Public Servant Lifestyle

As the Civil Service gender pay gap widens - a major public sector trade union says it is on on the verge of winning a multi-million pound payout for health workers.

UNISON has waged an eight-year legal battle to gain equal pay for women workers at North Cumbria Acute NHS Trust, who now, says the union, stand to gain between £35,000 and £200,000 each.

Equal value claims were lodged in August 1997 for 14 different jobs, using five different male comparators. The women range from nurses to catering assistants, domestics, clerical officers, sewing machine assistants, porters and telephonists. They compared their pay with that of craftsmen/joiners, building labourers/wall washers, works officers, craftsmen supervisors and maintenance assistants.

They can, says UNISON, claim back pay for up to six years from the date of lodging the claim. Some of the women will receive up to 14 years’ difference in pay. Interest of 50%-60% will also be paid.

Pay rates, hours of work, pensions, weekend working rates and sick pay were all included in the comparisons to determine that women were treated unfairly by the old pay system

“It’s been a long, hard struggle, but this is a fantastic result for the members involved," says UNISON general secretary Dave Prentis. “This demonstrates what we have always argued, that there has been historic widespread pay discrimination in the health service against women. It’s dreadful, though, that it has taken so long to get justice for these hard-working women who hold the health service together.

“The new pay system, Agenda for Change, has remedied discrimination. But this decision means that we will now press our claim for back pay for other health service staff who may have suffered from an unfair pay system. We intend to negotiate back pay for those workers in the NHS staff council.”

UNISON local convenor Christine Wharrier has worked at West Cumbria hospital for 28 years as a health care assistant and said this was a great victory for women right through the NHS at all levels.

“Discrimination runs deep in the NHS, especially for part-timers, who are mainly women workers. This win will be a boon for ancillary staff because they are on really low pay and I could jump up and down for them – it’s wonderful,” she commented.

Grade D nurse Linda Weightman, also a UNISON convenor, has worked at Cumberland Infirmary for 17 years and said that although it’s taken a long time, it’s been worth it.

“Over the years, people have kept asking me ‘do you think we will win?’ – and I kept saying how can we not win, because we are right.

“It will mean a lot to members who have had to retire through ill-health, who worked themselves to a frazzle for the NHS and have bad backs or other problems – it will be a real boost to their pensions.”

CIPD response to Unison's £300m equal pay court victory over the NHS

Duncan Brown, Assistant Director General of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) responding to UNISON's announcement by saying: "For the NHS, this case is a verdict on history, not a reflection of modern day realities. Five years development of a new and robust job evaluation scheme, currently being implemented as part of their Agenda for Change, should prevent the health service from suffering this kind of expensive embarrassment in the future.

"Under Agenda for Change, total NHS pay costs will increase by around 5%, but for many of these traditionally underpaid groups, the increases will be far greater.

"CIPD research shows that nearly half of employers have no intention of carrying out an equal pay audit. These employers may need to sit up and take note of this case, which demonstrates the costs of not implementing the kind of root and branch reform that the NHS has already undertaken to eliminate discrimination in pay structures.

"Employers should also be aware that, although this case has taken eight years and much blood, sweat and tears to reach a conclusion, the Government is already implementing reforms to speed the passage of such cases in the future."

The UNISON action comes hot on the heels of the release of official statistics from the Cabinet Office, which reveal a dramatic widening of the gender pay gap between male and female Civil Servants. Newly-released figures show the proportion of women’s median salary, to that of men’s, has decreased, from 78.1%, in 2003, to 75.0%, in 2004.

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