Compensation files: Wakefield Council forced to pay out thousands in sex discrimination and 'injured feelings' cases

The pair got nearly £4,000 between them from Wakefield Council after their cases, which were brought on the issue of equal pay, were taken to an arbitration committee.

One staff member received £2,744 in compensation, while the other got a £1,158 payout.

Both cases were settled between April 2015 and March 2017, but have only now come to light under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act.

Data released by the council showed it paid out £2m in compensation claims over a five-year period. Just under half of that figure was covered by insurance, though the sex discrimination payouts were not.

In another case, one ex-council employee got a £1,000 payout following a tribunal after claiming they'd suffered "injured feelings".

The same year, a separate £2,500 settlement was reached with a former worker who'd taken a constructive dismissal case to court.

The council said it was unable to offer further details on the cases because of confidentiality clauses.

In other payouts, a further £7,500 was spent on settling fallouts from a series of four data protection breaches.

In one of those cases, the council acknowledged causing "psychological problems" and "mental anguish" as a result of one of the breaches.

Neil Warren, the local authority's chief finance officer, said: “The council has seen a steady fall in the number of liability claims received on a year by year basis, which is understood to be in line with most authorities.

“It is important to us to learn lessons from any claims received so we can work to provide the best experience for our customers and employees. We also work with advisers to identify and learn from specific incidents or trends.

“The council works to national guidelines and any financial settlement reached outside of tribunal/court is negotiated on a commercial interest basis to resolve matters in line with our financial procedures and also in line with nationally recognised benchmarks for recognising and calculating such claims."

Local Democracy Reporting Service