Equal pay legislation needs to be radically changed if women are to get a fair deal quickly, the Commission for Equality and Human Rights has warned.

Currently, about 50,000 equal pay cases are being brought by underpaid local council workers, but the commission says this could rise to 150,000 this year, clogging the tribunal system and forcing women to wait years for what is owed to them.

It wants representative actions, where hundreds of cases are heard together.

The commission says such actions could unblock the tribunal system and reduce the number of cases by more than 90%.

Trevor Phillips, chairman of the commission, told the BBC: "These women deserve justice now, not justice in another decade.

"They are the care workers who look after your mum, the dinner ladies who look after your children. Every single one of us would suffer if they didn't put in the hours."

He said the Equal Pay Act, introduced almost 40 years ago, had "reached its sell-by date".