Social workers face salary reduction

Social workers are facing pay cuts of up to 15 per cent at North
East Lincolnshire Council because the authority has attempted to
cut costs while implementing equal pay regulations.

Unison is considering industrial action and taking out a number
of equal pay cases against the council because of the way it has
implemented the 1997 single status agreement.

The union said single status should increase overall salaries by
5 per cent in unitary authorities, with particular gains for social
care staff due to long-standing gender pay inequalities.

But the council decided to implement the changes, which came
into force this month, while reducing the overall pay bill.

For social workers this has meant a reduction in their pay scale
from 12 points to one, meaning cuts of up to 15 per cent for some
staff.

Social worker Kate Warrender said: “Single pay points
effectively destroy careers and professional status. Me and my
colleagues are doing our best to fight this locally.”

A local Unison official said the branch had already carried out
a provisional ballot for industrial action.

Helen Isaacs, the council’s deputy director of human resources,
said the single salary point for social workers will for some
“involve a reduction in salary, but where this is the case the
council will be protecting current salary levels for three
years”.

 

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