DCLG allows 21 councils to use assets to meet equal pay commitments
The government has given 21 councils the go-ahead to borrow against or sell assets worth up to £250m in the current financial year so that they can meet their equal pay commitments.
The announcement is the latest stage of the capitalisation process, under which Whitehall has since 2006 given councils permission to raise more than £1.8bn to settle their equal pay costs.
Communities Minister Bob Neill said: "For years thousands of hard working council staff, many of them women, were underpaid for doing the same work as their colleagues.
“This coalition government promised to fight for equal pay and work to end discrimination in the workplace. I'm very pleased today to give the green light for more councils to right historic pay wrongs by raising money on their assets.”
The 21 councils to be given directions by the DCLG were:
- Bolton
- Cumbria
- Doncaster
- Hertfordshire
- Kingston upon Hull
- Knowsley
- Leeds
- Liverpool
- Newcastle
- North Tyneside
- Nottingham City
- Portsmouth
- Sefton
- Sheffield
- South Tyneside
- Sunderland
- Swindon
- Tameside
- Thurrock
- Walsall
- Wolverhampton
