NLC Update (17/04/15)

A kind reader from North Lanarkshire drew my attention to the fact that the Council yesterday rushed out statement on equal pay which is reproduced below.

Now as far as news is concerned, this is definitely the 'dog bites man' variety because we know all this already and have done for weeks, if not months.

Of course, the process of calculating and processing claims is a 'labour intensive' one, but the $64,000 question is: 

'Why oh why is Scotland's fourth largest council taking so long to get to the end of a process that was supposed to be completed in early April?'

Now I don't know the answer to that question although if North Lanarkshire Council wants to explain the situation and give a definite date for completion, I'll be happy to share the news on the blog site.

Because if you ask me, this is no way to treat the Council's long-suffering workforce which has been badly treated over equal pay for years.  

Also, bear in mind that Action 4 Equality Scotland which is a relatively small organisation compared to the giant bureaucracy at North Lanarkshire completed this task and provided all the necessary data to the Council weeks ago. 

So, let's cut to the chase and stop all this messing around, otherwise I suspect that this mysterious 'blogger with no name' will have to start involving politicians (local and national) in an effort to persuade North Lanarkshire Council to pull its finger out! 

Council statement on equal pay

Claims calculation procedures explained

A post by a blogger has made a number of allegations regarding the settlement of second wave equal pay claims and it is important that our employees understand the true position.

While the previous joint statement between the parties expressed a hope that individuals would receive settlement offers in the early part of April, this was always desirable rather than guaranteed. The process is that the lawyers for the claimants submit details of each individual offer to the council for checking and we have a responsibility to ensure that each offer is accurate for that claimant.

Once checked, each file is then passed back to the lawyers for the claimants and it is for them to send the offer to their clients. With thousands of offers, this is a labour-intensive process both for the council and for the claimants' lawyers. Both the council and the lawyers for the claimants are working as quickly as possible to ensure that accurate offers are processed and sent to claimants.

We would like to assure our employees that we are not in any way 'dragging our heels'. Our aim is to complete our part of the process as quickly as possible while ensuring that the figures involved are accurate.