Recent years have seen thousands of equal pay claims filed in employment tribunals against public sector employers. The latest decision from the Court of Appeal arose from ongoing claims against Redcar & Cleveland and Middlesbrough Borough Councils. The Court of Appeal’s ruling covers a range of issues, the most significant being pay protection.


Case details
Following job evaluations by both Cleveland and Middlesbrough, certain predominantly female roles (in catering and care) were re-graded as equivalent to predominantly male positions (street-sweeping, gardening and refuse collection) but the latter received higher pay. Rather than reduce the pay of these workers, the councils agreed to ‘red circle’ them – preserve them at the same rate – for a period of time.