Our pay team has been involved in detailed negotiations on pay for 2011 over the last few weeks, which has resulted in the formal pay offer letter from the department that is attached to this circular.Although, because of the pay freeze, we have been unable to progress many of the issues contained within our pay claim, we have been able to move the department in a number of areas, which are described below.
However, the offer meets almost none of our pay demands, particularly the need to secure increases at least equivalent to the rate of inflation (currently 5.2% as measured by the Retail Price Index) for all staff and the need to secure progression up the current pay spines.
Accordingly the group executive committee has rejected the offer and enacted the dispute resolution procedure with the department to improve what has been tabled. The dispute resolution procedure will involve meetings with the director of human resources Susan Scholefield and the permanent under secretary Ursula Brennan, where we will argue that the current offer is unacceptable.
The offer
The offer covers the pay period August 2011 to July 2012. The department wishes to implement the offer in time to ensure payment in August 2011.
· There will be a further shortening of pay scales at E1 and E2 by removing the bottom point on each scale, which will have the effect of moving the pay band minima up to the next spine point. All E1’s and E2’s (regardless of performance) on the pay band minima will move up one full spine point.
· Our union successfully ensured that functional allowances would not count towards the £21,000 figure. This means approximately 5,000 extra staff (including the vast majority of MGS officers) will get the £250 payment. Unfortunately, despite our best attempts, locational allowances will count meaning that if your salary and locational allowance takes you over £21,000, you will receive no increase.
· The £250 will be paid on a consolidated and pensionable basis, paid monthly.
· Staff earning above £21,000 will receive no increase or incremental progression.
· The protected pay allowance, currently in payment for staff in E1 and E2 whose pay band maxima were reduced in the 2008 pay imposition, will continue in payment.
· Non consolidated performance payments will be made to all staff marked satisfactory or above in 2010/11, in the same cash amounts as last year.
· Pay related allowances will increase in line with the increase in pay for staff earning less than £21,000. There will be no change to cash based allowances.
· There will be no change to annual leave; starting pay on promotion, advancement, or progression; or working hours.
· The department will implement the agreed outcomes of the 2010 equal pay audit and will carry out a further audit in 2011/12.
· The department and trade unions will continue to develop a long term pay structure with a view to implementing further changes on the ending of the pay freeze in 2013.
Impact of the pay freeze
The offer has been constrained by the limitations of the pay freeze, which means that staff receiving more than £21,000 per year have their pay frozen for the next two years. This has also impacted on those staff who in 2010 received a 2% non consolidated award as they were at their pay band maximum. This allowance has been withdrawn.
Protected pay allowance
The protected pay allowance will continue in payment for 2011/12. The department and the trade unions will evaluate and agree the continued requirement for the protected pay allowance beyond this date.
Pay increase below £21,000
The bottom points on the E1 and E2 pay spines will be removed and all staff moved to the next spine point, which will become the new scale minima.
All other staff earning below £21,000 will receive a consolidated and pensionable £250 increase, paid monthly.
The bonus
Our negotiators once again sought to ensure that the monies allocated to the bonus scheme were instead distributed as part of basic pay. As expected, we met opposition both from the department and from the Treasury.
We eventually proposed to the Secretary of State that the bonus be paid to all staff as a corporate bonus of 2.7% to all staff.
This too was rejected and the Secretary of State instead decided that the bonus will be paid to all staff marked satisfactory or above in 2010/11, in the same cash amounts as last year.
Equal pay audit
The equal pay audit, conducted in 2010 on October 2010 pay data demonstrated that the pay spines, introduced as part of the 2008 award, had reduced the gender pay gap to below the 5% threshold used by the equalities and human rights commission to indicate cause for concern.
This confirms that our intention, during negotiations in 2008, to eliminate the gender pay gap by the end of the current pay period, has been successfully achieved.
There remain some concerns, about the impact of promotion on the relative positions of men and women within pay scales, which will be the subject of further work through the implementation of the jointly agreed action plan.
Conclusion
This offer falls far short of our pay claim and means that with inflation currently at 5.2%, all members will suffer a real terms pay cut in the next year (particularly when the proposed pensions changes are taken into account).
It is clear that not all the money predicted to be generated through recyclables has been distributed through the pay offer. Indeed, during negotiations, it was made clear that money had been clawed back from pay to meet the department’s deficit.
What money that was available has however been targeted at our lowest paid members. We have also secured the continuation of the protected pay allowance for at least another year. We further secured the £250 payment for approximately 5,000 members of staff when we successfully negotiated that functional allowance would not count towards the £21,000 figure.
However the final pay offer, taken as a whole, is unacceptable as it represents a significant decline in our members’ standard of living and is scant reward for their dedicated support to the front line in challenging circumstances.
It is the view of our pay negotiators, supported by the group executive committee that this offer is unacceptable and it has therefore been rejected.
We will now seek further negotiations with the department to improve the offer and will update on progress as those negotiations progress.
