More than 1,000 unresolved equal pay claims continue to put Brighton and Hove City Council’s finances at risk, according an auditor’s report.
The issue was flagged up by external auditor Grant Thornton which said that 1,063 legal claims had been lodged in a report to the council’s Audit, Standards and General Purposes Committee this afternoon (Tuesday 23 June).
The GMB union announced that it was lodging an equal pay claim in June 2023 but took some months to provide details.
Today, at Hove Town Hall, Independent councillor Peter Atkinson asked whether the council had any idea of the potential cost.
The council’s finance chief Elizabeth Griffiths said that there was currently no estimate available on how much the claims could end up costing.
And a report to the committee said that any potential liabilities were currently “unquantifiable” as the council prepared to defend itself against the claims.
The report said: “The council has continued to take KC (King’s Counsel) advice on equal pay and also on the council’s transgender toolkit and school admissions arrangements.”
The report added: “The council has a job evaluation scheme against which all jobs are evaluated and keeps under review its pay and allowances structure.
“The council considers that the claims are defensible and has commissioned external legal advice to undertake the detailed analysis and advise the council on potential defences or any potential risks they may pose.
“This process is likely to take at least two years. The council does not therefore currently have any reliable data upon which to make any financial assessment or judgment for inclusion in the statement of accounts and therefore has disclosed this issue as a contingent liability.”
Officials are aware of the outcome at Birmingham City Council where the local authority paid £250 million to settle an equal pay claim. Initially, the cost had been expected to total £760 million.
A Brighton and Hove City Council report said that the gender pay gap in 2025-26 stood at -7.9 per cent because the mean average hourly rate of pay for male employees was £19.05 – and £20.56 for female employees.
The median hourly rate stands at £17.49 for men and £18.68 for women – and nearly two thirds of the council’s almost 5,000 employees are women.
Another thing this failing Labour council has failed to sort and will no doubt leave to the next council administration to resolve. I then predict Labour councillors in opposition having the audicity to finger point blame at those picking up the pieces of the mess they leave behind.
A saving of 119 pennies per hour for ca 3000 women, multiply by a couple of decades then I can’t see any Politician putting his hand up for that one,
Funny the magic money tree is not a problem for everything the Labour council WANTS to do. In other areas, they are spending and borrowing like there is no tomorrow without the ‘budget’ word being evident in many cases. Spending against their expectations of taking over a chunk of Lewes District Council and its land an assets in 2027? They are in for a rude shock if so.
Except they aren’t doing that, at all, and we can see that in the budget papers? It really harms your credibility when you write such unfounded bad faith comments, Tracy.
Bhcc should have been paying people fairly then.