A council scrapped long-service pay awards because they are unfair to some workers.

Lawyers have told Crawley Borough Council that rewarding loyal workers who have spent at least 10 years with the authority with extra pay could be construed as discrimination under the Equality Act.

Councillors will vote on the proposal – but as Crawley is one of the few local authorities paying the bonus in the UK, it’s likely they will give the thumbs down.

Instead of earning a pay hike at 10, 15, 20 25 and 30 year terms of service with the council, all workers will have a pay rise of £250, plus an extra £250 will be given to staff earning less than £21,000 a year.

The council has paid the long service bonus since 1980. Amounts range from £188 a year for staff clocking up 10 years with the authority to £1,477 for those with 30 year’s service. The money was paid to entice staff to stay with the council instead of leaving for better pay and conditions elsewhere.

Lawyers suggest the payments could be considered discriminatory. Staff and unions were asked for their opinion and despite just over half of employees voting in favour of keeping long-service pay, the union, Unison, refused to sign an agreement.

“A consultation took place from July to October this year on the removal of the council’s long-service pay scheme and proposed compensation for the staff affected by this,” said a council spokesman.

“Different levels of long-service pay are paid to approximately 300 staff who have been with Crawley Borough Council for 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 years.

“However, we are one of the only local authorities in the country with such a scheme and the legal advice we have received is that the scheme is discriminatory and contravenes the Equality Act.

“This month, a ballot of Unison members opted to agree to the proposed changes. Unison accepts that the scheme contravenes the act. This agreement means that no members of staff will have their contracts terminated.”