What could the Local Government pay offer mean for you?
- Rehana Azam
- Jan 24, 2018
- 2 min read
GMB members working in local government and schools should be receiving a ballot to vote on their pay next week, after a formal offer from local government employers was made late last year.
What is the offer?
The details were presented to the GMB National Joint Council (NJC) reps on Wednesday 13th December, 2017, and can be read in full here.
Here are some key features:
1. A two-year pay increase from 1st April 2018 & from 1st April 2019.
2. The majority of staff - those on salaries starting at £19,430 per annum - would receive an uplift of 2% on 1 April 2018 and a further 2% on 1 April 2019.
3. Staff on the bottom of the national joint pay spine (Spine Column Point 6 - 19) will receive higher increases than 2%. In year 1 this ranges between 3.7% - 9.3% and then in Year 2 this ranges between 2.6% - 5.9%. The starting rate will move to £8.50 on 1 April 2018 (9.1% increase) and will further move to £9.00 on 1 April 2019 (5.9% increase). Almost a third of workers will receive an inflation linked pay rise in year 1.
4. The offer also includes the introduction of a new national pay spine on 1 April 2019.
You need to consider your local pay spine arrangements to understand what the offer means to you. Please note inner/outer London Pay Spines are included in the pack so please ensure you compare the correct pay spine to your local pay spine.
Who's affected?
The offer covers all staff in England, Wales & Northern Ireland on NJC Green Book conditions working in councils, schools, academies and various other bodies. It doesn't apply to staff on Craft Red Book terms, staff on Chief Officer Terms, or staff coming under any pay arrangements other than the NJC Green Book. For example, staff working in academies which do not follow green book terms and conditions are not covered by this offer.
For more information on this, and other FAQs, please click here. If you are still unsure, please contact your local GMB branch.
What does this mean for members affected?
To make this easier to understand, we've put together an online calculator that tells members how the offer would affect their pay.
All they have to do is visit www.paypinch.org/local, select either their current hourly rate of pay or Pay Spine point, and the calculator will do the rest:
(All calculations are based on the national NJC pay spine so this could vary depending on your local arrangements)
What happens next?
Members covered by the offer should receive their postal ballot from next week. If they still haven't received them by 9th February please get in touch urgently.
Ballots must be returned by Friday 9th March - details for doing so will be on the ballots themselves.
Up until then, we're organising workplace briefings across England, Wales & Northern Ireland to discuss the offer.
If you want to hold a workplace meeting please contact your local office now: http://www.gmb.org.uk/contact/gmb-regional-offices
Please also share the the calculator with members who are, or who may be, affected by the pay offer.
