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Councils throughout the country are biting the equal pay bullet as the 1 April deadline nears. Neath Port Talbot CBC has already handed out £3.5m in equal pay compensation to almost 1,200 staff, with 1,100 more attending ‘signing days' this week. Around 200 staff a day have been collecting their cheques and settling directly with the council. ‘Neath Port Talbot CBC is one of only two councils in Wales making such speedy payments to its employees,' said council leader, Derek Vaughan. Bedfordshire CC's cabinet member for customer service, Cllr John Street, said ‘single status will be introduced on 1 April as planned'. Around 2,000 staff at Devon CC have lodged appeals as part of the councils pay and grading review. The council has sent out more than 17,000 letters to staff with details of the review. A council spokesman said 2,000 workers would be paid less, but would get three years' full pay protection. Appeals will be carried out in due course. Northumberland CC is facing at least 1,000 equal pay claims, which a council spokesman said would be ‘robustly defended'. The spokesman added: ‘This is because we don't believe we have any liability, and that we will successfully defend these cases. ‘We have not paid any money in backdated compensation, to date.' A spokesman for Cumbria CC said the final bill for equal pay could reach £100m in the county. The Scottish branch of Unison has cited equal pay as a key issue in its local government election manifesto. GMB Scotland has cancelled plans to strike over equal pay and resumed talks with Falkirk Council. Union organiser, Brian Negus, said it was a ‘significant step forward'. Search "single status" in localgov.co.uk for more.

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FINANCE

Pay-up time as single status deadline looms

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