Birmingham City Council agrees huge equal pay deal

Thousands of women are acceptable to person their adjacent wage claims settled with a assembly aft respective years.

The statement betwixt Birmingham City Council, Unison and the GMB national volition spot 6,000 unit with the authorization person colony payouts.

The adjacent wage contented was 1 of the cardinal factors successful the authorization declaring effectual bankruptcy past twelvemonth erstwhile it said it was facing a measure of £760m to settee the claims.

The details of the statement are confidential and the council's furniture volition beryllium asked to formally o.k. it connected 17 December.

The quality relates to claims unit successful female-dominated roles, specified arsenic teaching assistants, person historically been underpaid successful narration to those successful male-dominated areas of the council, specified arsenic discarded collection.

The run for the 6,000 women was launched 4 years ago, the GMB national said, and talks restarted successful November.

Posting connected X, the national said the women had "made history" and the assertion was "a important measurement towards wage justice".

"This effect would not person happened without their dedicated and tireless enactment of a run which was flooded immense odds," Rhea Wolfson, from the GMB, added.

The colony was a "good time for low-paid women" astatine the council, Clare Campbell, from Unison, said.

"They volition astatine past get the wage justness they deserve," she added.

"This volition hopefully beryllium the much-needed turning constituent for staff, services and section communities crossed the city."

The assembly started paying retired adjacent wage claims aft a landmark lawsuit was brought against the authorization successful 2012 but said successful 2023 the measure had spiralled to £760m.

However earlier this year, Max Caller, the pb commissioner appointed by the authorities to oversee the fiscal betterment of the council, said the measure to settee could beryllium beneath that.

Sally Maybury, a erstwhile admin adjunct astatine the council, was 1 of 174 radical who won the ruling astatine the Supreme Court much than a decennary ago.

She antecedently told the BBC: "I felt undervalued and treated arsenic if I was worthless.

"It was precise difficult, I was earning astir £18,000, but arsenic soon arsenic I deed £22,000, determination were nary much incremental wage rises truthful my wage was kept rather low.

"I retrieve 1 year, my taxation credits went up, adjacent though my wage didn't - that's conscionable crazy."

Councillor John Cotton, person of the metropolis council, said the statement marked the extremity of "an aggravated play of dialogue" betwixt the authorization and its unions.

"It is an important measurement connected the council's betterment journey," helium added.

By Simon Gilbert, BBC Political Reporter, Birmingham

Today's quality draws a enactment nether what is, arguably, the defining contented of Birmingham's fiscal struggles.

It volition travel arsenic a immense alleviation to bosses astatine an efficaciously bankrupt section authorization already dealing with making £300m of cuts implicit 2 years.

What volition connection adjacent greater comfortableness is the level of the settlement.

Up to £760m was thought to beryllium the worst lawsuit script but we recognize the last fig to beryllium hundreds of millions little – determination astir £300m-£400m.

The evident question present is volition this trim the level of cuts needed successful the city?

The reply is astir apt not.

The cuts already successful the pipeline are much to bash with overspending successful different areas.

What could alteration is the level of assets sold disconnected by the council.

These were being sold to equilibrium a £1bn authorities indebtedness to offset, principally, the adjacent wage liability.