Sheffield City Council has announced a pay fairness review after the GMB Union raised concerns about underpayment of women in certain roles last autumn.

The GMB claimed that the council was underpaying women who worked in jobs such as cleaning, caring, and housing allocation and that equivalent roles in male-dominated fields saw higher pay grades.

A representative for the council said: “Over 10,000 roles are being evaluated using the new scheme, including every level at the council and those in community schools.”

The findings from the review indicated that the Council’s current job evaluation system may have led to discrepancies in how jobs were assessed. 

The representative said, “We are absolutely committed to equality, and of course, we investigated this. A full, comprehensive, independent review around how we pay our staff and the scheme we currently use was carried out.”

“As a result of the independent review, a program of work known as the Sheffield Role Review Programme has been established to develop a new system and policy in partnership with trade unions.”

This initiative aims to ensure that all employees are evaluated fairly and impartially, addressing any existing pay disparities across various job roles.

The Council is taking proactive steps by introducing a new job evaluation process using the commonly adopted NJC (National Joint Council) scheme. 

The NJC scheme is designed to promote fairness and transparency in job evaluations, which is essential for building trust among staff. 

The representative said: “The new scheme will reflect changes to how jobs are now carried out to ensure everyone is paid equally for equivalent roles.” 

Employees have been informed about the new job evaluation process this week and will receive regular updates about the progress.

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