Comment: City should have planned ahead

Jun 19 2008 Liverpool Daily Post

THE phrase “never a borrower nor a lender be” doesn’t seem to hold much water at Liverpool city council at the moment.

As the Daily Post reveals today, the authority is looking to borrow £35m from the Government, so it can settle equal pay claims.

The pay discrimination dates back to the 1970s and 1980s when bonuses were introduced as a way of dealing with low pay.

The discrimination itself is a despicable example of shoddy practices. Councils gave bonuses to some male staff – such as binmen and road sweepers – who were on the same pay scale as some women workers. The men received nice little extras in their pay-slips of around 40%, boosting their pay in comparison to women, who did not receive the bonuses and who were outraged to discover the discrimination.

Now, of course, having to right this injustice is hitting councils in their pockets. Just last year, Bury Council took the reluctant step of selling off a treasured painting by LS Lowry so it met the windfall due to dinner ladies, cleaners, and care staff, among others, who stood to collect thousands of pounds in compensation for sex discrimination. And Cumbria County Council set aside £50m to pay 3,000 claims.

Liverpool is, quite rightly, refusing to part with family silver and is instead turning to the Government for assistance. But should it have even come to this? Surely there should have been a policy of setting money aside, as Cumbria opted to do?

It is a difficult set of circumstances. On the one hand, these women must be paid their compensation, speedily and with good grace.

On the other, Liverpool council simply cannot produce the money by hunting around the back of the municipal sofa for some loose change.

Clearly, the Government fund is an option which the council feels it must pursue, but its actions in this case are hardly a triumph of careful forward planning and financial husbandry.