Pay claim progress is praised

A report by the Accounts Commission shows Stirling Council is one of the best performing councils in terms of equal pay.

This week the local government watchdog revealed Scotland’s 32 local authorities had spent a staggering £1.3 billion settling pay inequality cases between male and female employees.

Stirling Council has reported clearing all outstanding claims since the last Audit Scotland report published in 2017.

Back in September 2016 Stirling reported just three claims compared with North Ayrshire which fared worst with 605 live claims.

The Accounts Commission has praised councils for their progress in settling equal pay claims, but says they expect councils to maintain their focus on unresolved cases.

The report published on June 9 on the impact of its audit of equal pay revealed the number of live claims to Scottish councils fell by 82.5 per cent between September 2016 and December 2019.

Back in September 2016, the Commission’s audit showed 26,912 live claims with Scottish local authorities compared with 4,755 in December 2019 which includes new claims launched since 2016.

Stirling’s figure of just three claims was the second lowest of any council with live claims.

Graham Sharp, chair of the Accounts Commission, said:“Since we reported on equal pay claims nearly three years ago, Scotland’s councils have made significant progress in resolving cases and making compensation payments to workers affected by pay discrimination. This is heartening and has righted the unfair treatment of thousands of mainly female workers.”

A Stirling Council spokesman said: “Stirling Council is committed to enhancing its status as an employer of choice, focusing on increasing equality and diversity of its workforce, so these figures from Audit Scotland are extremely encouraging and show our efforts in this area, tackling historical equal pay issues early on, continues to make a positive impact.

“We have taken a number of steps to break down perceptions and remove barriers to gender distribution, including reviewing the language we use in recruitment and by promoting role models and success stories, ensuring our employee benefits are attractive to the diverse needs of individuals who seek a career with Stirling Council.’’

The council has a predominantly female workforce with females occupying more management positions than men.

The spokesman said:“These measures, along with implementing the rising living wage, have helped reduce the full workforce gender pay gap from 0.68 per cent in 2016/17 to 0.88 per cent in favour of women in 2019/20. Females also occupy 64 per cent of our managerial positions, a rise of five per cent compared to last year and is closer to our gender profile which is currently 73.5 per cent female.’’

The Commission will continue to monitor progress during the annual audits of councils.