A pay deal worth £20 million will see low-paid home carers receive a backdated income boost.
Home care staff employed by South Lanarkshire Council will now be paid the same as workers in residential homes after a long-running evaluation of their role and responsibilities that involved a court appeal.
Trade unions including GMB Scotland and the local authority sealed the agreement at the start of this week.
The staff will see a rise of more than £3 an hour which will be backdated from October 2020 when a formal review of the work carried out by the home care workers was triggered by the union.
This will see full-time employees receive payments of around £17,000, as well as any money due from overtime worked during the period.
READ MORE: Win for council home carers after long running battle for equal pay increase
The estimated cost of delivering the backdated pay, supported by the local councillors, is expected to reach £20m.
Going forward the pay rise is also expected to see an additional £7m paid to home carers each year.
The convener of GMB Scotland called the drive by the workers to secure equal pay "inspirational".
Harry Scott said: “We are happy the council has now accepted this pay award should date from the start of the review.
“That is what our members were promised and, as they have shown, they are no longer willing to tolerate broken promises and unfair treatment.
“They have stood united to secure the wages they deserve and their determination to secure equal pay is both admirable and inspirational.”
The union argued that a role once known as “home help” had, in recent years, become far more complex with additional responsibilities, including giving personal care, administering medication and drugs, and assisting with medical procedures.
However, unions had to twice appeal the decision to refuse equal hourly rates for all carers.
GMB Scotland organiser Cara Stevenson said: “Home carers in South Lanarkshire, mostly women, often work alone but came together and stayed together to win a significant victory for them and for care staff across Scotland.
“The acknowledgement that they have the same role and responsibilities as colleagues working in residential care and deserve the same pay will reverberate in councils up and down the country.
“Their refusal to accept anything less than they deserved is a source of admiration and pride.”
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A joint statement released by the council and unions stated: “Following trade union representation, a review of the Home Care job evaluation implementation has successfully concluded.
“The council and trade unions have worked intensively, constructively and positively, in partnership, to achieve an innovative solution to a unique set of circumstances which had never previously arisen.
“This has enabled us to positively re-assess the Home Care job evaluation implementation date, which will now be October 2020, whilst at the same time protecting the integrity of our job evaluation scheme.
“We jointly and creatively addressed how competence verification could be achieved while working towards a Level 3 SVQ, recognising the importance of the work undertaken by Home Carers.”
Sean Baillie, GMB Scotland organiser, said Glasgow City Council had now agreed with HMRC on tax rates to apply to settlements but said thousands of women workers have already waited far too long for pay justice.
He said: “This is a welcome next step and will allow individual settlements to be finalised.
“Given the time these women have already waited to receive wages they worked and fought for, we would expect that to be done with as much urgency as possible.
“Meanwhile, our fight for pay justice continues because there is still a long road ahead to secure a new pay and grading structure that will end inequality and pay discrimination and protects jobs and improves the quality of life for thousands of Scotland’s most crucial workers.”
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