UNISON EQUAL PAY CASES

We are no longer acting for UNISON members in relation to the equal pay cases against Glasgow City Council.  UNISON is dealing with the claims and the settlement process.  Please direct any queries to E@unison.co.uk.  The latest update from UNISON is below.

Settlement Update 

Update from UNISON 28 June 2023:

The council has now provided the individual offer information to the manager of the UNISON legal service.  This will now be checked and turned into individual offer packs by the UNISON legal team. Those offers will then be emailed to claimants (or posted to the small number of claimants who have requested that method of communication).

Individual "email offer packs" will be issued next week (3 July), with the postal ones taking a bit longer. The pack will include a detailed Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) including information on the process and timescale for payment.

Your UNISON Stewards will also be briefed on the FAQs and the payment process in the next few days. The trade union will provide individual assistance to members around the payment process if required.

In the meantime, please don't email or call the office this week seeking further information on your individual claim. You will get all the information next week.

Employment Tribunal Claims

The Employment Tribunal Claims are currently 'sisted' (put on hold) so that the settlements can be implemented.  Morton Fraser is no longer acting for UNISON members in relation to their equal pay claims.  If you have not transferred your claim to UNISON yet, your claim could be at risk of being struck out and you will not receive a settlement.  Please direct any queries about this to E@unison.co.uk

If you do not have access to email, please call the equal pay team on (0131) 247 1275 and leave a message setting out the nature of your query and giving your National Insurance number and Tribunal case number if possible.

Strathclyde pension fund (SPF)

All pension re-calculations relating to the settlement in 2019 have now been carried out and checked.  We cannot advise you any further in relation to pension re-calculations. If you still think that there is an issue with your pension please take this up with SPF directly.

Background to the claims 

The claims that were lodged prior to August 2017 were the subject of two successful appeals to the Court of Session, Scotland's highest court.

The first decision made in May 2017 was about the pay protection scheme that the Council brought in during 2006 following the implementation of the Workforce Pay and Benefits Review.  The Court ruled that the pay protection scheme was discriminatory and could not be justified. 

The second decision - in August 2017 - was about the job evaluation scheme that the Council used to value all jobs in the Council and to establish a new pay and grading system under the Workforce Pay and Benefits Review. The Court ruled that the job evaluation scheme was fundamentally flawed, which means that the Council cannot use the scheme as a defence to any equal pay claim. On the 17th of January 2018 the Council decided not to appeal the decision any further. Instead, the Council agreed to talks with the unions regarding settlement and to implement a new job evaluation scheme. The Council agreed to a first round of settlements in February 2019, which settled the majority of claims that were lodged prior to 31 January 2019 for the period up to 31 March 2018. The claims were then put on hold ('sisted') at the Employment Tribunal until the implementation of the new job evaluation scheme (JES). The Council has now agreed to settlement terms for eligible claims. Morton Fraser is not acting for UNISON members in relation to the claims or the settlement and any queries about these matters should be sent to E@unison.co.uk.