A bank is being warned it could face a raft of equal pay claims after a £150,000 payout in a long-running case of a woman who complained of being paid less than a man for doing the same job.

Unite said the former female employee of the Royal Bank of Scotland was paid over £30,000 a year less in pay and benefits than a male counterpart doing the same job over seven years.

She was made redundant in 2017 and was about to take a claim to an employment tribunal when the case was settled, said Unite.

Unite national officer Rob MacGregor said: “This really is a shocking case of unequal pay and undermines the credibility of the employer's supposed 'fair' pay philosophy. It also points to something very wrong within the bank and there is an urgent need for RBS to get its house in order."

Unite assistant general secretary for legal services Howard Beckett said: “We now know that the number of women who received a bonus in 2015 was 20 per cent compared to 39% of men and that a year later the gap widened further still. Unite will be reviewing the implications of this case and won’t hesitate to support further equal pay claims.”

"Unite will be reviewing the implications of this case and won't hesitate to support further equal pay claims."

A bank spokesman said: "We take a fair and inclusive approach to setting pay and career progression and do not pay our colleagues differently for doing the same job because of their gender.

"In this particular case, although we don't agree that any difference in pay was due to gender, we don't think we got things right in certain areas and therefore have agreed a settlement to resolve the matter."