West Dunbartonshire Council's apprentices' pay is in spotlight

Jul 10 2009 by Marc McLean, Lennox Herald (main ed)

A REVIEW of the salaries of West Dunbartonshire Council’s apprentices is looking likely.

This comes after a council report revealed a huge gap in pay for youngsters training for different roles.

A first year administration apprentice is paid just £6533 per year while construction apprentices earn almost double at £11,385.

At last week’s full council meeting, Councillor Gail Casey said: “How do you justify the difference in wages between an admin apprentice and a construction apprentice?

“In these days of equal work and equal value, I don’t understand the discrepancy in salaries between these roles.”

Council officer Jim McAloon, who helped prepare the report for councillors, said: “It was only when we were asked to do this piece of work that we found this discrepancy.

“We are investigating it with our human resources colleagues.”