The government has been struggling this week to assess the cost to the NHS of a landmark European Court ruling on pension rights.

Thousands of part-time workers excluded from occupational pension schemes can have pension rights backdated to 1976.

The cost across the public sector and private industry could reach£17bn.

Unions believe 'the largest single number of people' affected are 'probably' NHS staff.

A Department of Health spokesperson said it thought up to 70,000 health service staff could be affected, but added: 'We're still working on it. We haven't got a cost yet.'

A spokesperson for the Department of Social Security said it was considering the 'complex issue' and 'looking at the implications for occupational pension schemes'.

Part-time staff working less than half-time were excluded from the NHS pension scheme until 1991.

Under UK and European law, excluding part-time workers from occupational pension schemes constitutes indirect sex discrimination because most such workers are women.

UK equal pay law limits a worker's right to backdate membership of a pension scheme to two years.

But the European Court of Justice ruled last week that pension scheme rights are covered by EU treaty rights and can therefore be backdated to 1976.

It considered 22 test cases covering 60,000 other part-time workers in the cases Shirley Preston and others v Wolverhampton Healthcare NHS trust and others and Dorothy Fletcher and others v Midland Bank plc .

Unions welcomed the ruling. Unison head of employment rights Adam Creme said: 'We've waited a long time for this.'

The union had pursued claims through employment tribunals, employment appeal tribunals, the Court of Appeal and the House of Lords - which referred the case to the European Court.

'Employers who previously discriminated against part-timers in pensions will now have to pay their fair share of the cost, 'he said.

There were 'several thousand' Unison members' claims outstanding in the NHS, he added.

Roger Kline, head of health at MSF, said: 'This is another step forward for women in the NHS. The tragedy is it has taken so long for part-time staff in the NHS to get fair treatment.'

Both unions were hoping that, following a final decision on the test cases by the House of Lords, claims could be handled as a group.

'We'll be expecting that all the other cases will follow by negotiation with the DoH, ' said Mr Kline. 'It would be a complete waste of time to discuss them with the individual trusts.'

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