On the 1st November local government trade unions accepted a pay offer that will see hundreds of thousands of workers, over 350,000 of whom are UNISON members, paid an extra £1,925 this year, equating to a 10.5% increase for the lowest-paid workers.

Following agreement by the National Joint Council (NJC) – the National Employers and majority of national trade unions – all Croydon Council pay grades from 1 to 17, and Croydon Special Range (CSR) A and B will be increased by £2,229 from 1 April 2022.

The pay award will be applied to basic pay, backdated to 1 April 2022, and will be paid as part of December’s payroll.

The national pay agreement for Local Government Services employees was of a pay increase of £1,925. Because Croydon Council is an Outer London borough, this has been adjusted to £2,229.

UNISON, GMB and Unite make up the trade union side of the national joint council (NJC) that negotiates pay for the majority of local government workers. After consulting their members over the last two months, the unions met on the 1st November and agreed to accept the offer from the employer, the Local Government Association (LGA).

The award is the highest offered to NJC workers in over a decade with local government workers bearing years of below inflation pay offers and pay freezes which have seen them lose over 25% from the value of their pay since 2010.

It will be backdated to 1 April 2022 and averages out to around 7% across the pay spine with the flat rate seeing those at the bottom of the spine (the lowest paid) receive a 10.5% increase with those at the top, just over 4%.

For more information follow the link: https://www.unison.org.uk/news/article/2022/11/council-workers-accept-deal-that-will-give-lowest-paid-10-5