TOWN halls and health authorities face having to pay out more than £1 billion as tens of thousands of women workers embark on equal pay claims.

The Convention of Scottish Local Authorities has estimated that equal pay claims will cost its members £560m.

And health unions predict that as many as 100,000 female NHS staff may be in line for backdated pay.

At least 8,000 council workers in England and Wales have lodged claims with tribunals which, if successful, would be worth an average of £15,000 each.

Meanwhile, the GMB union has sent letters raising the issue to NHS Greater Glasgow, NHS Lanarkshire, NHS Argyll and Clyde, NHS Tayside, NHS Fife, NHS Grampian, and NHS Forth Valley. Unison said it also expected to take up test cases with the NHS in Scotland.

The multi-million-pound bills may leave some NHS trusts and health boards near insolvency, while councils will have to raise council taxes or take out large loans.

The Scottish executive has refused to bail out health boards and councils, which were last month blamed by finance watchdogs for the crisis that threatens to plunge town halls across the country into “financial meltdown”.

The Scottish parliament’s finance committee accused local authorities of wasting more than £500m by failing to implement an equal pay deal signed seven years ago.

Giving evidence to the committee, Tom McCabe, the minister for public sector reform, questioned the performance of council chief executives. “Were they discussing the fact that there was a growing problem that would have to be resolved, or were they just looking the other way? I don’t know,” he said.

In England, John Prescott’s Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) has refused to provide further financial assistance to councils while Patricia Hewitt’s health department insists it is not setting aside contingency funds for potential bills.

The women want the same pay as male workers who are on a similar pay scale.

They will capitalise on a landmark £60m payout made by an NHS trust last year and the fact that 11 councils in northeast England have already agreed settlements worth £100m with some 30,000 women employees, including cleaners, clerical staff, care assistants and catering workers.

Despite the introduction of the equal pay act in 1970, women working full time still earn on average 17% less per hour than men.

The ODPM, however, is refusing to help councils foot the bill, insisting “the onus is on local government to resolve the issue of equal pay in an affordable manner”.

Mick Brodie, chairman of the North East Regional Employers Organisation, said: “Whitehall needs to wake up and see we’ve got a crisis on our hands and give councils the support and resources they need. Local authorities are having to spend large sums of money they haven’t got.”

More than 1,500 women health workers in North Cumbria won £60m in an equal pay battle last year.

They were each given payouts of between £35,000 and £200,000, which were backdated by up to six years.

The Department of Health agreed to bail out the trust due to its “exceptional circumstances”, but insisted it has no plans to pay for future claims against NHS trusts.

Times Recommends

• Charles blazes trail as sun king
• Thalidomiders win payout 50 years on
• Libel gag on talk of 'medical hurricane'