The statue of Minerva, the goddess of wisdom, watches over Liverpool from the top of the Town Hall dome. Picture Howard Davies _240
THE full scale of Liverpool Council’s liability to equal pay claims from thousands of underpaid women workers stands at £60m, it emerged last night.
Last month, the Daily Post revealed how the council had asked to borrow £35m from the Government to settle the claims with 7,000 staff, mainly women – dinner ladies, cleaners, and care staff.
The council has now admitted that the full cost is estimated to be around £60m. The figure emerged half way through a 171-page report to the council’s audit and accounts committee.
It means that the 7,000 staff now seem in line to get an average payment of £8,500, and not the £5,000 previously reported.
The council said the £35m loan requested from Government would only meet the costs of payments in this financial year.
Liverpool Council’s statement of accounts, sent to the audit and accounts committee, said of the £60m: “This provision has been established to meet potential claims from current and former city council employees relating to alleged breaches by the city council of equal pay legislation.
“The estimate has been derived from claims already made against the city council to date and from an average of settlement values obtained by comparison with other local authorities.”
Last night, a council spokesman said: “The total cost is estimated to be £60m, but the exact final figure will not be known until 2010 when all the claims will be finally settled.
“These costs are not unique to Liverpool, and are faced by all local authorities, which is why the government has introduced new financial arrangements to assist councils.”
He insisted that the loan repayments would not affect the level of Liverpool’s council tax because the figures had already been included in the local authority’s budget plans.
Deputy Labour leader Paul Brant said: “This is a staggering figure which could lead to decades of future repayments of settlement figures.
“The council's Lib-Dem leadership has known about this problem for years but has behaved like an ostrich hoping the problem would go away.
“Prudent councils have made provision in previous years and have settled a substantial number of these claims before the problem got out of hand.”
The pay discrimination dates back to the 1970s and 1980s when bonuses were introduced as a way of dealing with low pay, according to the GMB union.
For example, bin men and male road sweepers on the same pay as dinner ladies have been getting bonuses of around 40%, boosting their pay in comparison to women who do not get extra money.
Many councils have dealt with the issue as part of a wider review, which councils must under-take, to ensure men and women are paid the same for work of equal value, called single status.
