Equal pay now - Funding for Local Government

Equal pay between men and women is a legal right under both UK and European law, yet, 32 years on from the Equal Pay Act, and despite the unions' best efforts, women in local government continue to be underpaid compared to men. Women on the same grade as men often earn less, and women's jobs have been undervalued in terms of basic pay.

The Single Status Agreement was groundbreaking because it placed the principles of equal value at the heart of the new grading structure through equal pay-based and jointly agreed job evaluation.
This process has been rendered less effective than it should have been because of the cost of eliminating widespread historic discrimination.

Councils get inadequate government financial help to fund single status. Chronic underfunding and efficiency reviews means there is a crisis in local government over equal pay. 75% of women in local government are still not receiving equal pay.

Councils are paying out large amounts of money defending equal pay cases rather than carrying out systematic pay and grading reviews. The government made a significant investment in the NHS to achieve equal pay and a new job evaluated structure which led to higher pay for women. The government must do the same for women in local government.

We are asking MPs to:

• Support equal pay in local government and make it a reality
• Lobby the Department of Communities and Local Government and the Treasury to fund equal pay and create a level playing field for local government through a good settlement in the spending review
• Give councils greater flexibility through increasing the level of capitalisation

The facts speak for themselves

As a result of government investment in Agenda for Change, the value of women's work in the NHS is now properly recognised and women's pay has seen a significant uplift to achieve equality. Not so in local government.

Women in local government, doing the same or similar work, sometimes in the same workplace, are now trailing well behind their NHS colleagues in pay terms because of a failure by government to make a comparable investment in local government.

Both the NHS and local government workforces are predominantly female. A comparison of the minimum rates in both structures before and after Agenda for Change was introduced in October 2004, shows that NHS women's pay has overtaken local government women's pay.

Minimum pay for women in April 2004 in local government was £10,560 and in the NHS £9,681. In 2006, minimum pay for women in local government was £11,193 and in the NHS was £11,782.