Birmingham City Council’s ongoing Equal Pay crisis has further developed, as in today’s Full Council meeting, the Labour Administration admitted it will fail to comply with it’s own decision – taken on the 12th of October 2023 – to respond to the issuing of S114 & S5 notices by carrying out a job evaluation study and implement a new pay structure by the given target date. This will result in the potential liability continuing past current forecasts and have a further financial impact on the Council.
The Labour Administration will fail to deliver the planned job evaluation study by the target date of the 1st of April 2025. Birmingham Local Conservatives today issued an amendment to the report announcing this failure, stating “The decision of Employment committee confirms that only the pay structure element of this will be completed by this date, leaving an ongoing liability for the council. Council believes that all members should be informed of the financial impact of the delay to the job evaluation study and the date by which this will be fully resolved”. The amendment was rejected by Labour
Cllr Ewan Mackey (Con, Sutton Roughley), Deputy Leader of the Opposition and Birmingham Local Conservatives, said:
Frankly, it was insulting to present this paper to councillors from all parties today. It says nothing of value and has no plan of action to deal with the Administration’s admission that Labour will miss their 1st of April 2025 target. That failure, in previous council papers, was linked to a continuation of the potential liability’s growth of up to £14 million a month.
The Birmingham Mail asked in 2018, 'Why is Birmingham City Council so addicted to secrecy?' We are now starting to understand why, and the truth is dire I'm afraid. Every councillor needs to know what the impact of this will be, and we need to know when the work will be done. The Leader of Council promised openness and transparency - it's time he made good on that promise.
Cllr Robert Alden (Con, Erdington), Leader of the Opposition and Birmingham Local Conservatives added:
If the equal pay liability is still going up by £ 14 million every month then we need to know when the work to stop this will be completed. What potential liability are we now looking at? Without a target date for the work to be done, there is no end in sight for this equal pay crisis.
Important notes
- Full Council papers, Supplemental, dated 12th October 2023, on the subject “Pay Equity System”:
- 1A: That the job evaluation process set out in this document and any changes to terms and conditions of employment must be completed and implemented by 1 April 2025 otherwise potential liability will increase further.
- Council Business Management Committee papers, dated 1st September 2023 on the subject “Pay Equity System”:
- 4.1: Close monitoring of the milestones and delivery of job evaluation is critical to achieve the implementation deadline of 1st April 2025.”
- Full Council papers, dated 5 December 2023, on the subject “The Birmingham City Council Equal Pay Programme Update”:
- 1.1: “… This Document laid out the next steps and expectations for the delivery of The Equal Pay Programme by the 1st April 2025.”
- 1.2: “Since the time of signing the Equal Pay Programme team (the team) has gone through significant change and is currently being fully resourced and re-established with new leadership and workstream structure.”
- 4.8: “Formal analyst training starts on 8 January 2024. The Addendum envisaged that this would have started by the 31st October 2023 … This date was also conditional upon having agreed 50 benchmark roles with the trade unions.”
- 7.1: “In June 2023, the Council published that its potential equal pay liability could be in the region of £650m-£750m to the period ending 31 March 2025. … If this is not done by 31 March 2025, the Council’s potential liability could continue to accrue at the rate of between £5m-£14m per month. Therefore, it is imperative that a job evaluation study is conducted, a new pay structure created, and new terms and conditions are implemented by no later than 1 April 2025. On 25 July 2023, Cabinet approved a budget of up to £20m to fund an expedited job evaluation programme. This budget was to be funded from the Policy Contingency Fund”.
- Report to City Council, dated 3 December 2024, titled “Update on Equal Pay: Pay and Grading – Report from Employment Committee”:
- 4.1: “At the current rate of delivery of completed job evaluations, there will be a delay against the agreed delivery date of 1 April 2025, which is being addressed.”
- 5.1: “No new risks or issues have emerged that would impact on the ability to implement a refreshed pay and grading framework by 1 April 2025.”
- 6.2: “Formal Consultation with our three recognised Trade Unions (GMB, UNISON, and Unite the Union) officially commenced on 6 November 2024.
