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Social workers and other care staff are losing out on pay increases because local authorities are stalling on a national job agreement drawn up four years ago.

Only 5 per cent of councils have implemented the single status agreement, which requires employers to evaluate jobs and re-grade pay accordingly.

Social care professionals are set to benefit from the agreement because most methods of job evaluation set a high value on work which involves front-line contact, difficult working conditions, unsociable hours, specific skills and knowledge.

Around 20 out of the 410 local authorities have implemented the scheme, with some 200 still in the process of doing so.

Lesley Skinner, head of local government services at the Employers' Organisation, which represented councils in negotiations with unions on the agreement, said cost and fear of upheaval might be contributing to slow progress. She added that councils were prioritising other initiatives such as Best Value.

Vic Citarella, workforce consultant at the Local Government Association, claimed that implementation was difficult because local authorities had insufficient resources for both pay rises and improving services.

"The outcome will be either more money and less service, or greater cost to the national purse; or it could lead to more outsourcing and potentially greater privatisation," he said.

Unison has threatened to bring equal pay claims against local authorities that do not begin the process soon. The single status agreement sought to tackle pay differences between jobs requiring comparable levels of skill or knowledge in local authorities. Many in social care, although highly skilled, are poorly paid and are traditionally done by women. Local authorities could face pay-outs of thousands of pounds if the current situation is challenged in court.

Unison's head of local government, Malcom Wing, said that when the agreement was drawn up there was a recognition that if it was not implemented quickly, local authorities would face equal pay claims.

"We're saying to councils: either put money in now, or there's an equal pay timebomb waiting to go off," he said.

But Ian Johnston, director of the British Association of Social Workers, said some members felt they would not get better conditions out of single status. He said councils were forced to cut other benefits to fund the process. "If councils have to find other ways of making savings, then benefits will go, such as overtime," he said.

East Riding Council in Yorkshire was one of the first local authorities to implement single status evaluation, finishing the process last summer.

According to Chris Jenkinson, Unison's regional officer for north east Yorkshire, 65 per cent of employees received pay increases, adding around £1 million to the council's wage bill. Prior to the job evaluation a qualified social worker started on around £20,000. After the deal's implementation this figure rose to some £23,500. Those council employees who received pay cuts had their salaries protected for two years.

In north Lincolnshire unions are finalising a pay deal with the council which will see 34 per cent of workers receive increases.

But implementation in north east Lincolnshire was less successful. One hundred workers staged a one-day strike in June after job evaluation resulted in pay cuts of up to £6,000 for some, and no salary protection was offered. The council has been forced to withdraw the offer and restart negotiations.