Funding plan for equal pay cases

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/scotland/8284647.stm

Version 0 of 1.

Cash-strapped Scottish councils will be allowed to borrow money from the Treasury to help clear the backlog of equal pay cases.

The Scottish government plan comes after it emerged there were 35,000 outstanding tribunal cases, despite the pay agreement being reached in 1999.

The estimated compensation bill for councils has ranged from £340m to £1bn.

Single-status agreements were brought in to resolve long-standing differences in local government salaries.

Finance Secretary John Swinney told the Scottish Parliament the deal with the Treasury would be "proportionate" to one in England, which has a pot of about £500m.

However, he would not put a figure on how much would be available north of the border.

"What we're trying to do is accommodate as much of the requests for assistance from local authorities as we possibly can do," said Mr Swinney.

He said of the Treasury scheme: "This is indeed welcome news for local authorities and, following a short consultation with them on the details, individual authorities will be invited to submit applications to the scheme which will be introduced in the current financial year."

Of Scotland's 32 councils, 26 have equal-pay agreements and five are "on target" to do so by the end of the year, MSPs were told.

Several legal rulings and other delays over the last few years have led to a large number of workers, many of them low-paid female employees, taking equal pay cases to employment tribunals.

A report published by Holyrood's local government committee in June said this had led to the backlog.