Thousands facing back-pay delay

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Thousands of council staff in southern Scotland are facing a delay in a back-pay deal worth millions of pounds.

Workers with Dumfries and Galloway Council voted to accept the "single status" agreement to address historic pay inequalities last month.

A target date of 1 October had been set to implement the deal, with any increases backdated to 1 April.

However, the authority has now admitted that date was "unrealistic" and talks will be held to find a new timetable.

The agreement of the deal brought to an end about 10 years of negotiations between unions and the council.

It will see 63% of the council's 6,500 workers get a pay rise while 22% remain static and the remainder face a salary reduction in three years' time.

The chief executive is committed to ensuring that single status payments will be made at the earliest possible date and will inform staff as soon as the timetable is set Council spokesman

Nearly 4,000 staff had expected to receive six months' back pay in their October wages.

A council spokesman confirmed that deadline would be missed and said chief executive Gavin Stevenson had apologised to staff.

The authority stressed that all changes to pay and conditions would remain backdated to 1 April regardless of the implementation date.

A spokesman said: "The council has to make changes to all contracts, sort out outstanding equal pay claims and input all of the new details into the payroll system.

"During the later stages of the negotiations, the date discussed for all of this to be achieved was 1 October 2009.

"Unfortunately, this was unrealistic and can't be achieved."

Shameful treatment

The chief executive is meeting trade unions this week to set up a "project board" to implement the pay deal.

"Its first task will be to set out a timetable including payment dates," said the spokesman.

"The chief executive is committed to ensuring that single status payments will be made at the earliest possible date and will inform staff as soon as the timetable is set."

The situation has been described as a "shameful way" to treat staff by Ronnie Nicholson, the Labour group leader on the council.

"This back-pay isn't some handout from the council," he said.

"It is pay that legally and morally belongs to the staff, not the council."

He said he was seeking assurances the council leader would "get a grip" of the situation and ensure there were no further delays.