City council hit by equal pay claim with union suggesting some workers are underpaid by £11k a year

Thousands of women are set to launch an equal pay claim against Sheffield City Council, the GMB has revealed.

The union claimed that some of the women are thought to be missing out on up to £11,000 a year.

At the centre of the dispute is the city council’s job evaluation scheme. 

The GMB argues that through a 'job family' scheme, Sheffield is underpaying those who work in female dominated roles, such as cleaning, caring or housing allocation.

The GMN said cleaners were underpaid £1,710, care managers £7,301, and senior teaching assistants up to £11,383.

Sue Wood, GMB Senior Organiser, said: "What we have uncovered in Sheffield is truly scandalous.

"The council are using a rotten job allocation scheme that actively discriminates against its female workforce and opens up thousands of potential equal pay claims.

"We are determined that this injustice must end and call upon the Town Hall to step up, commit to ending this blatant discrimination and scrap this unfair scheme.”

In response Cllr Fran Belbin, Deputy Leader of Sheffield City Council, said the scheme had been in place since 2010 and included an appeals process.

 “Any member of staff can request a review if they believe their grade is not correct. We encourage members of staff to raise any concerns about equal pay with us, so we can review and address if necessary. When a grade is confirmed as needing to change, changes are made. We meet regularly with staff and their representatives and are always happy to discuss any concerns.”

Cllr Belbin also said yesterday: “The Leader of Sheffield City Council, Tom Hunt, and I met with representatives from the GMB Union this afternoon, as we are keen to listen and understand the points that they have raised today. 

“The conversation was positive and constructive. We are now waiting for GMB to share with us full details of their concerns.”

She added: “Once we have had the chance to fully review the information, we will consider the most appropriate steps and engage in further conversations with staff and unions.

“We value our relationships with our workforce and unions. We encourage anyone who has any concerns to raise them with us and we will look at each case."

News of the claim comes after Birmingham City Council issued a section 114 notice, declaring itself as effectively bankrupt, principally due to the size of its equal pay liabilities.

Last week Birmingham issued a second section 114 notice and its monitoring officer, Janie Berry, issued a report under section 5 of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 on the local authority's pay equity system (PES).

Berry explained that she was "concerned that the council has, at the date of this report, failed to secure a decision relating to the implementation of a job evaluation programme (also known as Pay Equity System)."