2024 NJC Pay Campaign for Council and School Workers in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland
The 2024 NJC pay campaign focuses on increasing pay by £3,000 or 10%, introducing a £15 per hour minimum wage by 2026, addressing equalities pay gaps, reducing the working week by two hours, and providing an additional day of annual leave. The background highlights the impact of the cost of living crisis on staff, emphasizing the need for fair wages to address recruitment and retention issues in local government. The significant rise in the cost of living compared to NJC pay underscores the urgency of the campaign. Recent NJC pay claims are discussed in relation to the Retail Prices Index, with concerns raised about the erosion of pay value despite falling RPI rates. Comparisons show that NJC pay points are below the Foundation Living Wage rate.
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2024 NJC Pay Campaign For council and school workers In England, Wales and Northern Ireland
Our 2024-25 NJC pay claim is for: An increase of 3,000 or 10%* on all pay points * whichever is greater In addition: 15 per hour minimum, no later than 2026 Reviews of equalities pay gaps Two-hour reduction in the working week Additional day of annual leave
Background to our claim The cost of living crisis is pushing members into debt Staff have lost 25% from the value of their pay since 2010 Local government pay is still among the lowest in the public sector NJC pay does not meet the 12 Foundation Living Wage More than 9 in 10 councils are experiencing recruitment and retention problems A gender pay gap exists in local government - this may extend to other equalities areas (including ethnicity and disability)
The cost of living crisis Rapid inflation has pushed up prices faster than wages The impact of this is permanent even if inflation falls The cost of food, travel, rents and mortgages all overtook NJC pay over 2023-24 The cost of living has risen by almost 60% since 2010 while NJC pay has risen by less than half that (27%) The TUC has warned of a debt time bomb for households in 2024 1 in 5 UK households have less than 100 spare each month
What about inflation? Recent NJC pay claims have been linked to the Retail Prices Index (RPI) This year s claim is not but our claim would deliver an increase well above RPI RPI started to fall last March and is now below the latest NJC pay award However, in 13 of the last 14 years, NJC pay awards fell below the annual RPI rate This means that even with RPI falling, NJC pay has still lost a significant amount of value NJC Pay Awards Vs Monthly RPI rates over last 12 months (%) 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan RPI NJC
Comparing NJC pay NJC pay points 2, 3 and 4 all now fall below the 12 per hour UK Foundation Living Wage rate Our claim would lift NJC pay point 2 to 13.15 per hour surpassing the Foundation rate From April, the legal minimum wage will climb to 11.44 per hour (just 15p behind NJC pay point 2) Members are suffering and so are councils and schools - local government will be unable to attract and retain staff if pay continues to fall in real terms
Across the pay spine Staff across the whole pay spine are losing out: 2009/10 Annual 12,489 14,733 15,444 16,440 16,830 26,276 28,636 31,754 30,011 38,961 2022/23 Annual 20,258 20,812 21,189 21,968 21,968 32,020 34,723 38,296 36,298 46,549 Value of pay lost since 2010* -7.4% -14.3% -19.5% -23.7% -23.7% -30.4% -30.8% -31.1% -30.9% -31.8% Occupation Cleaner Customer Services Officer Refuse And Recycling Collector Library Assistant Teaching Assistant (Level 2) Librarian Environmental Health Officer Access to Housing Officer Social Worker Children s Residential Manager *When measured against RPI/the cost of living
A 15 Per Hour Minimum Rate Many organisations are calling for a 15 minimum wage There are currently 16 NJC pay points that fall below 15 an hour Our claim asks for a clear plan to reach 15 an hour by 2026 - at the latest This could be achieved by three annual increases of 10% This would undo the damage done to low paid members by the cost of living crisis
Our claim is affordable The cost of meeting our NJC pay claim is 2.17bn The net cost would be 1.23bn - after deductions for money the government would get back in taxes etc The government already wasted 3.4bn our claim would cost less than half that: Government Spending Wasted on unlawful Rwanda Deal Spent on cancelled HS2 New helicopter for Rishi Sunak Annual Government consultancy fees TOTAL WASTED: Money Wasted 140,000,000 2,300,000,000 50,000,000 911,000,000 3,401,000,000 ( 3.4bn)
What is our pay claim worth? This table shows how much our pay claim is worth on selected pay points: Current NJC Pay 2023 Annual 22,366 22,737 25,545 27,803 30,296 38,223 48,474 51,515 2024 NJC Pay Claim 3,000 or 10% increase 25,366 25,737 28,545 30,803 33,325 42,046 53,322 56,666 SCP 2023 Hourly 11.59 11.79 13.24 14.41 15.70 19.81 25.13 26.70 2024 Hourly 13.15 13.34 14.80 15.97 17.27 21.79 27.64 29.37 2 3 10 15 20 30 40 43
2024 NJC pay claim in summary The cost of living crisis is pushing members into debt NJC pay is among the lowest in the public sector NJC pay does not meet the 12 Foundation Living Wage Staff across the whole pay spine are losing out Our claim asks for a minimum rate of 15 p/h by 2026 The government already wasted 3.4bn our claim would cost less than half that Our claim of at least 3,000 or 10% would go some way to restoring the 25% lost from NJC pay since 2010
What happens next? The NJC pay claim was submitted on 29 Feb 2024 The Local Government Association will consult employers over March The Employers' Side meets in April and May and we hope to receive a pay offer in May UNISON s NJC committee will consider any offer and determine the strategy going forward Branches will be kept updated on any offer and plans for future consultations
Get involved in our pay campaign Access our latest pay campaign resources at: unison.org.uk/lgpay This will include leaflets and posters, plus: Model motion for councils in support of our pay claim Social media/website/email graphics Campaign communications and short videos Model pay claims for other employers Remember to keep checking in: our campaign website will be updated as new resources are produced
Three things to do right now 1. Tell other members about the claim you can find all the details on our webpage unison.org.uk/lgpay 2. Check your membership details - it s important that we have the right information: my.unison.org.uk 3. Spread the word about our pay claim on social media using #BetterPay2024
