£150m civil servants deal 'offer'

by Mark Devenport
BBC Northern Ireland political editor

It is understood Finance Minister Sammy Wilson has been given approval to make a formal offer

Stormont sources say the Executive has given approval for an offer to be made to the civil service union to settle a long-running dispute over equal pay.

The dispute involves up to 13,000 low paid, mainly female staff who believe they were discriminated against.

It is understood the offer involves the payment of about £150m in back pay and an annual increase in salaries of between £20m and £25m.

It is believed the approved deal will be offered to the Nipsa union shortly.

The union's leadership have already been involved in discussions on the offer, which they are expected to put to a ballot of their membership.

Stormont ministers hope the ballot will take place before Christmas.

A deal would prevent Nipsa proceeding with more than 5,000 pay claims which are currently pending with industrial tribunals.

When asked to comment officially on the negotiations, the finance department would only say: "We are still in discussions with trade union side and it would be inappropriate to say anything further about the progress of this issue at this stage."