Waste of £700,000
Here's an article by Julie Gilbert in the Hamilton Advertiser - one of the local papers covering the South Lanarkshire Council area.
You would hope that local councillors (even local Labour councillors) would be up in arms at this terrible waste of public money - because Carol Fox is dead right that the Council doesn't seem to be getting great value for money from its legal advisors.
Equal Pay Bill for South Lanarkshire Council approaches £700,000
Now calls have been made to settle claims and stop the bill getting any bigger.
This follows a Supreme Court ruling on Monday which went against the council
The Supreme Court has ordered the council to release information on pay scales, which had been requested under the Freedom of Information Act.
The request was made by Mark Irvine, who is helping thousands of workers in traditional female jobs seeking compensation for being paid less than men in traditional male jobs with a similar level of skill.
The Scottish Information Commissioner and the Court of Session ruled that the information on pay scales should be released to Mr Irvine.
However, the council refused and appealed to the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom.
Following the Supreme Court ruling, the council will now release the pay scale information.
But the legal action has cost at least £100,000 of taxpayers’ money.
Mr Irvine says the total bill is likely to be closer to £200,000, once the council pay the legal bills of the Scottish Information Commissioner.
Earlier this year, information requested by Conservative MSP Margaret Mitchell revealed that the council have already paid out £463,000 fighting these equal pay claims.
She says it is time for the legal battle to stop, and for the council to pay out on claims.
And South Lanarkshire Council’s SNP spokesperson for finance and corporate resources, Lesley McDonald, has also criticised the cost of fighting the Freedom of Information (FOI) request.
The SNP group wrote a letter to the chief executive in April asking for the council to accede the request.
Eddie McAvoy, leader of South Lanarkshire Council, says the council continued to fight Mr Irvine’s Freedom of Information Request because their legal advisors said that they would win.
Mr McAvoy said: “I am very disappointed at this outcome, and all the more so because we were told repeatedly by our legal advisers that our case was sound and that there were good grounds for the council’s arguments.”
Carol Fox of Fox and Partners, who are representing many of the workers with equal pay disputes, hope the council rethink their strategy, particularly as the pay scale information which must now be released will strengthen their case.
Ms Fox said: “It lets us know exactly the number of men paid at these higher pay scales, and the distribution of highest paid men.
“It assists us in terms of the ongoing equal pay tribunal.
“I would strongly advise Mr McAvoy to look at the legal advice he has been getting, because it has not been successful to date and has been an utter waste of money.
“South Lanarkshire Council really need to rethink their strategy because they cannot win these cases.”
Former school kitchen assistant Patricia Harper (63), from Blantyre, is one of those who has been fighting an equal pay claim against the council for the past eight years.
She said: “I think they should pay out and that’s it.
“It’s really ridiculous.
“If they had paid out when they were supposed to all those years ago it would never have cost the council all this money.
“All the other councils have paid out.”
Hamilton MSP Christina McKelvie has commended Mark Irvine for fighting to get the information he requested released and has called the council’s action against him “un-winnable”.
A spokesperson for South Lanarkshire Council this week said the freedom of information request was initially refused because the council believed that it would breach the data protection rights of individual employees.
You would hope that local councillors (even local Labour councillors) would be up in arms at this terrible waste of public money - because Carol Fox is dead right that the Council doesn't seem to be getting great value for money from its legal advisors.
Equal Pay Bill for South Lanarkshire Council approaches £700,000
By Julie Gilbert
Patricia Harper is one of the former council workers fighting an equal pay claim
The bill for fighting equal pay claims brought by thousands of South Lanarkshire Council workers is approaching £700,000
Now calls have been made to settle claims and stop the bill getting any bigger.
This follows a Supreme Court ruling on Monday which went against the council
The Supreme Court has ordered the council to release information on pay scales, which had been requested under the Freedom of Information Act.
The request was made by Mark Irvine, who is helping thousands of workers in traditional female jobs seeking compensation for being paid less than men in traditional male jobs with a similar level of skill.
The Scottish Information Commissioner and the Court of Session ruled that the information on pay scales should be released to Mr Irvine.
However, the council refused and appealed to the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom.
Following the Supreme Court ruling, the council will now release the pay scale information.
But the legal action has cost at least £100,000 of taxpayers’ money.
Mr Irvine says the total bill is likely to be closer to £200,000, once the council pay the legal bills of the Scottish Information Commissioner.
Earlier this year, information requested by Conservative MSP Margaret Mitchell revealed that the council have already paid out £463,000 fighting these equal pay claims.
She says it is time for the legal battle to stop, and for the council to pay out on claims.
And South Lanarkshire Council’s SNP spokesperson for finance and corporate resources, Lesley McDonald, has also criticised the cost of fighting the Freedom of Information (FOI) request.
The SNP group wrote a letter to the chief executive in April asking for the council to accede the request.
Eddie McAvoy, leader of South Lanarkshire Council, says the council continued to fight Mr Irvine’s Freedom of Information Request because their legal advisors said that they would win.
Mr McAvoy said: “I am very disappointed at this outcome, and all the more so because we were told repeatedly by our legal advisers that our case was sound and that there were good grounds for the council’s arguments.”
Carol Fox of Fox and Partners, who are representing many of the workers with equal pay disputes, hope the council rethink their strategy, particularly as the pay scale information which must now be released will strengthen their case.
Ms Fox said: “It lets us know exactly the number of men paid at these higher pay scales, and the distribution of highest paid men.
“It assists us in terms of the ongoing equal pay tribunal.
“I would strongly advise Mr McAvoy to look at the legal advice he has been getting, because it has not been successful to date and has been an utter waste of money.
“South Lanarkshire Council really need to rethink their strategy because they cannot win these cases.”
Former school kitchen assistant Patricia Harper (63), from Blantyre, is one of those who has been fighting an equal pay claim against the council for the past eight years.
She said: “I think they should pay out and that’s it.
“It’s really ridiculous.
“If they had paid out when they were supposed to all those years ago it would never have cost the council all this money.
“All the other councils have paid out.”
Hamilton MSP Christina McKelvie has commended Mark Irvine for fighting to get the information he requested released and has called the council’s action against him “un-winnable”.
A spokesperson for South Lanarkshire Council this week said the freedom of information request was initially refused because the council believed that it would breach the data protection rights of individual employees.
