Cloisters silk Robin Allen QC has secured compensation for 1,500 women in the UK’s largest ever equal pay case.

Allen, leading fellow Cloisters barrister Paul Epstein, was instructed by trade union UNISON on behalf of the women. They are all NHS employees, including nurses, at the Cumberland Infirmary and West Cumbria Hospital.

Yesterday (Monday, 14 March) the case settled, with each woman expected to receive between £35,000 and £200,000 in compensation for up to 14 years of unequal pay.

The claims were launched eight years ago, and the case compared the women’s work with male comparators. Hours of work, pensions, sick pay, and general pay rates were all included in the comparisons.