Public service union UNISON have accepted a new two-year pay deal for local government staff.
The new pay deal will affect more than one million local government workers and includes a 2% average pay rise from this month and the same next year. It also brings a big boost of 15% extra for the lowest-paid workers.
UNISON have said it wants its members to “get the pay increase as soon as possible” and talks are set to take place between the GMB and Unite unions to “agree a co-ordinated position”.
UNISON’s national pay committee had previously narrowly rejected the proposed deal, but that position was reversed after further consultation with members. GMB had also earlier accepted the pay deal after their members voted strongly in favour, but Unite rejected the offer in January citing that the pay increase did not reflect the level of inflation.
Unite have now accepted the deal, and with UNISON members also voting in favour of the offer the deal looks likely to go ahead.
The key features of the pay offer are:
- A 16% pay increase for those currently on the lowest scale point (SCP) 6, over two years
- A pay increase of between 15% and 4.3% for those on the current SCPs 7 – 28
- 4.04% increase over two years, for those above the current SCP 29, including those above SCP 49
- A new pay spine from 2019, with new scale points 1-43 and even 2% pay gaps between SCPs 6-28
Under the new pay deal that was proposed in December and covers more than one million council workers, around 3,500 of the lowest paid staff will receive a 15.65% increase in their hourly rate of pay from £7.78 to £9 per hour.
Unison’s head of local government Heather Wakefield said:
Years of wage freezes have left hardworking council workers struggling to make ends meet.
Following Unison’s decision to accept the pay offer, we want staff to get their pay increase as quickly as possible.
The three unions are meeting this week to agree a co-ordinated position so agreement can be reached with the local government employers.
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