Policy paper. When local government employers met earlier this week to issue their revised pay offer of 1.75% - an increase of 0.25% that UNISON regards as 'insignificant' - they did so against a backdrop of growing discontent over a proposed increase that fails to reflect the hard work and sacrifices made by council and school workers during the pandemic. Its a scandal that people doing some of the most important jobs in our society are dealing with this cost-of-living crisis whilst living with chronically low pay. Ms Cooke spoke of the continuing challenge that we face in ensuring that the [National Joint Council] pay spine is able to absorb the impact of significant annual increases to the national living wage. The policy delivers an above-inflation headline pay increase of one per cent to all those earning between 25,000 and 80,000 and, to reduce the overall income gap, a capped increase of 800 for those earning above 80,000. At a time of economic crisis for millions of people, with the cost of living spiralling out of control there should be clarity and leadership from Government, and it is disappointing that your department has chosen to ignore such an important issue. Jon Richards, Rehana Azam, Jim Kennedy The National Employers have today made the following one-year offer to the unions representing the main local government NJC workforce: With effect from 1 April 2021, an increase of 1.50. Help build the union in your workplace: You can find resources to help you at the. Posted incouncil and school staffNJC payPay up now NJC Resources Resources Terms and Conditions | Built by 89up, Latest bulletin for local government workers: NJC 2022 PAY OFFER, ministerial.correspondence@levellingup.gov.uk. Over the last year GMB members working in councils, local government and schools have shown how indispensable you are. Policy paper. The headline results are as follows: 45% of respondents would be willing to accept a 10% pay increase to at least maintain standard of living, with the mean settlement across all responses being 7.4% Naomi Cooke, Employers Secretary, wrote to council chief executives last month warning of the unhelpful delay in finalising the 2021 pay round due to the unions protracted timetables for consultations and ballots. Work in a Local Authority? GMB will meet with sister unions tomorrow and have arranged a GMB senior reps of the GMB Local Government and Schools Committees to discuss the final pay offer on Tuesday 10th August 2021. Please note in this NJC circular we have focused on the need for all risk assessments to be updated as restrictions are lifted in England today. Date: 15/07/2021 GMB is now asking you to vote to accept or reject the pay offer at 1.75% (please note pay point 1 will be increased by 2.75%), What happens next is up to you. With the increasing prices and the cost of living rising to an all-time high, this failure is hitting hard. The success of busting the pay freeze was down to members coming together to take an active role in campaigning for pay justice and we need your help again in achieving this. Council employees have been offered a pay increase of 1.50 per cent from 1 April 2021. GMB Senior reps across Local Authorities, Schools and Academies will be meeting on Wednesday 3rd August 2022. We expect a formal response is coming soon so we are gearing up to ensure that all GMB members have a say on their pay. The pay negotiations will also be influenced by shifting government policy. SW1P 4DF, Sent by email: ministerial.correspondence@levellingup.gov.uk. This includes 1 billion of new grant funding in 2023-24 and 1.7 billion in 2024-25, further flexibility on council tax, and savings from delaying the rollout of adult social care charging reforms. Some Democrats and federal employee unions have urged lawmakers to adopt a more generous . The employer has since considered this and increased it by 0.25% to 1.75%. National Secretary, From 1 April 2023, the National Living Wage (NLW) will increase by 9.7 per cent to 10.42 an hour for workers aged 23 and over. Rt Hon Simon Clarke MP Taxes for the NHS and social care should be raised from other sources better able to pay. Local government pay is negotiated between the National Joint Councils employer and union representatives. We recognise that local government is facing a range of inflationary pressures including those relating to pay. "Pay from 2021 is being backdated to last April. An Academy? GMB Union operates nationally and also locally through 7 regional offices. At the end of last year, the Low Pay Commission - which advises the government on the National Living Wage wage - had said the rate would rise by 6% in April 2021. The employers have now met and considered this request carefully and the decision was made to reaffirm the offer as their full and final position. The dispute between unions and councils comes as National Insurance payments are set to rise from next April, with the UK. The National Employers have today made the following one-year offer to the unions representing the main local government NJC workforce: The employers have also proposed that the NJC begins immediate exploratory discussions on three other elements of the claim, as follows: However, there was no support from councils for the offer to include thee other elements of the unions claim, therefore the employers have rejected the following: The employers also rejected the element of the claim that seeks, a joint review of job descriptions, routes for career developments and pay banding for school support staff as these are matters entirely for local determination rather than by the NJC. HB14 also provides a $2-per-hour shift differential . FAO: Members in England, Wales, & Northern Ireland. Please ensure your details are up to date as only GMB members will get a vote in our ballot. But, for so many workers in the public sector, every day is a real struggle, and its getting worse. GMB urges Local Government employers to get back round the table and improve the pay offer NOW. Thank you to all GMB members for taking the time to vote in the recent Indicative Industrial Action Ballot. Thank you to the tens of thousands of GMB members that took part in the Have Your Say On Your Pay Local Government and Schools Consultative ballot across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In addition, your National Local Government and Schools Committees will meet in the New Year to discuss what steps we take in this pay campaign. This equates to 10.50% for SCP1 and no less than 4.04% for SCP43. At Spending Review 2021, the Government set out that councils in England will receive. We asked all members - working in town halls, schools, academies and across local government - who would be affected by the offer, what you thought. This circular sets out pay restoration due on 1 July 2021 as provided for in the Public Service Pay and Pensions Act 2017 ('the Act') You will be aware that the employers made a pay offer of 1.5% for 2021. Surveys by XpertHR, a research group, point to a median pay award of 3 per cent for 2022, with the bottom quartile of employers offering up to 2.5 per cent. It will affect around 1.5 million employees. Its not just GMB that is shouting about this. The response from the employers side was to refuse to do this having already stated that it was the final offer. However, the turnout did not meet the legal threshold required to take industrial action on a national level although a number of branches across the country have demonstrated the level of support which does give us a range of options to escalate the dispute if further talks are not successful. Compensation costs for state and local government workers increased 4.8 percent for the 12-month period ending in December 2022, compared with an increase of 2.6 percent in December 2021. At a time of rising inflation, high energy costs and increased mortgage and rent payments our members deserve a fully funded, inflation linked pay rise. Its been a tough year for so many people, especially for everyone who has worked so hard keeping the countrys public services going. c/o UNISON Centre The NJC trade unions acknowledge the financial situation faced by councils and schools, and for that reason we have written to employers to propose a joint campaign with employers bodies, calling for additional funding from Westminster for local government pay. Following a review of our capital budgets, general capital funding for local government for 2022-23 will be set at 150m. Public sector workers and the people of our country deserve better. Housing & Communities The more people who join GMB, the stronger we are! However, it is understood most councils have been unable to get the pay award processed before next month's payday, when it will be subject to the new headline 1.25% national insurance rise. GMB members, many of them in schools working with the most vulnerable pupils, deserve to be paid a decent wage and yet the local government workforce is on average the lowest paid. The government's '3% pay rise' is a cut in real terms for nurses. "With 55% of local government workers earning below 25,000 per annum, low pay remains a significant issue and this year's settlement must not only protect workers from steep increases to. However, the Government would expect councils to take into account wider public sector pay awards and overall affordability when negotiating the pay settlement. This means all members will now get a vote to decide on whether to take strike action to stop these pay cuts. It was barely above inflation a year ago. Employers are encouraged to implement this pay award as swiftly as possible. Please also ensure your membership details are correct and you can update any changes here. The more people who join GMB, the stronger we can make your work better, Organise a workplace meeting or email us and we will organise one at publicservices@gmb.org.uk. The 2023-24 rate peg also includes an adjustment for the change in the superannuation guarantee in 2021-22. . In the recent GMB 2022/23 pay consultation, 67% of members voted to accept the pay offer. Our members in schools are perhaps the best example: while it was often said that schools were closed during the lockdowns it was school support staff who went into schools to provide education for vulnerable children and the children of key workers, while infection rates were extremely high and before there was any protection from a vaccine. This will help us build a high skilled, high productivity, high wage economy. Whilst voting in this ballot was set against an unprecedented time with members fighting Covid-19 and keeping communities' safe turnout was the best it could be under these circumstances. The government has announced that the qualified pay freeze in the public sector is over, and although this never applied directly to local government, it was a factor considered by some councils and reflected in recent years consultations. It was barely above inflation a year ago. 2022/23 Local Government & Schools Pay offer is for one year and it is as follows: The employers have already agreed to complete the work of the joint term-time only review group and have begun discussions on homeworking policies but are not prepared to discuss a homeworking allowance. Under the NJC constitution, if two unions accepted, the deal could have been signed off and paid before April to ensure you get all the money. Given the experience of the past twenty-one months, all councils should already have flexible working policies that set out protocols for employees whose roles readily lend themselves to working at home and we expect those arrangements to now be kicking in again. 3. Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, local government and council workers have kept the country going, working above and beyond the call of duty, putting themselves and their families at risk to support the effort against Covid-19. Pay is ultimately an issue for local councils, and it is the responsibility of employers to make an assessment on what is affordable within the overall available resources. Employers need to continue to work with our reps locally. The rate peg is the maximum percentage amount by which a council may increase its general income for the year. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT THAT YOU VOTE GMB IS CAMPAIGNING FOR A HUGE TURNOUT TO DEMONSTRATE TO YOUR EMPLOYERS WE WONT ACCEPT FURTHER PAY CUTS. GMB alongside sister unions have written to the employers setting out our disappointment and seeking reasons of this U-turn. Full details of the offer can be found here. Local Government workers know they need a proper pay rise and this isnt it. 4. The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities will set out plans for funding allocations in 2023-24 through the upcoming Local Government Finance Settlement. . Full time (20hr+/week) 14.57 per month, Part time: (20hr-/week) 8.40 per month, If you work term-time hours only, you might be eligible to pay the part-time membership rate, so ask your region. Meanwhile, some councils in London and the East of England are bracing themselves for strike action for a week this month by workers represented by Unite, which told LGC the names of the places where strikes would take place had not yet been finalised. Local Government employers have only tabled a 1.75% pay offer. There are no nationally determined jobs or pay grades in local government, unlike in other parts of the public sector.-ENDS-, Local Government Association company number 11177145, Membership and services for councils and councillors, LGA principal advisers and regional teams, Licences, regulations and trading standards, A substantial increase with a minimum of 10% on all spinal column points, Introduction of a homeworking allowance for all staff who are working from home, A national minimum agreement on homeworking policies for all councils, A reduction of the working week to 35 hours with no loss of pay, and a reduction to 34 hours a week in London. NW1 2HD. The delay in getting the pay rise out to employees is being blamed on union procedures. "That's why the chancellor must free up the funds in the spring statement for an above-inflation rise for all staff. Recent developments On 27 October 2021, the Autumn Budget and Spending Review 2021 announced that public sector workers would receive "fair and affordable" pay rises across the 2022/23 to 2024/25 Spending Review period. Story updated 27 May 2021. The National Employers, who negotiate pay on behalf of 350 local authorities in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, made the offer to unions today. However, the Government recognises that inflation is higher than it was when these budgets were set and is committed to supporting councils to deliver high-quality public services. By comparison, most council social workers in England are expected to get a 1.75% pay increase for 2021-22, though unions are still in dispute with the National Employers for local government services over their pay offer. The employers 1.75% offer is wholly inadequate and with energy bills skyrocketing, shopping bills going up, and inflation high and rising, it represents yet another pay cut for workers who have seen a quarter of the value of their pay wiped out since 2010. Published 28 February 2022. It agrees an annual uplift to the national pay spine, on which each individual council decides where to place its employees. Otherwise, local government and education employees will quit for sectors paying better rates.". Three quarters of GMB members balloted (75%) have voted to reject the pay offer. We would like to apologise for the delay in sending this out considering that the ballot closed on 13th December. Any offer that is accepted will be back dated to 1st April, 2020. 27 October 2021 The National Living Wage (NLW) will rise to 9.50 from 1 April 2022. The more people who join GMB, the stronger we can make your work better. As a result of this, GMB informed the employers of our rejection and asked for the offer to be improved. Local government employees will lose some of their backdated 2021 pay rise - because "protracted" union tactics mean it will be subject to April's national insurance increase. Not had a vote contact publicservices@gmb.org.uk, The indicative ballot closes at 12 noon on Monday 13TH December 2021, and the result will be posted on the GMB website as soon as possible thereafter, along with notification to all members. A debt limit increase under unified Democratic government in 2010 even included the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, a fiscally responsible piece of legislation serving as a backstop to deficit increases caused by Congress that, unfortunately, has never been allowed to go into effect. Council employees have been offered an improved pay increase which will add 328m to the local government pay bill. And as the unions begin consulting their members this week on the 2022 pay, there are also concerns negotiations will be particularly difficult this year. Please see latest agreed Local Government NJC Circulars | GMB. Under the claim, the pay of the lowest paid workers would go above 10 per hour - lifting them above the real living wage of 9.50 per hour (outside London). A 23 or 24-year-old paid the current full national minimum wage rate of 8.20 an hour will need to be paid at least the NLW rate of 8.91 an hour. From school support staff to refuse workers, from town hall workers to social workers. This could either mean continuing to seek further talks with the employers or moving to an Industrial Action Ballot campaign. As Government departments now face being tasked with identifying efficiency savings, GMB cannot express strongly enough how unacceptable further cuts would be. Join todaywww.gmb.org.uk/join, Want information about being a GMB Rep in your workplace? Because of the employers refusal to increase the offer, coupled with the increase in National Insurance contributions which is due on 1st April 2022, we have pushed for the offer to be agreed in order to ensure that members get the back pay in March as opposed to losing some in extra tax by paying this in April. Further details of pay scales will be issued shortly. It is not acceptable that Government is failing in its responsibility to ensure sufficient funding for vital public services and that its failure to do so may potentially mean that merely ensuring compliance with the NLW, could result in job losses and cuts to public services. Update your details every GMB member will get their vote make sure your details are up to date. (Separate advice is in place for Wales and Northern Ireland). GMB Union is calling on you to urgently address this pressing matter and offer financial support to protect jobs and services. The National Employers have made a pay offer to the NJC unions. You are true Covid heroes, keeping the nations essential public services going during the toughest of times, often putting your own health and safety at risk. The results are in. The success of busting the pay freeze was down to members coming together to campaign for pay justice - we need you to do this again. The employers also propose that the NJC begins immediate exploratory discussions on three other elements of your claim, as follows: There was no support from councils for the offer to include three other elements of your claim, therefore the employers reject the following. PRESS RELEASE: 14 MAY 2021 And the response was to accept the pay offer. Your letter has been passed to HM Treasury. Council employees have been offered what the Local Government Association describes as a 'full and final' pay increase of at least 1,925 from 1 April 2023. Your local GMB branch/office will be contacting you shortly to discuss how you can vote in this consultative ballot and how you can get active in your pay campaign. All risk assessments will need to updated and there are previous circulars covering this which can be found online. Councils benefit from Holyrood windfall. On 27 July, a revised offer was made, of 2.75% to those on the lowest pay grade and 1.75% to everyone else. UNISON is calling on its members to vote for strike action, arguing the 1.75% offer by local government employers is below-inflation.. UNISON, GMB and Unite have called for a 10% pay rise for council staff to ensure the lowest paid employees earned just above the new real . Join today www.gmb.org.uk/join. Well, why dont you become one? The employers have made an offer of 1.5% for 2021 and have said that it cannot offer more because local authority finances are severely stretched. Full details of the letters can be read below: Remember union strength is in its numbers so the more people who join GMB, the stronger we are to make a real difference in your work. 2021: One-year pay freeze, excluding NHS staff and workers earning below 24,000 In an announcement on Monday, the Treasury said the chancellor would use his forthcoming Budget to say "the. They state: Pay Agreement has been reached on rates of pay applicable from 1 April 2021. GMB Mary Turner House If you require more information about this, please contact your local rep of GMB branch. The unions tried hard to raise the level of last year's pay offer. We know that inflation is at a level not seen for thirty years and that is before the additional costs caused by the increase in the energy price cap come into effect. Here's how you know. Each council takes into account a number of factors such as job size and local labour market conditions when deciding an employees salary. Public service pensions increase . To discuss pay and to build support for the pay rise. Date: 11/01/2021. As you are aware, GMB members rejected the 1.75% offer although on a turn out significantly below that required to give us any confidence that we could win a ballot for industrial action. In GMB only members have their say on pay and we now need you to take part in this important ballot and let us know if you are prepared to accept or reject the pay offer. Members of the National Employers Side We need all our members to have their say on pay. GMB will urge Local Government employers to get back round the table and improve the pay offer or GMB members will have no alternative but to begin preparing for an Industrial Action Campaign for Pay Justice. A pay cut in real terms. If you would like GMB to visit your workplace to update you on the pay offer and ballot, please contact your Regional GMB office and we will arrange a date to come to your workplace. However, in a letter recently received on 18th May, 2020 the LGA Board made up of councillors have informed us they will not be approaching the government for any more resources to award to employees in recognition of their response to the COVID-19 emergency. Organise a meeting to discuss pay and to build support for the pay ballot using our campaign resources. Then in May, local government employers made a pay offer of 1.5% to council and school staff. The country's two largest unions have rejected an "insulting" 1.5% pay offer for council practitioners that falls well short of its 10% claim and is likely to amount to a real-terms pay cut. You have more responsibility and stress than ever before, but your pay continues to stagnate. The Government has urged everyone in England, from next Monday 13 December, to work at home where possible. Wilko bosses should hang their heads in shame. The total public sector pay bill was around 235 billion in the 2021/22 financial year - with central government pay (which includes UK government departments, parliament, most public bodies and the devolved administrations) costing about 165 billion and local government about 70 billion. We are grateful for all of their important work and focus over a difficult year. Recruit a member - Strength in numbers! National Secretary GMB presented this claim to Unison and Unite in discussions to agree thisyear'sjoint union pay claim. Three local government unions have today (Monday) submitted a pay claim for 2021/22, which they say begin s to redress a decade of cuts and recognise s the key role played in the pandemic by school and council staff. An official website of the United States government. GMB is campaigning for pay to be properly funded. A trade union has started balloting 370,000 council and school staff for strike action over the 'inadequate' pay offer. Your local GMB branch/office should have contacted you to discuss how you can vote in this ballot and how you can get active in your pay campaign to stop these pay cuts. GMB launched a campaign to lobby councillors details of which can be found at its not too late we need to keep the pressure up: We are more than angry that elected officials from political parties are potentially suppressing the case to Government to boost the 2.75% pay offer. 12 January 2021. As such, for you to be facing a pay rise that is significantly below inflation is not acceptable and we are concerned that your commitment to the job and to the people you support every day is simply being taken for granted. Local government services pay agreement 2021-2022 Employers' Secretary Naomi Cooke Address for correspondence Local Government Association 18 Smith Square London SW1P 3HZ Tel: 020 7664.