Employees of the National Joint Council for Local Government (NJC) have accepted a pay agreement after a long dispute.
The deal will see an increase of £1,925 (6.4%) for employees outside London on salaries of up to £49,950, and a 3.88% increase for higher paid employees. Staff outside London will receive an increase of £2,226 (5%) and staff within inner London will receive an increase of £2,352 up to the stated salary threshold.
The agreement is backdated to April 1, 2023 and applies to most social care authorities in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
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Unions representing the workers, Unison and GMB, secured an agreement, but Unite continues to take industrial action in a minority of councils. Due to the number of trade union representatives, Unison and his GMB numbers alone were sufficient to reach an agreement.
The agreement was signed nine months after the union filed a 12.7% claim. NJC employers said the £1,925 pay rise for 2023-2024 was the full and final offer.
Naomi Cooke, Employers Secretary at the Local Government Association, said: “The primary purpose of promptly consulting the council on union claims and responding within four weeks of receiving them is to enable timely agreement to be reached to ensure: All local government employees received this award as close as possible to the April 1 implementation date because the nation's employers were keenly aware of the cost-of-living pressures local government employees were experiencing.
In a statement posted on X (formerly Twitter), Unison said: “Following the results of the 2023 pay vote in the summer, Unison’s NJC committee has taken the decision not to take industrial action.Unison has announced on Wednesday 1 November 2023 that it will not take industrial action against other local authority trade unions, GMB and We have met with Unite and, as a joint decision, have decided to accept a salary offer of £1,925, prorated for part-time and term time, for all NJC pay points – staff only.”
