GLASGOW City Council chiefs are still dealing with hundreds of equal pay claims, a new report has revealed.
Watchdogs at the Accounts Commission praised Scotland’s largest local authority for its handling of the dispute, which will cost the council £505 million to settle.
A report examining how the council dealt with the equal pay claims said it had “successfully delivered a challenging and complicated project within a relatively short period of time”.
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By the end of August last year, the council had settled more than 98% of claims, with payments being made.
But the report said that at the end of November 2019, there were still approximately 150 equal pay settlements outstanding. These related to “instances where the case has been difficult to finalise”, including where the women involved have not returned signed agreement forms, or the claimant has died and the council has to work with their estate or executor.
The Accounts Commission stressed: “The council is committed to finalising all outstanding settlements in so far as it reasonably can.”
A claimant group, which included the unions GMB, Unison and Unite as well as Action 4 Equality, reached the deal with the council last year.
That came after around 8000 Glasgow council workers walked out on strike for 48 hours in October 2018 in a bid to settle the long-running pay claim.
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