Unison has written to chancellor George Osborne asking him to support a £1 per hour pay rise for local government staff in England, Wales and Northern Ireland in 2014-15.
Unison, Unite and GMB submitted the pay claim in late 2013 and Local Government Employers (LGE) is currently consulting local authorities on the offer. A response is expected in mid-February.
But Heather Wakefield, Unison’s head of local government, suggested to Osborne that it might be “beneficial” to meet and discuss the offer before the LGE made its final decision.
She wrote: “I am writing to ask you to recognise the severity of the financial position in which many of my members find themselves and to take steps to ensure that they enjoy a pay increase this year which compensates for the 18% real-terms loss of earnings they have suffered since your government took office.
“There are means at your disposal to enable the Local Government Employers to award a pay increase which would start to compensate for the hardship my members are suffering – outlined later in my letter. I would ask you earnestly to employ them.”
Community Care has contacted the Treasury for a response.
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This does not help most carers, as they work for private companies contracted by the local authority. Unfortunately, many LA’s will not pay a reasonable rate for care, and rely on their monopsony (Single buyer) position to enforce the rate that they are prepared to pay. Neither will LA’s pay care companies for travel time.