Package costs pounds10.5m

Councils across Scotland agreed to implement equal pay deals backin 1999.

The "single status" deal aimed to achieve parity betweendifferent groups of council workers.

Traditionally female-dominated jobs had been lower paid than male-dominated ones.

Aberdeen City Council was one of the first council's to attemptimplementing it.

But it sparked outrage in 2005 and was forced to go back to thedrawing board.

The current package is costing the council pounds10.5 million.

In 2006 about 3,000 employees were offered compromise paymentsacknowledging they had been unfairly paid in the past. In effectthis prevented them from taking the council to an employmenttribunal for back-pay.

The previous deal cost the council an estimated pounds17 million,and to recoup the money it sold land at Altens, West Tullos and EastTullos in a pounds60 million deal.