The branch is pleased to report it has now signed a Collective Agreement with WSCC to settle all claims in regards to underpayment of holiday pay for staff on Term Time Only pay. This issue primarily affects our members in schools.
UNISON took and won the ‘Brazel’ case at the Supreme Court, hence the need for all employers to now settle liability. WSCC has corrected pay going forwards from the January pay packet (paid on January 24th) and is paying any back pay owed in the February pay packet (paid on February 24th). The latter is one month earlier than originally forecast and reported in Branch Lines.
Underpayment did not apply to all staff, but only those who were on the minimum annual leave entitlement (i.e. without the 5 years’ service increase) and who were employed on a term-time only basis for 38, 39 or 40 weeks per year prior to 1 April 2020 or 38 and 39 weeks per year after 1 April 2020.
Back pay is made up of two elements:
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- The amount of underpaid holiday pay calculated back to 1 January 2015 and
- A payment for potential loss of pre-2014 pension for employees who were members of the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) prior to 1 April 2014. This payment to be £50.00 per employee for each complete year of continuous employment with the Authority up to 31 March 2014 that the individual was an active member of the LGPS.
Sums paid to members will obviously vary on circumstances: pay, working hours and weeks, and length of service. Payments will vary from very little at all to a few hundred pounds. Across the entire council and workforce, liability runs into millions of pounds.
Where WSCC staff outside schools on TTO contracts are eligible for payments, these will also be made in the same timeframe as above.
UNISON is now in the process of contacting all other schools in West Sussex (i.e. academies, Multi Academy Trusts, free schools) to ask them to bring their pay into line with the WSCC approach.
Negotiations continue with other employers such as Chichester College Group.
This outcome shows the value of UNISON membership, from the legal team who won the case at the Supreme Court for members, to the local branch activists who oversaw its implementation. Please encourage your work colleagues to join us!