Glasgow City Council has announced that it is offering voluntary redundancies to its staff in order to reduce its wage bill in the face of heavy budgetary pressures, including an over £500m equal pay bill.

The local authority faced a spending gap of around £50m approaching its 2020/21 budget with much of this attributed to wage inflation and other fixed costs. It predicts similar gaps for at least the next two years.

It is also likely that the implementation of a new pay and grading structure, which the council says is necessary to pay £548m in compensation to women who were underpaid for years, will push staff costs higher.

A paper due before the City Administration Committee recommends seeking up to 1,500 voluntary redundancies over the next three years.

If agreed, the scheme would be available to all council workers with more than two years’ service.