Birmingham City Council, the UK’s largest local authority, faces a bill of £757m to settle backdated equal pay claims.
The figure was revealed by the council on 12 November and includes all cash required to settle equal pay claims for hundreds of current and former, mostly female staff who have missed out on past bonuses.
Sir Albert Bore, Labour leader of Birmingham, said the equal pay requirement had left the authority in a ‘horrendous position financially’ and warned that entire services may now need to be scrapped to pay for the claims.
Birmingham is still to pay £541m of the £757m claims, and the authority believes the fee for backdated claims could yet rise further.
Last month, 174 people who worked in traditionally-female roles won a Supreme Court ruling over backdated pay, but hundreds more are now expected to submit claims.
