Equal Pay and the Gender Pay Gap Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateVicky Foxcroft
Main Page: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham North)Department Debates - View all Vicky Foxcroft's debates with the Department for Education
(9 years, 1 month ago)
Commons ChamberI am not an expert on North Lanarkshire Council, but I would say, in relation to Scotland, that the pay gap has increased while the Scottish National party has been in government. That is a worry and it goes against the trend.
One woman who works in childcare won her equal pay claim after years of being paid less than men working in jobs that required fewer skills. She told me:
“I’d got a fair amount of money through the payout, but all of those years I struggled to pay my bills and the debt I was in as a low-waged woman worker…all those years I was in debt to credit card companies, even though I had been to college for two years. I’d got qualifications; it was a vocation not a job. And I think what would my life have been like if I’d been paid a fair wage?”
Winning an equal pay claim has never been easy. Equal pay claims make up only a fraction of employment tribunal claims. The Government have made the task even harder with the introduction of tribunal fees, which have led to a 69% fall in equal pay claims. Fewer women are accessing justice to challenge pay discrimination.
Does my hon. Friend agree that it is crucial that cost never acts as a barrier to justice?