If the rush for Public Sector Regional Pay by the coalition does go ahead I look forward with relish to seeing the first challenge against it in a court of law.
By the Governments own admission, one of the reasons for NHS pay modernisation was to ensure equal pay for work of equal value. This is a follow on (from many other things) such as the Equal Pay Act. Under this act it is currently illegal to pay people different salaries for 'work of equal value' irrespective of where they live in the country.
The Act is meant to apply to a disparity between women and men. However, what will happen when women are paid differently to women in another area (when they do work of equal value) and men with other men etc.
If this happens at the moment it is possible to select a comparitor from another Trust (in a completely different region) to pursue the case in law.
This is how we came to have the Agenda for Change system. The government will have to change current legislation if they want to push this one through. If they don't - bring it on, let's watch the bunfight. I don't think they have thought it through. They will lose.
