Legal claims over equal pay against Brighton & Hove City Council are set to head to court, meaning the issue could take years to resolve and create ongoing uncertainty over the council’s financial position.
While some councils have settled similar claims, Brighton & Hove is expecting to defend those it faces. Auditing documents indicate that it would base its defence partly on a job evaluation scheme it has carried out.
Kerren Daly, an employment law partner at law firm Browne Jacobson, told LGC that having such a scheme would give a council a better chance of defending a case – but added that litigation could be costly, taking three or four years to conclude. With many councils “vulnerable” to similar issues, Ms Daly recommended that local authorities implement robust job evaluation schemes to help mitigate the risks.
Brighton & Hove is currently facing more than 1,000 claims citing gender pay inequality, and is taking legal advice with the expectation of defending these in court. The council says the cost of the claims is “unquantifiable” – and its auditor estimates that addressing them “is likely to take at least two years”.
The issue dates back to summer 2024, when around 400 legal claims were issued to Brighton & Hove. The union GMB claimed that workers in “predominantly female roles” across the council and schools had been “historically underpaid and are owed millions”.
Months later, GMB accused Brighton & Hove...
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