Almost £140,000 is being spent by Wolverhampton City Council on bringing in a consultancy firm to work on equal pay proposals, it has emerged.

The city council is recruiting Ways HR Consulting as it hopes its method of working out new pay structures for staff under the national single status agreement will save time and cash.

Agreements are being drawn up by all councils in the Midlands and Staffordshire to iron out pay inequalities. Some workers will see their pay go up while others face large cuts.

The Express & Star revealed last week that Wolverhampton City Council wants to try out a new approach that would see jobs grouped together. Ways HR is to be brought in after the move was approved by the Tory cabinet last night. Cabinet member Councillor Joan Stevenson said: “The contract with Ways HR Consulting will cost £138,600, which will come from the existing single status implementation budget.

“The cost will also be balanced in part by savings from posts in HR which have not been filled this financial year in anticipation of using some external expertise instead.

“Ways HR are being used because of their expertise in job evaluation, the work they have carried out for other councils and specifically because of their unique job allocation process, which will save time and money in implementing single status.”

The new approach could affect up to 9,000 council staff in administrative, professional, technical, clerical and manual roles.