Around 1.5 million British local government workers have been offered pay rises of more than 20 per cent over two years on the lowest pay, increasing pressure on ministers to offer lower offers to teachers, NHS staff and other public sector workers.
The Local Government Association said on Thursday that council workers in around 350 local authorities in England, Wales and Northern Ireland had been offered a rise of at least £1,925 for the year from April 2023, following the same settlement for 2022-23.
If approved, it would mean an increase of 9.42 percent this year and 22 percent over two years from April 2021 for the lowest paid, with a 2023 increase of 3.88 percent for the highest earners. The offer would result in a £1.093bn, or 6.42 per cent, increase to the national wage bill, the same as the current average for private sector pay transactions.
The offer – which includes care workers, school assistant teachers and waste collectors, among others – is in stark contrast to the awards given last year by central government departments to teachers, hospital staff and civil servants, which sparked a wave of strikes. prevail.
Ministers this week told an independent pay review body that awards higher than 3.5 per cent in 2023-24 would not be affordable in the current budget allocation, although prime minister Rishi Sunak is exploring a 5 per cent pay rise that could be canceled to cover part of it. from 2022-23.
The Royal College of Nursing entered into pay talks with ministers this week, but the National Education Union, which accepted a similar invitation to talks with other teaching unions, said it needed to see more concrete offers on pay before calling off strike action. and discuss.
Sian Goding, chairman of the National Employers’ body which is negotiating with local government and trade unions, said he was “very aware” of the pressure the offer would put on the council’s finances, as it would have to be done from the existing budget, but he believed the offer was “fair . . . .given a broader economic background”.
One of the reasons the offer seems so cheap is that many council workers are on salaries not far below the statutory wage rate, which will rise by 9.7 per cent to £10.42 an hour in April.
Local authorities want the lowest hourly rates to remain above this floor, while also maintaining incentives for staff to move higher up the pay scale. Rising minimum wages are also a factor in other parts of the public sector, but some key groups of workers involved in strike action, such as nurses and teachers, are being paid more.
However, unions say councils must also respond more quickly to recruitment pressures seen in the public sector, as many local authorities are now struggling to stop paid school and care staff leaving for competing supermarkets on pay and flexibility.
Laurence Turner, head of research at the GMB trade union, said local government employers had shown a “higher level of independence” than pay review bodies tasked with making pay recommendations for other parts of the public sector, adding there was “quite sober recognition”. about how acute the problem of recruitment and retention in local government is”.
The offer is still less than the pay claim initially made by Unison, Unite and GMB, the three unions representing council employees, who will now consider their response.