The Local Government NJC Pay Offer has now been received by UNISON from the Local Government Employers.
The headline pay offer is for a permanent, consolidated pay increase of £1,925 from 1st April 2023 (pro rata for part-time staff).
- This is worth 9.42% at pay point 2, and 3.88% on pay point 43
- NJC allowances would go up by 3.88%
The offer of £1,925 represents a further significant loss of pay for local government and school staff, on top of many previous years of pay cuts. You can use the chart below to see for yourself the scale of your real terms pay loss, which ranges from £814 to £4,720.
On the other elements of our claim, the Local Government Employers have:
- REJECTED getting to a £15 per hour minimum wage in two years;
- REJECTED an increase to annual leave;
- REJECTED a shorter working week;
- REJECTED a home working allowance;
- REJECTED our call for a review of Job Evaluation outcomes for Special Education Needs staff in schools; but proposed to look at model role profiles to see if the terminology needs updating;
- REJECTED role profiles for support staff with an advisory banding structure;
- AGREED to informal exploratory discussions at Joint Secretary level on planning a review of the pay spine;
- REPEATED offers made in 2021 and 2022 on family leave and pay.
UNISON’s NJC Committee has now considered the offer as will the West Sussex branch committee at its meeting on April 5th.
UNISON’s NJC Committee has voted to recommend that members REJECT the offer as it falls so far short of our claim and represents a further significant pay cut at all grades.
The NJC Committee also voted that we move to an immediate industrial action ballot.
You can see the impact the offer has on reducing the value of our pay below. NB January’s Retail Price Index (RPI) inflation rate of 13.4% was used for the calculations in the table below. The February RPI inflation figure was 13.8% and the March RPI inflation figure was 13.5% (March are the latest figures available).
Within inflation figures, we can note from the government’s own statistics for March 2023:
- Food and drink (non-alcoholic) up by 19.2%
- Clothing up by 7.2%
- Housing up by 11.6%
- Rail fares up by 5.9%
- Restaurants and hotels up by 11.3%
And Energy costs are through the roof.
We will provide updates for members as we receive them.
NJC Pay offer 2023-24 with real terms pay impacts