PAT general secretary Philip Parkin said it was 'good news' the Government had again agreed to allow councils further scope for capitalisation of their assets.
Capitalisation is a process in which local authorities are able to borrow against their assets over several years.
The Government issued £500m of capitalisation directions for equal pay back-pay in September 2007 to 46 local authorities in England, allowing councils to settle claims from 100,000 employees, mainly women. In 2006-07 there were 35 equal pay capitalisation applications approved by Government, totalling £160.5m.
Mr Parkin said, 'We need to move more quickly than we have been. In the authorities where we have been involved and where they have offered payments to members, it has worked quite well. But there are still a lot of authorities that have not made progress and we hope this speeds that process up.'
He said there was still concern that cash-strapped councils were trying to heap the financial burden of meeting equal pay awards for nursery nurses and school support staff on to individual schools, forcing them into repayment commitments for years to come.
Dave Prentis, general secretary of Unison, which represents most support staff, said the agreement with the Government 'builds on the funds released last September to allow councils to deal with this long-standing issue.
'Unison believes that collective bargaining, rather than lengthy court action, is the best way to ensure equal and fair pay for all. More councils will now have no excuses for not delivering equal pay for their workforce.'
Local government minister John Healey confirmed the Government will continue to help councils meet their equal pay obligations through a further capitalisation round in 2008-09.