Would you strike over this year's pay offer for council staff in England and Wales?
- Yes, it's the only way of getting an adequate pay rise (52%, 861 Votes)
- I don't like the offer but a strike won't work and will just delay a deal (35%, 578 Votes)
- No, it's an adequate offer (13%, 214 Votes)
Total Voters: 1,653
Loading ...Employers have offered council staff in England, Wales and Northern Ireland a “full and final” pay rise of £1,290 or 2.5%, whichever is higher, in 2024-25.
They said that the offer, which will be topped up for those working in London (see box) and pro-rated for part-time employees, was at the limits of affordability for councils. It is worth about 3-4% for social workers (see box).
However, the unions, who lodged a claim for 10% rise this year, said staff deserved a “decent pay rise” and would feel “let down”, setting the scene for a protracted dispute over this year’s pay round.
What the offer means for social workers
- The offer applies to the vast majority of councils in England, Wales and Northern Ireland – those covered by the National Joint Council for Local Government Services (NJC) agreement.
- The NJC employers have offered staff on pay points 2-43 outside of London a rise of £1,290, with those higher up the pay scale offered 2.5%. The minimum for pay point 43 is £51,515 a year on a full-time wage.
- Staff in outer London are being offered £1,491 up to and including pay point 48 (minimum rate: £59,328), while those in inner London would receive £1,575 up to pay point 50 (£62,457).
- For a newly qualified social worker outside of London on the minimum of pay point 23 (£32,076), the proposal is worth 4%.
- For a more experienced social worker outside of the capital on the minimum of pay point 30 (£38,223), it is worth 3.4%.
- For a social worker in outer London on the minimum of point 30 (£40,833), it is worth 3.6%.
- For a practitioner in inner London the minimum of point 30 (£41,967), it is worth 3.75%.
- For a senior social worker outside London on the bottom of pay point 35 (£43,421), it is worth 3%.
Offer lower than last two pay rises
As well as being below UNISON, GMB and Unite’s claim, the proposed deal marks a reduction from the at least £1,925 staff received in each of the past two years, though inflation has fallen over that time.
Average prices rose by 2.3% in the 12 months to April 2024, according to the government’s preferred consumer prices index, compared with 8.7% over the previous year.
The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) is predicting inflation will average 2.2% in 2024 and 1.5% in 2025, suggesting the proposed offer for 2024-25 would amount to a small real-terms increase for staff.
The employers also rejected all other elements of the unions’ claim, including a two-hour reduction in the working week, to 35 hours (34 in London), an additional day’s annual leave and a phased approach to a minimum wage of £15 an hour over two years, up from £11.59 now.
‘Affordability’ for councils key driver of proposed deal
In a letter to union leaders, employers’ secretary Naomi Cooke explained that the offer was shaped by councils’ financial position.
“The most important factor in formulating this response has been affordability. We have a duty to balance your claim against the interests of local residents, in terms of the level and quality of services provided by local authorities.
“The proposed increase will be difficult to fund in a number of local authorities and anything beyond that would take many more authorities well beyond their level of affordability.”
The proposal would add 4.03% to the relevant councils’ pay bills, less than the 7.5% increase in spending power – the total amount councils have available to spend – that the government says it has made available to English authorities in 2024-25 compared with the previous year.
However, it comes with many councils already struggling to balance their books, such that one in nine authorities with social services responsibility in England had to seek emergency financial support from the government this year.
Staff ‘will feel let down’
At the same time, they are facing severe pressures in relation to adult social care, children’s services and other areas.
In response to the offer, UNISON head of local government Mike Short said: “Council and school staff deserve a decent pay rise for the vital support they provide to communities. But this offer falls short of the union’s reasonable claim.
“Many workers will feel let down because their household bills continue to rise. UNISON will consult representatives over the coming days before deciding the next steps.”
For the GMB, national secretary Rachel Harrison said the proposed deal appeared “disappointing”, but the union would now speak to its local branch leaders to determine its position.
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If they gave staff a proper pay rise they would stay within the sector plus it would make people want to work in social care in the future . They are paying out a significant amount in agency staffing across the country and paying them more than the qualified staff and their managers! Which impacts on staff morale , It’s ridiculous. If I had my time again I wouldn’t go into health and social care! I’d be earning more money in the beauty industry, with a hell of a lot less stress and responsibilities!
huh…was considering doing a social worker qualification (currently work as a foster support worker)…might reconsider now
That is very disappointing. I was hoping that worst case scenario would be another offer of £1925 this year.
Considering how much they raised Council tax this is unfair! The you have the added joke of paid by the government but then they claw back so much in Tax. All the bills have gone up so much over the last few years and we never got back when they did 2% cuts for a few years!
Council tax has been raised to fill the black holes local authorities already have, not to fill your pockets. If you don’t like the pay, move. No one is forcing you to stay.
I want my council tax to be spent on fixing roads, new open spaces, better local facilities. Not your wages.
My guess is you can’t find a better paid job and that’s why you stay, so the requirement for high raise falls to greed.
Oh Jeff, you’re one of ‘those’ ignore the massive shortfall in council funding from the government, misuse of public money, horrendous austerity and then blame the people working in their local authorities that deliver essential services for wanting to be paid above minimum wage even if they have a skilled role. It’s also proven that public sector wage increases lead to better productivity and retention and raise the average wage in the private sector. But hey, I suppose public servants should be in some kind of indebted servitude (whilst also paying the exact same taxes you do).
Gutted, I will be voting for strike action then and I hope everyone else does too.
I was hoping we get at least 1920 again, a slap in the face.
Why is everyone so bloody greedy . That’s more than fair in this climate. Get it paid .
Nothing to do with greed….basic bills and ost of food etc
Social Workers have had roughly 3% for the past god knows how many years. They’ve had pay cuts in real-terms with inflation and bill increases and don’t strike often enough. The wage does not match the amount of work, stress, and mental damage it inflicts. No wonder people are leaving the sector in droves.
Also, “in this climate” which was not created by the workers, but politicians and wealthy individuals lobbying.
Your comment shows a ridiculous level of ignorance.
Are you for real? Household bills, food, petrol and everything else have gone up by more than £1290! How are people expected to manage?
In real terms we are now working a day for free in comparison to 10 years ago with inflation rising as it has
We deserve our wages to increase with inflation at least. How is it fair we forfeit a whole days wages as a result of bad government decisions?
We work for free as it is with the additional hours we have to work just trying to keep up with the work load as teams have too few staff for the amount of work.
Greedy !! Are you serious
Andy you must be the only one living with parents
Increase council tax to the highest it’s ever been but offer us less LOL. Yeah right voting to strike. At least the same offer as last year.
Exactly and everything else went up. Even with last year’s rise of £1,925 I was still struggling to pay my bills!
Appreciate the sentiment but we will lose more in unpaid strike days than the employers are ever going to offer. Feels like we lose either way.
Strike! Target the General Election dates.
We have been left with no choice then but to vote for STRIKE action. They are taking us for fools and we can’t allow them to.
Agreed.
An insulting offer, showing how little they value local government staff.
Hopefully the unions reject, properly campaign and organise, and members actually vote in numbers (unlike the poor turnout last year).
If you think it is a fair offer, please consider:-
– This equates to between just 25% (highest earners) to 43% (lowest earners) of the union’s pay claim
– £635 less than last year’s offer
– Average annual wage growth is currently 6.1%
– MPs had a 5.5% uplift
– Pensions went up by 8.5%
– Minimum wage for those aged 21+ went up 9.8% (the lowest NJC scale point (as a minimum) should match this in my view to ensure local government is not a low wage employer)
Totally in agreement. We have had minimal pay increase for many years. We should at least be offered above the current inflation rate.
This is very disappointing!
The unions asked for 10% of £3000 which was never going to get offered.
Last year they asked for 2% above rate of inflation.
This year the people on the low end of the scale are offered 5.77% which is 2.57% above CPI which sits at 3.2%
and 1.47% above RPI which sits at 4.3% so they are offered what the unions believed was a good claim last year.
If this is refused and the unions do what they have done the previous 2 years it will be held off to December without any meaningful increase and then accepted. The people in the lower grades will have their pay rise back dated and if they are claiming UC they will lose this for a month. This means they pay back their pay rise.
Just something to think about before we all talk about strike action.
Absolutely spot on!
Agree
Disappointing offer, just show how valued we are.
This is just insulting! Shows exactly the contempt against this sector. They think we live on air or we dont have to pay for rent or clothes or food. Haven’t been on holiday for years because cannot afford it !In this job stress would kill you, demoralising that no one really cares! The nature of social work involves dealing with emotionally charged situations, which can lead to high stress and burnout especially if you have to worry about yourself, your kids,the bills, your health…. This emotional toll can make people leave the profession for good. Let’s see why we pay the unions!
The last two years, the government has used the term “Full and final”, to be fair, they have meant it.
Just take the pay rise this year please, as the last two year’s there has been strikes etc….. and the government hasn’t backed down on their “Full and final” pay offer.
I was literally about to write the same thing…” full & final means just that to the gov..no negotiation..get it done.
When we short staffed we get agency at a rate of 600+ a day. Somehow there is money for that. But no money to retain and award staff that actually knows what they are doing
Blimey where is that? If I could get £600 a day on the agency I’d join tomorrow.
In London, and as a senior manager, I pay agency around £240-£260 a day, which is of course more than a employee but that includes the agency costs, the SW doesn’t get as much.
But as the employer I don’t have to pay sickness, or NI contributions or pension contributions.
Yes I agree SWs should get paid more for the job they do. But sadly I’d concur with those warning caution. And certainly when it comes to strike action, how many can actually afford to strike and lose the pay?
Hardly anyone can afford to strike but i think this is exactly strategy for that. They know we can’t afford to strike so give us breadcrumbs.
The contracts are for “consultants” which would be covered by someone on a salary of circa 50k.
I am exhausted of fighting this
But we strike lose pay then the unions just accept it at the end of the year
It is going to be another year where we wait for months on end for the 3 unions to actually get sorted and communicate, just for the offer to be accepted in November anyway! Then its one lump sum payment where people on UC will get a nil award and so will lose their UC that month and end up no better off!! I think its shocking we haven’t at least been offered the same as last year but they aren’t going to budge on that offer, I don’t think! It would be nice to just get a rise ASAP!
Exactly! It will be another year of waiting! And then they don’t get us a penny more anyway! I don’t want to wait until dec to get the pay rise. It should be out choice if we want to accept it now. All this waiting around again is a nonsense as they always accept it every time anyway.
I can’t wait for the unions to reject this, spend months balloting and then original employer offer gets accepted in December. There’s literally 0 point in trusting the unions will get anything beyond this.
If we were nurses the government would be moving heaven and earth to give out decent pay rises. I do sympathise with local authorities though, as we wouldn’t be in this position we’re it not for 14 years of rule from the nasty party
Council staff get a pay inflation every year. Many of us in the private sector earn less and have not had any increase. Plus no sick pay and minimum leave allowance.
Not true:
– No inflationary pay awards were given to council staff in the “austerity years”
– in the private sector pay inflation is running at 5.9% (year on year growth at March 2024)*. So private sector staff do get pay rises (although not always in the same equitable way that public sector workers get inflationary rises
– Your point about sick pay/min leave is fair. BUT this is a reason to campaign for better conditions for workers in the private sector NOT to argue for worse conditions for public sector workers.
*https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/timeseries/kac6/lms
The request for 3000/10% was too high a request, they were never going to go anywhere near that.
Social workers need to come out of njc and we should have our own pay scales, the unions wont go for this though as its too much work!!!
Whilst I concur with what people have said about how it’s highly likely the ‘negotiations’ will take months and then the offer will subsequently be accepted, this is not a reasonable offer. There were talks amongst government parties in respect of a carefully considered offer being put forwards which took in to account the precarious position due to the current cost of living crisis and the dedication and hard work of local authority employees however this offer does not seem to take in to consideration the struggles being faced by the hard working employees. This offer puts all of the pressure onto the local authorities who are already struggling to balance the books and does not offer anything of substance to the people on the ground. Taking in to consideration deductions, this offer is almost worthless. They will simply receive more into main government in taxes while taking from local authorities. We deserve a pay that keeps us off the poverty line but the local authorities paying us need help to actually achieve this. We struggle to retain permanent staff and it’s offers like this that lead to that. The amount paid to agency workers would make a huge difference to local authorities if we could recruit and retain permanent workers but offers such as this do not help in any way. As a permanent employee, this offer is beyond disappointing
Certainly the public funds are strapped but if the pay was reasonable this might attract people to want to work in LA’s. As currently a high number opt for agency work which in the longer term must have a significant financial burden on LA’s. I do not believe striking will alter too much though a general election is nigh!
This is a such a disappointment. I am seriously considering joining an agency coz every month, I am finding myself struggling to pay my bills and I dont, eat out, go on holidays or anything fancy but
I have children and debts that I accumulated while doing my social work training as i was denied a bursary!
The stress of the job and constantly worrying about bills is really wearing me down and I have only been qualified since Sep 2022!
Completing your qualification was your choice. Did anyone hold a gun to your head and tell you to do it? Surely you sat down and looked at your finances before starting, and made a decision that you could continue? If so then you can’t then blame someone else for the situation you are in knowing the financial situation at that time.
Your bursary being denined, again this was your choice to go ahead without that support. You were never guaranteed a bursary, no one is and many people are denied.
If the job is that stressful and the pay is so bad (the salary you already knew) then leave and find another job.
Your statement comes across very entitled.
If this woman started her qualification in say 2019, at that time the cost of living had not yet risen to this ridiculous level. Therefore, the average Social Worker’s salary at the time she commenced her studies would have been appealing and most of us were probably able to live relatively comfortably.
In 2019, as a newly qualified Social Worker, I had disposable income, yet now, despite moving up the pay scale, I can barely survive! Again, to reiterate, this is due to our salaries not reflecting inflation ( to provide just one example, my mortgage rate in 2019 was 1.19% as opposed to my current rate of 4.3%). Get it now? Oh yeah, I forgot… nobody held a gun to my head and made me buy a house! I guess nobody holds a gun to my head and forces me to buy my children food either right?
Also, in regards to changing careers, Social Workers barely have time in the day to take a p**s, let alone search and apply for other jobs!
Why strike.Workers lose out financially and could potentially be worse off at the end. Working to rule is likely to be more effective and Will hopefully achieve the same outcome.
Times are hard for everyone. We need to remember that we get a better pension than most and paid sickness that a lot of people don’t get. We are in a profession which is generally secure. So many people in retail and other sectors are loosing their jobs and get little or no increase in pay.
The local authority that I live in are on the verge of a sec 114 notice meaning they cannot commit to anymore spending.
I hope this gets paid ASAP. Unions drag this on for months to achieve nothing normally. It has been made clear this is a full and final offer like the last few years so lets just get the money rather than dragging it on until December for the same outcome.
Unfortunately Unions lack the power they used to. They would be better to merge to create one bigger more powerful union rather than several smaller unions who work to different time scales and outcomes.
At present I would rather pay my mobile bill every month than paying a Union!
In my view, they simply cannot let this drag on like last year – if for nothing else then the impact it has to those on UC. This allbeit insulting offer, should be accepted, get the pay in the pocked from end June. Then immediately submit the 2025 claim, stipulating a time to respond and start the negotiation process early enough that there is clear space to do so. They’ll then have several months to orchestrate ballots and strike ballots before January even comes around, still leaving a few months before the award for 25 should be in place.
The biggest risk to success in any ballot process is lack of time. Write this year off any start immediately on the next claim.
Last years dragged on so long, that the unions only started their process for 2024’s claim in Nov, then 29th Feb before submitting the claim! So it was always going to cause delays to this year and put us on the back foot from the get go.
Yes, I’d love a higher offer. But you know what, I’ll gladly take whatever they’re able to give us.
Our service is struggling to balance the books as it is, and I’d rather take a smaller pay increase in order to help provide the best possible service for our clients.
I’m not in this for the money, and I’m well aware that I could earn more in a private sector role. It’s my choice to stay, in the full knowledge that I will be earning less.
All that will be achieved be rejected this deal is to drag the whole thing on for months and delay us actually getting the pay rise.
Think its insulting this pay offer lower than the past 2 years. On council sites i work on there cutting our summer hours down so our wages will be even lower so the pay rise wont make no difference to the site workers But they can still keep on empioying more managers to assist managers to do the job one manager as done for years and ran better there wages stay the same and just keep riseing feel very let down
Unions need to prepare earlier for future pay discussions rather than dragging it out which happens every year. Delayed acceptance of the offer impacts those on UC when a lump sum gets paid making them no better off and losing out which needs to be taken into consideration.
What would inner London get?
Oh, well…that’s what we’re be getting in December then. After the unions do their usual posturing, only to have their bluff called, as management know, too well, the union members haven’t got the energy, or the will, to strike.
Morale will continue to drop, and apathy will take its place.
When will the “trusted servants” within our unions realise the only reason they have members is because we need protection against spurious allegations made against us.
Just a little side note: they were all quick enough to put our subs up last year. No debate there, was there
Keep giving LA staff real terms paycuts and you keep losing morale, staff already can’t be bothered in my team we’ve been 6 people down (out of 15) since COVID and every year just another pay cut 9 months late.. no one puts in any effort anymore as we simply are not valued. My workload has tripled in the last 4 years and my pay is less.
Every single person in my team is looking for new roles now, most LAs cannot even recruit crucial staff like homeless officers.
The new staff we do get are crap because anyone half good goes into the private sector for better pay further exacerbating the issue.
Just Keep working harder for less pay… Short sighted and dumb .
With one eye on the future, I hope everyone sees sense and accepts the offer at the earliest opportunity.
Accepting the offer early will enable all parties to start negotiating for next year with the backdrop of a likely new central govt. following a general election as well as many elections in LAs.
Dragging this out will benefit no one, and every little helps so get it paid.
Inflations figures today – fallen to 2.3%…. in the NJC’s eyes we’re being offered a full and final ‘above inflation’ pay rise across most grades and greater than this for lowest spine points. We’ll never get made whole again for lost years of austerity and cuts. I think the unions will be on a road to nowhere if this isn’t just accepted this year. Funnily I’ve also not really seen Unite talking much about the offer; and they were really the thorn in the sides last year for agreeing the offer.
As I mentioned in my earlier post, I personally think accept and start the 2025 claim and negotiations now (and the members lobbying of the unions) – ready for action next year if no substantial agreement is made. Plus as Nathan says; may well have a new government and Angela Rayner wanted multi year settlements for LG, which would likely include multi year rise agreements.
No we’re not. If the current offer was above inflation it would need to be at least 6.7% as this was the inflation rate last September.
Why are we not at least offered the same as mp’s. Why are we lesser than them?
If I was earning as much as an MP I’d be ok with 5.5% increase. However, as my salary is a lot less than a 1/3 of an MP’s We social workers need to work with Unions and fight via whatever means at our disposal to get at least a pay rise of 6.7% which was the inflation rate last September.
The current offer £1620 across the board is insulting so let’s take the fight to them and see how many MP’s are prepared to go emptying the bins every week or looking after the elderly in care homes and/ or cleaning up the mess in schools and local authority centres.
Unions are seriously a joke, achieving nothing in the past two years and causing delays in payment. Why not accept the offer and be realistic, taking feasible actions rather than just moaning?
Can’t believe MPs have got 5.5 but yet council workers get so much less! What a joke. Considering leaving, would get much better pay in private sector!
Do we really think the government will increase this devisory offer, you have to be joking
Not even enough to cover the cost of the Blackwall tunnel for those who work in London and having no choice than to take the tunnel & Pay as from next year.
The pay offer will be implemented regardless of any union consultation which , as all know only delays the inevitable as per the previous 2 pay offers. Accept the offer as that’s all we are going to receive, fact.
Here is another wait till December, for the third year in a row! I wouldn’t mind if they actually achieved something but it’s just delaying wages that people need, then finally backing down accepting the original offer anyway. Its not the best pay offer but there’s no point dragging this out either.
No worries. Some people were sacked by them with no good readon for not having their untested jabs some lost houses and were forced to take their pensions whilst thousand qere lost for having to take it early.They dont care about people on the payrole they only used single status to dock social work pay instead of what it was introduced for. Anyways we will have a new pandemic soon wont we.roll on. I lost everything after 20 years working for them.not any apology what do you all expect. You work for social care so you care.they know this and use it against you all. The government is like a nice juicy sociopath .