COUNTY council bosses have admitted there will be losers from a massive pay review of its staff - which could add £17million to their wage bill.

But they claim they will “learn from the mistakes” of other councils, where the job evaluation process has proved hugely controversial.

In a massive task that could add £17million to County Hall’s £350million wage bill, about 30,000 workers will have their salaries reassessed as part of a long-term bid to bring similar jobs into the same wage bracket.

All County Hall staff except for teachers and the highest-earning officers will be affected.

Most have already been interviewed by specially-trained staff who will use the information to draw up a new pay structure.

Carol Mills, the county council’s director of HR, said the jobs would be re-evaluated by the end of March, with the new pay structure finalised next Autumn.

She said: “Staff are worried, and it doesn’t matter what we say to them because they have seen what’s happening in the rest of Lancashire.

“But we are doing whatever we can to try and manage that”.

County Coun Tom Burns, cabinet member for organisational development, said he hoped the margins by which salaries would go up and down would be smaller than in other authorities.

And he insisted services would not be hit by the budget for job evaluation claiming cash had already been set aside.

Unions have already expressed concern at the time the county council is taking to carry out the process, and have threatened to challenge previously-agreed pay settlements if more deadlines are missed.

Jim Moodie, of Unison, said: “There has been no agreement reached on a whole raft of things”.