COUNCILS across the North-East are wasting about £1m of taxpayers’ money attempting to stop women winning equal pay, according to union bosses.

According to the union Unison, local authorities across the country were spending up to £1.3m each on private barristers and solicitors’ fees and up to £1.2m on their own staff’s time attempting to resist the fight for fair wages.

The union said that a survey of 50 authorities in England and Wales found that more than £11.5m had been spent to obstruct equal pay, and said that the figure was the tip of the iceberg.

The survey revealed that Northumberland County Council had spent £400,000 on external advice, while Hartlepool Borough Council had spent £165,788 since 2003, Gateshead Council had invested £263,165 in external advice in the same period and the now-defunct Derwentside District Council spent £90,000.

Both Middlesbrough Council and Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council have lost legal cases after going to the Court of Appeal in a bid to overturn the ruling. However, no figures were available for their expenditure.

Today, the union, using data supplied through the Freedom of Information Act, has released the figures of some of the free-spending councils.

Dave Prentis, Unison’s general secretary, said: “It is a national disgrace that local authorities are spending so much money on fighting to keep women’s wages down.

“What a waste of money.

Councils are stuffing money into lawyers’ pockets to put off the inevitable. Expensive lawyers are raising tiny technical points and fighting issues the councils have already been advised they will lose.

“Cases drag on for years and women have died by the time legal arguments are resolved.

Taxpayers’ money is being poured down the drain and low-paid women continue to be underpaid for jobs that society simply couldn’t function without.”

Not all councils surveyed returned details of expenditure and some required in excess of £450 for the information.

One of the highest spenders was Sandwell council, in the west Midlands, which paid out more than £1.3m to external solicitors and barristers.

But Jan Parkinson, managing director of the Local Government Employers, has laid some of the blame at the feet of no-win, no-fee solicitors.

She said: “Local government want equal pay within their workforce and are working hard to achieve it, and it is extremely encouraging that more than half of all councils have got the job done.

“Providing a fair settlement on equal pay remains an urgent issue for local councils which must act in the best interests of local taxpayers as well as staff.

“Councils have been hamstrung in their ability to deliver on equal pay agreements as no-win, no-fee lawyers have been holding up the process for many years.”