Compensation Payments To Be Made To Thousands Of Low-Paid Council Workers

Aberdeen City Council is poised to pay out some £6 million in compensation payments to employees in catering, cleaning and social care.

The payouts will compensate some 3,000 employees, many of them women, who historically have not had the same opportunity to receive productivity bonus payments as male employees.

Resources management committee convener Councillor Kevin Stewart said: “This long-awaited payout reflects the wishes of both the city council and the trade unions to make these payments now, to avoid the council having to defend equal pay claims in employment tribunals over a lengthy period.

“The three ‘yes’ votes in the recent trade union ballots on our Equal Pay & Modernisation deal paved the way for this major milestone to be reached and is the first of the positive outcomes from the ballots.

“The payments will recompense some of our lowest paid workers – and that has to be good news for them in terms of cash in their pockets and good news for the city council in terms of finally bringing this issue to a close.

“I would also like to stress that the city council has been making financial provision for the payout over the last three years. There are therefore no implications for this year’s budget and it is in fact a sign of the good husbandry of our finances that we are in a position to settle up.”

Aberdeen City Council has given all affected employees access to independent legal advice on a one-to-one basis on five separate days over the past fortnight. The sessions concluded at the end of last week.

Corporate director for resources management Gordon Edwards said: “Whilst employees are being informed that they have a legal entitlement to pursue their claims via an employment tribunal, we are delighted that 95% have so far accepted.

“We have honoured our commitment to the trade unions to make these payments as quickly as possible after receiving the three ‘yes’ votes in the ballots.”

The payouts, which the city council is legally obliged to make, are being made under equal pay legislation which requires all UK public bodies to pay equal pay for equal work. The money is going to some of the lowest paid public sector workers whose pay has for many years not been in line with fellow council staff doing comparable work in other sections of the council.

The level of each staff member’s payment depends on their grade, length of service and contracted working hours.