Local governments have reached an agreement with unions over their 2023/24 pay award for staff including school support workers, social workers and other local council employees.
Following a protracted dispute, unions have accepted the pay deal covering England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Unions are still disputing the local government pay offer in Scotland.
All staff will see a pay rise of at least £1,925, with the award ranging from 9.42% for the lowest paid to 3.88% for those at the top of the pay spine.
Local government pay deal
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The pay offer will be backdated to 1 April and will be awarded pro rata for part-time and term-time staff. The final settlement will differ for employees in Greater London because of a London weighting.
Only two of the three unions in dispute with local authorities, Unison and GMB, have accepted the offer. Unite is continuing to take industrial action in some councils.
Mike Short, head of local government at Unison, said: “Our first priority is to get this money into members’ pay packets as soon as possible.
“But pay in local government remains a major concern for Unison, and we’re planning a strong, positive campaign for a fair pay rise in 2024.”
However, Paul Whiteman, general secretary at school leaders’ union NAHT, said that the pay award could exacerbate the funding pressures that many schools face.
“Once again, many school business leaders are facing one of the lowest pay awards across the sector. This further underscores the need for a new national pay framework for these senior roles, which better recognises the expertise and experience they hold, and which is aligned to the pay of other senior leaders in schools,” he said.
In a letter circulated to council chief executives, the Local Government Association warned that the protracted dispute could have had an impact on the income-related benefits that low-paid employees receive, particularly Universal Credit – an issue it claimed unions were aware of.
It said: “This is because UC works on a monthly snapshot of income rather than any form of averaging (as occurs naturally in annual systems, like taxation).
“When income goes down, the system responds by increasing UC the following month, and if there’s a permanent increase in earnings the amount of UC reduces. However, if there is a one-off payment there is no way for a claimant to tell the DWP that it is a temporary increase in earnings. In the UC computer system, it just looks like they have been very well paid.
“In most cases the result is that UC is reduced by 55p for every extra £1 someone earns after income tax, national insurance and pension contributions. Very real problems occur if a one-off back payment means someone’s UC falls to zero.”
The LGA said that back pay could not be staggered over a period of a few months because of the requirement to pay it as soon as practicable.
It added that with the national minimum wage set to rise in April, pressure on local authority pay spines will continue.
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