A ROW has broken out between York council chiefs and union bosses after the cost of settling equal pay claims rose by £700,000.

City of York Council now expects to spend £2.3 million in compensating staff who have been under-paid in the past - up from an earlier estimate of £1.59 million.

The rise is due to the authority underestimating how many staff would be eligible for payments, and also changes in case law elsewhere, which have increased how much the authority needs to pay staff.

Council leader Steve Galloway said the escalating costs were a result of "desperately poor" legislation by the Government, which has allowed people to claim equal pay for similar, as well as equal, work - such as office cleaners and road cleaners.

But a dispute has emerged between the council and unions. A report to the council's ruling executive said: "Both the unions and ACAS (who independently advise non-union staff) have praised the council for running the best equal pay process that they have come across."

But Ben Drake, York Unison branch secretary, said it had been a "mixed bag".

He said: "Some elements have been highly unsatisfactory, such as compensation offers made to some of the staff who have been under-paid historically."

Simon Wiles, the council's director of resources, said the comments came from senior Unison reps, and said Mr Drake had, to his knowledge, had almost no involvement in the equal pay process in York.

But Dave Bonner, deputy general convenor of York Unison, said: "Unison have not praised the council on it's running of the equal pay process, on the contrary we have been critical.

"Ben Drake, although not directly involved in negotiations, is briefed by the branch officers who are involved and speaks for the branch."

On the general policy, Coun Galloway said: "While equal pay for equal work is a well-established principle to which we would all subscribe, the legislation has prompted groups to claim equal pay for "similar work."

He added: "If central government intended this then they should have factored the financial consequences into their council grant settlements. They haven't."

Coun Galloway said the increased cost of equal pay settlements would not impact upon services, as money had been set aside in previous years for it.

The report to the council's ruling executive added: "Despite the growing difficulties and complexities of the equal pay issue, the council has already achieved a staff sign-up rate considerably above most other councils."

Mr Wiles said: "We have applied to the Government to allow us to spread costs over several years."

He said the positive comment about the council's organisation of equal pay roadshows for staff was made to the council's chief executive by Unison representative Anne Brown.

Council jobs under threat

JOBS could be lost at City of York Council, depending on the outcome of the authority's job evaluation process.

Council leader Steve Galloway said: "The concern is whether the funding set aside to pay for job evaluation will be adequate. It is the uncertainty surrounding the final outcome that leads me to warn that - in the summer - an above expectations settlement could lead to further job losses.

"As the council's total expenditure is limited by central government, and our income effectively fixed, increasing the pay of one section of the workforce would inevitably lead to reduced funding being available for other sections. We have built up a reserve to fund the phasing in of any awards."

He said unions and management were liaising to address the complex issues.

The council's director of resources Simon Wiles said the job evaluation process involved introducing a points system for giving different jobs a set rating.