Councils face a fresh wave of potential equal pay claims after a legal ruling exposed problems with the application of the national pay scheme, a high-profile lawyer has warned.
Stefan Cross KC, who made his name as the no win, no fee nemesis of town halls more than a decade ago, said that while the sector’s attention has been on Birmingham's equal pay issues - which this week forced the city council to issue a section 114 notice - a tribunal ruling against Fife Council was potentially more significant.
In July, tribunal judge Ian McFatridge ruled Fife’s job evaluation scheme did not meet the requirements of the Equality Act 2010 - rendering it unreliable.
Fife’s evaluation regime was based on the national pay scheme, but the 1,200 staff involved effectively challenged the council’s use of the scoring system used to determine pay for specific roles.
The tribunal concluded it could not rule out manipulation of the results and that Fife’s failure to keep written records was an ‘institutional failure’.
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If this article was of interest, then check out our feature, 'Preventing future Section 114 notices'.
