Supreme Court equal pay case off as Sheffield settles

Sheffield City Council has settled a long-running equal pay case that had been due to go before the Supreme Court next month.

The Court of Appeal ruled in February 2010 that the council had discriminated by paying bonus payments to male street clearners and gardeners, but not to female carers, care and school meals staff.

The local authority had accepted throughout that the female claimants performed comparable jobs, but argued that the payments were to boost productivity and were not related to gender. The basic pay of the male street cleaners and gardeners was 33.3% and 38% respectively higher than that of the women.

Commenting on the settlement, Julie Toner, Director of Human Resources at Sheffield City Council, said: "We have been in discussions with the trade unions representing workers in Sheffield since May this year and have undertaken an exhaustive process to reach an amicable and positive settlement for all involved.

“The terms of the settlement are confidential so we will not be making any further comment suffice to say we are content this has now been settled. The Council resolved equal pay status across the authority for its workforce last April. "

Dave Prentis, the general secretary of Unison, told The Guardian: "This is great news for thousands of women working at Sheffield Council, who should get their settlement money by Christmas. It makes sense that the council has dropped the legal challenges and seen fit to pay women fairly.

"This decision also has implications for around 400,000 other women's cases across the country. We hope these councils now stop wasting money on lawyers' fees and face up to their responsibilities to pay women fairly."