UNION and county council bosses appear to be close to hammering out a deal over the controversial issue of equal pay.

Thousands of Hampshire County Council staff were due to see significant changes to their salaries following a major pay regrading decision announced earlier this year. Some 4,000 workers, mostly men, are due to see their pay reduced while at the same time thousands of women are due to see increases.

Earlier this year after two years of nearly-weekly negotiations with the council, trade unions including Unison, T&G Unite and the GMB, held ballots which overwhelmingly backed action against the measures.

Since then intensive negotiations have resumed and yesterday, after talks in Winchester, Unison, the largest union, said it was hopeful that a deal had now been thrashed out.

Julie Murdoch, branch secretary of Unison, said: "We have finished as far as we can locally. I think both sides are happy. We have to get national approval before we can hold a ballot in which we recommend approval."

Ms Murdoch declined to go into details of the negotiations, but added: "The county has moved. They have made improvements to the package. They have listened to our concerns and been able to compromise. Hundreds of people (who would have lost out) will be better off."

Unison expects to start organising a ballot towards the end of August, with a poll on the new offer due in October.

The county council is keen to settle the dispute because it is legally obliged to implement the outcome of the pay and grading review. The council estimates that some 20 per cent of staff, mainly women, will see bigger salaries, while 65 per cent will be unaffected.

The regrading to close the gender gap has been forced by Government legislation. The winners are mainly lower-paid workers such as cleaners, caterers and care workers who have had their salaries increased by up to £2,500.

The leader of Hampshire County Council, Councillor Ken Thornber, said: "The negotiation meetings have been constructive and positive and good progress has been made to try to reach collective agreement on the outstanding issues."