Cumbria County Council regrets that it has had to withdraw part of its offer to the trade unions of a deal to settle equal pay cases.
In August 2004 Cumbria County Council made a formal offer to the GMB and Unison to settle equal pay claims lodged by some female council staff.
The deal proposed by the county council would have seen the staff affected receive pay increases in April to bring them more into line with better paid counterparts.
Those increases would have been backdated to April 2004 and the staff concerned would also have received lump sums to take account of historical disparities. A substantial amount of money had already been set aside to fund the offer.
However, following the decision taken by the unions to continue to pursue equal pay claims through employment tribunals, Cumbria County Council has been advised to withdraw the offer of lump sum payments and backdated increases.
The pay increases set for April remain in place.
The settlement proposed by the county council would have avoided potentially lengthy and expensive tribunal proceedings and would have provided the employees involved with guaranteed payments this year.
The decision could affect around 4,500 female council employees such as care workers, cleaners and kitchen staff.
Jack Richardson, cabinet spokesman for human resources, said: "I am very disappointed the unions have shunned this deal and pressed ahead with employment tribunals. We had hoped that deal could be agreed and implemented so that we could pay meaningful lump sums to members of staff, many of whom have put in years of valuable service for the county.
"We are not saying that this offer is gone forever, but our legal advice is that the council should not proceed with plans for retrospective payments while employment tribunal proceedings are going ahead."
Cumbria County Council will continue with plans to implement pay rises in April 2005. A full job evaluation study for all council staff designed to ensure equal status among peers is due to be completed in 2007. This is in line with the National Single Status Agreement for public sector employers.