Hundreds of women launch equal pay claim against Barnet Council

London’s first council equal pay claim has today [19th November] had its first court hearing before the Employment Tribunal.

GMB Union and Unison began separate legal actions after the council refused to settle through negotiations.

GMB launched the claim on behalf of hundreds of women working as school support staff at Barnet Council.

They say there are structural pay differences between members of staff working in roles staffed predominantly by women and those roles carried out mostly by men.

If successful, members will be able to claim for up to 6 years’ pay differential, as well as for the time it takes to settle the case.

Lisa Bangs, GMB Senior Organiser, said:

This is the first step to achieving pay justice for Barnet’s school support staff. The council have tried to bury their heads in the sand, but this claim isn’t going away. Our members are determined to fight for what they are owed and ensure this kind of discrimination doesn’t happen again.

Barnet UNISON submitted three collective grievances triggering a borough-wide Equal Pay claim across the London Borough of Barnet, The Barnet Group (TBG) and Barnet Education & Learning Service (BELS) — the council’s two wholly owned arm’s-length companies (LATCs).

Branded “EasyCouncil” during its peak outsourcing years, Barnet now faces an Equal Pay challenge that cuts across council services and its LATCs, echoing the 2023 Glasgow decision confirming that local authority trading companies are not a shield against Equal Pay liability where the council is the single source capable of rectifying pay inequality.

Helen Davies, Branch Chair, Barnet UNISON, said:

Women in Barnet’s schools, care and community services have waited long enough. We’ve now filed Equal Pay grievances with all three employers because the evidence is overwhelming — and because LATC status doesn’t make discrimination disappear. If Southampton, Sheffield and Birmingham can settle multi-million-pound claims, so can Barnet.