Proposal to pay 20% salary for UK council staff puts further pressure on ministers
Around 1.5 million UK local government employees have been offered a pay rise of more than 20 per cent over two years for the lowest pay, increasing pressure on ministers to make generous offers. more liberal for striking teachers, NHS staff and others. public sector workers.
The Local Government Association said on Thursday that council workers at around 350 local governments in England, Wales and Northern Ireland have been offered a raise of at least £1,925 for the year from April 2023, following a similar agreement for 2022-23.
If agreed, that would mean an increase of 9.42% this year and 22% in the two years from April 2021 for the lowest paid, with an increase in 2023 of 3. 88% for the top earners. This incentive will result in an increase of £1.093 billion, or 6.42%, to the national payment bill, similar to the current average for private sector payments transactions.
The offer – which includes care workers, school assistants and garbage collectors, among others – stands in stark contrast to awards handed out last year by central government agencies for teachers, hospital staff and civil servants, led to a wave of activist strikes.
Ministers this week told independent pay review bodies that a bonus higher than 3.5 per cent in 2023-24 would not match current budget allocations, despite prime minister Rishi Sunak is discover 5% salary increase potentially could be pushed back to include part of 2022-23.
The Royal College of Nursing entered pay talks with ministers this week, but the National Education Federation, received a similar invitation to speak alongside other teaching unions. , said they needed to see a more specific pay offer before stopping the strike and negotiating.
Sian Goding, president of the National Employers body that negotiates local government pay agreements with unions, said they were “deeply aware” of the pressure the offer would place for the council’s finances, as it needs to be met from the existing budget, but that it believes the offer is “fair. . . with the broader economic context”.
One reason the offer seems relatively generous is that many council workers are enjoying wages not much above the statutory rate, which would rise by 9.7 per cent to £10.42 per hour. in April.
Local governments want their lowest hourly wage to remain well above this floor, while maintaining incentives for employees to move up to higher wages. The increase in the minimum wage was also a factor in other parts of the public sector, but some of the main groups of workers involved in the strike action, such as nurses and teachers, were paid much better. .
However, unions say councils have also been more responsive to recruitment pressures seen in the public sector, with many local governments now struggling to prevent schools from underpaying and staffing. Carers leaving for supermarkets compete for pay and flexibility.
Laurence Turner, head of research at the GMB union, said local government employers have demonstrated a “higher degree of independence” than the pay review agencies tasked with job proposals. wages to other parts of the public sector, adding that there has been “quite serious recognition.” about the severity of recruitment and retention problems in local government”.
However, the offer did not meet the initial claim for payment made by Unison, Unite and GMB, three unions representing council staff, which will now review their response.
