Kelvingrove Museum to be sold over Glasgow equal pay bill

Glasgow's Kelvingrove Museum and Art Galleries and City Chambers are set to be sold by the city council to settle equal pay claims.

Councillors approved a strategy to sell these and other buildings, valued at about £200 million, to a council-owned property firm and lease them back.

The council still owes millions from a long-running equal pay dispute, mainly involving female workers.

This led to more than 12,000 equal pay claims over a decade.

Campaigners said the scheme led to workers in roles such as catering or cleaning receiving up to £3 an hour less than those in male-dominated areas such as refuse collection.

The case was settled at an estimated cost of £500m in 2019. Finances are now needed to resolve remaining cases - which include some claims made too late to be included in the earlier deal.

Previously a property portfolio - including the SEC Armadillo, City Halls and the Museum Resource Centre - was transferred to the council arm's-length company City Property. These were "re-mortgaged" to release funds to settle pay claims.

Buildings now being considered for the scheme include the City Chambers, Kelvingrove Art Gallery, Gallery of Modern Art (Goma) and Kelvin Hall as well as school campuses at Sighthill and Gowanbank.

They would then be rented back to the council with the cost of the lease designed to meet the loan repayments.

The council hopes to raise about £200m, bringing the total funding available to settle equal pay liabilities to about £270m.

Council leader Susan Aitken said: "Raising these kinds of sums is exceptionally challenging - and the high-profile properties involved, particularly in this second tranche, illustrates that.

"However, the city's historic failures on equal pay come at a price - and releasing the potential of our property, while keeping it in the city's ownership, at least protects services and the future of these valued assets."

Councillors have already approved a strategy to fund compensation offers to claimants represented by Action4Equality, Unison, GMB and Unite.

The council said the buildings would remain in the city's ownership and users would "not see any difference in how they access them on a day-to-day basis".

This is a complex financial deal which allows the council to raise the money it needs to fund equal pay settlements without making any dramatic cuts or savings.

Essentially the ownership of some buildings would be transferred from the council itself to an arm's length body - City Property Glasgow Investments.

The public should not notice any changes to the buildings or how they are used. There is no suggestion of the council leaving the City Chambers or of attractions such as Kelvingrove or the Gallery of Modern Art closing or moving.

Still there is bound to be scrutiny to ensure the deal is good value for the public while the cost of leasing back some buildings will have to be factored into the council's budget.