COUNCIL bosses have been accused of ‘wasting’ almost £1.3m on legal costs to fight equal pay claims from women employees.

Figures released under the Freedom of Information Act show Cumbria County Council has spent £1,290,748.40 on lawyers since 2002 to resist equal pay claims by care workers, cleaners and cooks.

The authority spent £869,448.03 on private solicitors and barristers as well as £421,300.42 on their own staff’s time and resources, accord-ing to figures obtained by the Unison trade union, which has been fighting for a fair pay deal for thousands of female council workers, and past workers.

Women have been fighting Cum-bria County Council for seven years to have the same pay for doing jobs on the same scale as male colleagues - with several test cases appearing in the courts.

This week, the authority offered individual settlement deals to around 900 Unison members, ranging from £100 to more than £30,000.

“I’m just pleased that Cumbria County Council has decided not to carry on spending the money on lawyers and have instead decided to spend the money on settling the claims,” said Keith Westley, regional officer for Unison.

“Cumbria is doing what it might have done five years ago and saved a million quid.

“What Cumbria tells us is that you spend six years litigating and end up settling the claims anyway.

“I just wish Cumbria had got there five or six years ago.”

Jim Savege, director of organi-sational development at Cumbria County Council, defended the authorities legal costs.

He said the council was defending the taxpayer by ensuring they got the right result in test cases.

“Considerable progress has been made in recent months in settling the equal pay claims made against Cumbria County Council,” he said.

“More than 2,000 employees are now receiving individual settle-ment offers via their unions which would put an end to the protracted litigation process and gives them the concrete reality of cash in their pockets now rather than the prospect of drawing out the legal dispute even further.”

Jim Buchanan, leader of CCC, said he did not believe it was ‘realistic’ for the council not to have fought test cases and to have used the money to settle claims.