North Lanarkshire

Lots of Home Support Workers in North Lanarkshire have been in touch to say that they have received letters from the Council regarding their grades - which they are being asked to sign and return. 

Now if I were a Home Support Worker, I wouldn't be signing any such letter at this stage because these issues are all caught up with people's equal pay claims against the Council.

As I understand what's going on, the grades of only some Home Support Workers are being raised from NLC 2 to NLC 3 which is a rather strange thing to do as this does not address the differences in the pay arrangements between male and female council jobs.

Just as bizarre is the fact that the new grade is being backdated only to 2013 when these issues date back to 2006/2007.

And as regular readers know, the ongoing Employment Tribunal case is all about the pay differences between traditional male and female in North Lanarkshire and the Council has now been forced to admit that gradings of Home Support Workers, Playground Supervisors and School Crossing Patrollers are unsafe and unsound - or 'not to be relied' upon.

The Council says this is down to a 'mistake' or 'error' on their part yet senior officials within North Lanarkshire have been defending the job evaluation process for years.

So if you ask me, the best thing would be for the Council to withdraw these letters and I certainly wouldn't be signing any such letter without benefit of proper legal advice.   
     
I have passed on copies of letters that have been sent to me by readers and A4ES clients in North Lanarkshire, but others can do so to the following email address:

enquiries@action4equality.co.uk