in three equal pay claims are currently over a year old, according to the latest survey in LRD's negotiators' magazine Bargaining Report June 2000.

The government is also proposing to allow similar claims from women in the same firm to be heard together, an improvement on the current system where technically each claim is separate. Employment Minister Tessa Jowell said that the government hoped the changes "will help a great many women who currently face agonising waits and years of uncertainty while their case is being settled."