City council to put £27m in reserves to cover potential equal pay claims

The council is facing equal pay claims from members of the GMB union who claim that female workers suffered discriminatory pay practices while working at the authority.

In a statement issued in November 2025, the union suggested that their claims could total “multiple tens of millions of pounds”.

Coventry has since adopted a budget that sets aside £9m every year for the next three financial years to account for "financial risk" arising from the claims.

The budget document noted that the council is "robustly defending the claims," but added that there is "no reliable assessment of the likely success" or financial cost if the claims are successful.

Elsewhere, budget documents said the local authority is "acting prudently with a strategy of building reserves should a liability be the eventual outcome".

According to the BBC, Cllr Richard Brown, Coventry’s cabinet member for finance, said the council was being “prudent” by budgeting for potential equal pay costs.

He also said that he was confident the council would not end up in a similar position to Birmingham City Council, which was forced to issue a section 114 notice in 2023 in the face of equal pay claims that totalled around £760m.

Commenting on the status of the litigation, a Coventry City Council spokesperson said: "There was an equal pay preliminary hearing held on 2 March, with a further two preliminary hearings taking place in June and September ahead of the full hearing which is set for 2 November.

"A preliminary hearing is part of the standard tribunal process in readiness for the full hearing.

"The tribunal process commenced some time ago and a lot of work has been done to prepare for the hearing including careful financial planning for a range of outcomes.”

Adam Carey