IMPROVED PAY OFFER TO BE CONSIDERED

Local government employers have offered a 3.5 per cent pay deal
to English and Welsh council workers.

The offer will be backdated to 1 April and is underpinned by a
guarantee that no worker will receive less than £380. Unions
will now ballot their members stating that it is the best offer
that can be achieved through the negotiations which began in
December last year.

Malcolm Wing, Unison’s head of local government, said:
“These talks have been the most difficult set of negotiations for
some time. We will be consulting our members and staff and expect
the offer to be accepted.

“We are pleased to have made some progress on behalf of the
lowest paid. However, it must be remembered that tens of thousands
of local authority staff delivering vital services to their
communities will still be paid less than five pounds an hour,” he
added.

Prior to the latest offer, the Employers’ Organisation for
Local Government had consulted with local authority chief
executives over increasing its previous 3 per cent offer, or face
arbitration or industrial action.

Councillor Brian Baldwin, EOLG chairperson, said: “[The local
authorities] indicated they wanted us to achieve a negotiated
result. Like all negotiations the result is a compromise.

“I do not hide the fact this offer will cause major problems for
some councils. Finances remain tight. The government has provided
some extra money to local government this year, but most of that is
ring-fenced for specific services, such as education,” added
Baldwin.

The unions will decide whether to accept the offer by the end of
May.