Equal pay settlements for female council workers pass £1bn | Equal pay
Equal pay agreements for women workers in local councils have surpassed the £1bn mark, with thousands more expected to rise next year.
Legal cases have been brought against local councils on behalf of people in female-dominated roles, such as cleaners or carers, who have for years been denied the conditions and benefits available to those in traditionally male-dominated jobs.
Union GMB said it had secured accommodation worth a total of £1.1bn for thousands of workers across six local councils.
The union said nearly 30,000 claims had so far been settled, all out of court, for an average of £30,000. Thousands more applications are expected to be submitted next year.
Last week, GMB and Unison declared a “historic” victory for Birmingham city council and thousands of workers at Birmingham Children’s Trust, after a four-year campaign that resulted in a settlement agreement worth around £250 million.
This became one of the most high-profile equal pay cases as it was used by the council to justify declaring de facto bankruptcy in 2023, although at the time the potential liability was estimated to be much higher – around £750 million.
However, the decision to issue a section 114 notice was recently called into question after an analysis by accounting academics revealed that the council’s financial position was better than senior civil servants had suggested.
In the Birmingham city council case, some employees received sums of up to £55,000, GMB said.
Under the Equality Act 2010, women and men are required to receive the same pay and contract terms, including taking on different but “equal value” roles.
Equal pay claims typically argue that roles more commonly held by women, such as carers, managers and teaching assistants, come with worse pay grades and conditions than male-dominated jobs such as waste collection.
The largest amount raised from a single council so far was in Glasgow after a deal was agreed in 2022 totaling £770 million. But workers are still waiting for the council to promise to redesign the pay and grading structure to address equal pay issues.
Other successful cases brought by GMB were in Sheffield (£60 million), Leeds (£10 million), Blaenau Gwent (£3 million) and Falkirk (£3 million).
The union said 40,000 compensation claims were still pending in 26 local authorities, including six where agreements had already been made, and these were likely to run into hundreds of millions of pounds.
Other local councils awaiting applications were Dundee, Fife, Renfrewshire, West Dunbartonshire, Argyll & Bute, Brighton, Southampton, Bristol, Swansea, Cardiff, Sunderland, Coventry, Cumberland and Westmorland.
Councils across the country are struggling financially and a record number of local authorities are expected to seek extraordinary financial support from the government in 2026-27, despite government reforms that will increase funding for councils in deprived areas.
GMB also said it expects to launch a further 10,000 applications across five local councils next year. The union has warned local authorities including Coventry and Bradford, urging council bosses to come to the negotiating table or risk “eye-watering compromise figures”.
