EMPLOYEES of a Teesside council are continuing to receive letters telling them their pay is to be cut.

Workers at Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council have letters stating that their salaries are to be reduced as part of the national Job Evaluation Scheme.

One worker claims the first he knew of his pay cut was when he looked at his pay slip.

The council's chief executive Colin Moore told The Northern Echo in March that a software fault had resulted in up to 300 council employees being put in the grade below the correct one and pledged that the mistakes would be found and corrected.

That figure is now thought to be closer to 500.

But opposition Labour leader George Dunning said he wa still receiving letters from distressed workers told their pay was to be cut.

Some salary cuts are believed to be as much as £7,000.

He said: "There has been little, if any, progress made on clarifying their positions within the last month or so."

Unison's regional officer Mike Hill said: "Unison members are extremely angry and concerned about the implementation of the Job Evaluation Scheme in Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council and in particular the issue of jobs being downgraded as a result of that system.

"Unison would welcome an investigation into the reasons why inaccurate results were sent out in the first place."

Councillor Glyn Nightingale, cabinet member for corporate resources, was unable to confirm whether the communications to council workers about pay cuts had been received in error, but said the concerns would be evaluated and dealt with.

He said: "Out of the 500 staff affected, more than 100 have been re-evaluated and are no longer subject to pay loss.

"All staff who are facing the prospect of being on a lower pay grade will have their situation automatically reviewed.

"We have a protection scheme in place which will protect employees until April 1, next year."