Local Government workers deserve fair pay

+++Unite local government members prepare to ballot for summer strikes as pay offer rejected+++

+++Reminder to all Unite members working in local government. Update your membership details today | Your strike ballot is opening soon. Ballot papers will be posted to your home address.+++

Members of Unite, employed by local authorities in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, have overwhelmingly rejected the local government employers’ pay offer for 2023/24. Members, who cover many frontline roles including refuse collection workers, housing workers and care staff, returned a 75 per cent rejection of the pay offer which is worth between 3.88 per cent and 9.42 per cent depending on the worker’s individual grade. With the true rate of inflation (RPI) currently standing at 13.5 per cent this amounted to a further substantial real terms pay cut for all members.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Our members undertake vital frontline roles that ensure that local communities are well maintained, safe and attractive places to live, they have now drawn a line in the sand and will not accept any further erosion of their pay.”

Unite will now swiftly move to a full industrial action ballot for its local authority members. Balloting is set to begin before the end of this month and if workers vote for industrial action then strikes could begin before the school summer holidays. More details

Calling Unite local government members

Get ready to have your say on local government pay! Watch Unite's Clare Keogh explain why the pay offer from the employers is just not good enough.

Your consultative ballot:
OPENS: 20/03/23
CLOSES: 01/05/23

With real inflation (RPI) running at over 13 per cent, the Employers pay offer of £1,925 for local government workers is another real terms pay cut, on all pay spines. This is yet another insult - local government workers deserve better

Now is the chance for YOU and all your colleagues in local government to have a say on the Employers insulting pay offer.

This is an electronic consultative ballot.

Vote online. Look out for an email, text message or a letter from us, and use the QR code to vote.

Vote YES for strike action
VOTE to REJECT the pay offer

Three things to do!

Check your email, post and text message, then use the QR code to vote YES for strike action. Reject the offer.
Check you can VOTE by logging into MyUnite and updating your membership details
Talk to your colleagues and spread the word. Every vote counts. Don’t miss out.

What the pay offer means to you:

GREEN BOOK - National Joint Council (NJC) for Local Government Services (Single Status)

	Current Spine	Employers offer:				Latest RPI is 13.4% (January 2023) and is forecast to remain high
	Current Spine	An increase of £1,925 on all pay points
Spine points	2022-23	2023-24				2023-24
Spine points	Annual Pay	Annual Pay	Weekly pay	Hourly (37hrs)	% pay rise	Real-terms change (£)	Real-terms change (%)
1	£20,258	Deleted wef 1 April 2023			10.40%	-£607	-3.00%
2	£20,441	£22,366	£429	£11.59	9.42%	-£814	-3.98%
3	£20,812	£22,737	£436	£11.79	9.25%	-£864	-4.15%
4	£21,189	£23,114	£443	£11.98	9.08%	-£914	-4.32%
5	£21,575	£23,500	£451	£12.18	8.92%	-£966	-4.48%
6	£21,968	£23,893	£458	£12.38	8.76%	-£1,019	-4.64%
7	£22,369	£24,294	£466	£12.59	8.61%	-£1,072	-4.79%
8	£22,777	£24,702	£474	£12.80	8.45%	-£1,127	-4.95%
9	£23,194	£25,119	£482	£13.02	8.30%	-£1,183	-5.10%
10	£23,620	£25,545	£490	£13.24	8.15%	-£1,240	-5.25%
11	£24,054	£25,979	£498	£13.47	8.00%	-£1,298	-5.40%
12	£24,496	£26,421	£507	£13.69	7.86%	-£1,357	-5.54%
13	£24,948	£26,873	£515	£13.93	7.72%	-£1,418	-5.68%
14	£25,409	£27,334	£524	£14.17	7.58%	-£1,480	-5.82%
15	£25,874	£27,799	£533	£14.41	7.44%	-£1,542	-5.96%
16	£26,357	£28,282	£542	£14.66	7.30%	-£1,607	-6.10%
17	£26,845	£28,770	£552	£14.91	7.17%	-£1,672	-6.23%
18	£27,344	£29,269	£561	£15.17	7.04%	-£1,739	-6.36%
19	£27,852	£29,777	£571	£15.43	6.91%	-£1,807	-6.49%
20	£28,371	£30,296	£581	£15.70	6.79%	-£1,877	-6.61%
21	£28,900	£30,825	£591	£15.98	6.66%	-£1,948	-6.74%
22	£29,439	£31,364	£602	£16.26	6.54%	-£2,020	-6.86%
23	£30,151	£32,076	£615	£16.63	6.38%	-£2,115	-7.02%
24	£31,099	£33,024	£633	£17.12	6.19%	-£2,242	-7.21%
25	£32,020	£33,945	£651	£17.59	6.01%	-£2,366	-7.39%
26	£32,909	£34,834	£668	£18.06	5.85%	-£2,485	-7.55%
27	£33,820	£35,745	£686	£18.53	5.69%	-£2,607	-7.71%
28	£34,723	£36,648	£703	£19.00	5.54%	-£2,728	-7.86%
29	£35,411	£37,336	£716	£19.35	5.44%	-£2,820	-7.96%
30	£36,294	£38,219	£733	£19.81	5.30%	-£2,938	-8.10%
31	£37,261	£39,186	£752	£20.31	5.17%	-£3,068	-8.23%
32	£38,295	£40,220	£771	£20.85	5.03%	-£3,207	-8.37%
33	£39,493	£41,418	£794	£21.47	4.87%	-£3,367	-8.53%
34	£40,478	£42,403	£813	£21.98	4.76%	-£3,499	-8.64%
35	£41,496	£43,421	£833	£22.51	4.64%	-£3,635	-8.76%
36	£42,503	£44,428	£852	£23.03	4.53%	-£3,770	-8.87%
37	£43,516	£45,441	£871	£23.55	4.42%	-£3,906	-8.98%
38	£44,539	£46,464	£891	£24.08	4.32%	-£4,043	-9.08%
39	£45,495	£47,420	£909	£24.58	4.23%	-£4,171	-9.17%
40	£46,549	£48,474	£930	£25.13	4.14%	-£4,313	-9.26%
41	£47,573	£49,498	£949	£25.66	4.05%	-£4,450	-9.35%
42	£48,587	£50,512	£969	£26.18	3.96%	-£4,586	-9.44%
43	£49,590	£51,515	£988	£26.70	3.88%	-£4,720	-9.52%

Historic Real Terms loss on the NJC Spine from March 2009 – March 2023*

Old SCP	2009/10	2022/23	New SCP	Old SCP if inflated by RPI to April 2023	Real-terms change (£)	Real-terms change (%)
4	£12,145			£21,270	-£1,012	-4.8
5	£12,312			£21,562	-£1,304	-6.0
6	£12,489	£20,258	1	£21,872	-£1,614	-7.4
7	£12,787	£20,258	1	£22,394	-£2,136	-9.5
8	£13,189	£20,441	2	£23,098	-£2,657	-11.5
9	£13,589	£20,441	2	£23,799	-£3,358	-14.1
10	£13,874	£20,812	3	£24,298	-£3,486	-14.3
11	£14,733	£20,812	3	£25,802	-£4,990	-19.3
12	£15,039	£21,189	4	£26,338	-£5,149	-19.5
13	£15,444	£21,189	4	£27,047	-£5,858	-21.7
14	£15,725	£21,575	5	£27,539	-£5,964	-21.7
15	£16,054	£21,575	5	£28,116	-£6,541	-23.3
16	£16,440	£21,968	6	£28,792	-£6,824	-23.7
17	£16,830	£21,968	6	£29,475	-£7,507	-25.5
18	£17,161	£22,396	7	£30,054	-£7,658	-25.5
19	£17,802	£22,777	8	£31,177	-£8,400	-26.9
20	£18,453	£23,194	9	£32,317	-£9,123	-28.2
		£23,620	10
21	£19,126	£24,054	11	£33,496	-£9,442	-28.2
22	£19,621	£24,496	12	£34,362	-£9,866	-28.7
		£24,948	13
23	£20,198	£25,409	14	£35,373	-£9,964	-28.2
24	£20,858	£25,878	15	£36,529	-£10,651	-29.2
		£26,357	16
25	£21,519	£26,845	17	£37,686	-£10,841	-28.8
		£27,344	18
26	£22,221	£27,852	19	£38,916	-£11,064	-28.4
27	£22,958	£28,371	20	£40,207	-£11,836	-29.4
		£28,900	21
28	£23,708	£29,439	22	£41,520	-£12,081	-29.1
29	£24,646	£30,151	23	£43,163	-£13,012	-30.1
30	£25,472	£31,099	24	£44,609	-£13,510	-30.3
31	£26,276	£32,020	25	£46,017	-£13,997	-30.4
32	£27,052	£32,909	26	£47,376	-£14,467	-30.5
33	£27,849	£33,820	27	£48,772	-£14,952	-30.7
34	£28,636	£34,723	28	£50,151	-£15,428	-30.8
35	£29,236	£35,411	29	£51,201	-£15,790	-30.8
36	£30,011	£36,298	30	£52,559	-£16,261	-30.9
37	£30,851	£37,261	31	£54,030	-£16,769	-31.0
38	£31,754	£38,296	32	£55,611	-£17,315	-31.1
39	£32,800	£39,493	33	£57,443	-£17,950	-31.2
40	£33,661	£40,478	34	£58,951	-£18,473	-31.3
41	£34,549	£41,496	35	£60,506	-£19,010	-31.4
42	£35,430	£42,503	36	£62,049	-£19,546	-31.5
43	£36,313	£43,516	37	£63,595	-£20,079	-31.6
44	£37,206	£44,539	38	£65,159	-£20,620	-31.6
45	£38,042	£45,495	39	£66,623	-£21,128	-31.7
46	£38,961	£46,549	40	£68,233	-£21,684	-31.8
47	£39,855	£47,573	41	£69,798	-£22,225	-31.8
48	£40,741	£48,587	42	£71,350	-£22,763	-31.9
49	£41,616	£49,590	43	£72,883	-£23,293	-32.0

*Calculations are based on the change in the RPI rate between April 2009 and April 2022, which was then inflated by 10.7 per cent (the OBR November 2022 forecast for RPI growth in 2023). Inflation values are taken from ONS Consumer Price Inflation time series data publication (14 December 2022). Figures are rounded.

RED BOOK - Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC) for Local Authority Craft & Associated Employees.

Through local negotiations Red Book rates differ across authorities and employers, this does not allow for the same benchmarking as above. However the table can be used for a salary reference point.

The situation is the same for our members in Red Book and this offer will further erode the value of your pay.

For all Craft JNC employees (regardless of job title and designation) whose rate of pay differs from the salaries set out in the Craft JNC 2023 pay agreement circular, but still contractually linked to the annual settlement reached by the Craft JNC, the Employers’ final offer is as follows:

With effect from 1 April 2023, an increase of £1,925 on basic salary. This is equivalent to £1 an hour.
an increase of 3.88% on all allowances

Local Government workers deserve fair pay

+++Unite local government members prepare to ballot for summer strikes as pay offer rejected+++

+++Reminder to all Unite members working in local government. Update your membership details today | Your strike ballot is opening soon. Ballot papers will be posted to your home address.+++

Calling Unite local government members

Your consultative ballot:OPENS: 20/03/23CLOSES: 01/05/23

Vote YES for strike actionVOTE to REJECT the pay offer

Get involved

Your consultative ballot:
OPENS: 20/03/23
CLOSES: 01/05/23

Vote YES for strike action
VOTE to REJECT the pay offer