WOMEN get paid less for working the same hours as their male colleagues at Herefordshire Council.

A meeting of the Full Council heard that a gender pay gap saw female staff receive 85p for every £1 paid to men.

Barbara Shore brought up the statistic when asking what the local authority would be doing to ensure there was a level playing field in the future.

Councillor Nigel Shaw, the Cabinet member finance and corporate services, said positive discrimination might ensure more women secured higher ranking positions but added that this might not necessarily provide value for money for tax payers.

"Statistics give answers to everything but solutions to nothing," he added.