A FINAL judgement on a long-running legal dispute between female workers and a council over equal pay will be made in the coming weeks.

Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council became the first in the region to sign a deal for single status for its staff, with nearly 2,000 workers sharing a £3.5m payout.

The Single Status Agreement raises some predominantly female jobs, such as cleaners, to the same salary as predominantly male jobs.

But 283 staff declined to accept the payout, wanting the scheme backdated for six years, and lodged claims at an employment tribunal.

Many workers engaged Tyneside solicitor Stefan Cross to get a better settlement.

Council chief executive Colin Moore believes successful appeals against tribunal rulings meant likely awards to claimants and the cost to the council have reduced.

At a tribunal next month, the council will argue that home care workers and kitchen assistants must be treated not as equal pay claims, where women have been on the same pay grades and paid differently, but as equal value claims.

This would mean women who are on different pay levels to men would have to prove their work is of equal value, which often leads to lengthy legal battles.

Mr Moore said that if the council wins the case, the maximum payout faced by the council this year could be less than £500,000 to 91 claimants.

Mike Hill, of the Unison union, criticised Mr Cross, saying he had tried to wreck the implementation of single status.

He said: "People's expectations have been falsely raised. Stefan Cross has promised sums of money in the region of tens of thousands of pounds, immediate pay rises and increased pensions."

Mr Cross denied exaggerating the figures. He said: "We will have to wait and see what happens in September."