Next shop workers win equal pay claim

Add to that the unpredictability of customers who are sometimes wonderful but sometimes challenging, she said.

“It’s an enjoyable job, but it’s not easy and it’s really undervalued financially and I just thought ‘it has to stop’,” she told the BBC.

Ms Scarsbrook put in her claim in 2018 and should receive compensation for being paid less than her male counterparts in the warehouse going back six years, to 2012.

It is likely to amount to several thousand pounds, which would let her pay off her car loan, take a “very nice” holiday or perhaps retire, she told the BBC.

Elizabeth George, barrister and partner at the law firm Leigh Day representing the workers, said the ruling would come as a “huge encouragement” to workers in other sectors.

“Retail isn’t the only sector where you have jobs that are divided along clear gender lines and you see the male-dominated market is attracting a higher rate than the female-dominated roles,” she said.

Workers at five of the UK’s largest supermarkets, Asda, Tesco, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and the Co-op, are also pursuing equal pay cases, with the firms using the same arguments as Next around market pay rates to counter them.

Ms George said she believed the judgement could prompt further cases, for example in the care sector, hospitality or construction.

There have already been cases in the public sector over lower pay for workers, including teaching assistants and dinner ladies paid less than men employed in refuse collection and similar roles.