Birmingham playground supervisors win £7,000 in equal pay claim
Mar 12 2009 by Paul Dale, Birmingham Post
More than 2,500 playground supervisors at Birmingham primary schools are to receive up to £7,000 each after settling an equal pay claim.
The deal with the city council follows months of negotiations over Single Status – an initiative to outlaw wage differentials between men and women.
More than 90 per cent of supervisors have accepted the offer, which is based on the length of time served by the mainly female part-time staff.
Council officials were unable to give details of the total back pay bill, but it could be as much as £10 million.
News of the settlement emerged as the council admitted that it is continuing to lose eight out of 10 appeals by staff against imposed wage cuts.
Almost 5,000 employees have lodged appeals against a new pay and grading system, which led to some staff losing more than £10,000 a year.
Under the change, about 10 per cent of the workforce have had their pay grade reduced after undergoing job evaluation schemes.
More than 500 appeals have been heard so far, with 80 per cent resulting in staff receiving a pay rise after being told their new grading is incorrect.
A human resources official admitted that some information upon which the job evaluation process was based is four years old and no longer valid.
Susanna Newing, pay and grading programme manager, said: “A lot of the appeals are based on there having been a significant change in the job description since the evaluation was undertaken.
“In the past 18 months people have had a far greater understanding and awareness of pay and grading and we always make help available for job evaluation.”
Members of the equalities and human resources scrutiny committee are concerned about the mounting cost of the pay and grading shake-up.
Coun Mick Finnegan (Lab Stockland Green) warned the final bill could be “astronomical” if the council continued to lose so many appeals.
Coun Emily Cox (Moseley & Kings Heath) said: “This suggests there are flaws in the original job evaluation process. On the face of it, these figures are very worrying indeed.”
