Coventry equal pay row escalates as £27m set aside

Coventry City Council has set aside £27m of taxpayers' money to deal with "financial risk" as an equal pay dispute rumbles on.

Hundreds of female members of staff, supported by unions Unite and GMB, are part of a legal claim against the council.

They have argued since 2022 that they have been historically underpaid compared to male colleagues, raising the prospect of hefty financial liabilities for the authority.

The case centres on benefits received by colleagues in the male dominated waste collection service – such as task and finish, which allowed workers to go home if their work had been completed.

Colleagues in female dominated roles, such as care and social services, say they were not offered similar benefits – and were therefore treated unfairly.

The council had previously refused to publicly confirm the level of financial risk in relation to the ongoing dispute, which is due to be heard at a tribunal in November if an agreement cannot be reached before then.

The council's latest budget, however, confirms it has set aside £9m a year for the next three years to deal with "financial risk" which includes the ongoing equal pay dispute.

Councillor Richard Brown, the cabinet member for finance on the local authority, said: "There is a financial risk and I think it's one of the reasons that we're really prudent about this, we're forward-thinking and you have to identify what your risks are and that is part of it."

Asked whether £27m was roughly the figure they were expecting to pay out, he said: "I've got no ballpark figure in mind, we've got some claims in, there could be more claims in."

Brown added that he was "confident" the council had the issue under control and would not end up in a similar position to neighbouring Birmingham which declared effective bankruptcy in 2023, partly as a result of failing to get on top of a £760m equal pay claim.

The failure to budget for the equal pay dispute until now had contributed to delays in Coventry City Council having its accounts signed off by auditors.

Delcan Downes, regional organiser for the GMB Union, said he wanted the council to negotiate to avoid a court battle and increased costs - as the longer the dispute ran, the larger the backdated claims became.

Talking about the £27m set aside in the latest budget, he said: "I think, rather than sit on it, [the money] should be going to the GMB members who have been fighting this equal pay campaign for such a long time.

"If they believe that they owe it them just give it to them. That's what they deserve. It's about pay justice."

Asked whether he understood that some taxpayers might disagree with the argument that roles such as social workers are comparable to bin collectors, he said: "I do understand that but the Equal Pay Act came in 1970, we got the Equality Act in 2010 and it says that you can't treat men and women differently. What we clearly have done is created a practice which has done that."

Follow BBC Coventry & Warwickshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.