Derby council under fire over equal pay claims

Public services union UNISON has accused Derby City Council of spending more than £1.5 million fighting “indefensible” equal pay claims.

A Freedom of Information request lodged by UNISON revealed that between the start of 2019 and September 2022, the council spent £1,575,967 in legal fees defending the claims. UNISON says the council has now spent more money defending the claims than its solicitors say it would cost to settle all the claims outright.

The claims relate to around 150 current and former mostly low-paid female workers.

Emma Roberts, the East Midlands regional organiser for UNISON, explained that the council used to pay bonuses or other supplements to those in roles predominantly held by men.

And although the bonus schemes seem to have stopped in 2014, this practice has led to continued unequal pay for these women, with most claims dating from 2017 and 2018, though with some dating as far back as 2012.

Roberts said the council’s defence “is one that has failed a tribunal test before, and a significant amount of public money will be wasted on these indefensible claims — money that is already in short supply because of brutal cuts to local government funding”.

If no settlement is reached before a full tribunal, it could take more than a year for the claims to be resolved depending on the amount of evidence and procedural issues.