Posted on: 1 November 2023

Dear Colleague

Suspension of a Chief Officer during an investigation process

The Local Government Association recently wrote to the GMB following a recent Employment Tribunal relating to what is paid to a chief officer (CO) who is suspended during an investigation process.

The ET case concerned a Chief Officer who had been suspended and during the suspension commenced a period of sickness which led to them dropping from full pay to half pay. However the CO asserted that they were entitled to full pay in accordance with Joint Negotiating Committee for Local Authority Chief Officers Conditions of Service Handbook which states:

“2.5 Where the chief officer’s continuing presence at work compromises an investigation or impairs the efficient exercise of the local authority’s functions, the chief officer may (subject to whatever consultation or approval may be required under the authority’s standing orders) be suspended from duty. The Council, or appropriate committee or senior officer, acting under delegated powers, may carry out such suspension on full pay. Written notice stating the reasons for any such suspension shall be given at the earliest opportunity possible."

The ET said this provided a clear contractual term that suspension was on full pay and so that meant full pay even during the period of sickness absence.

The LGA wrote at length to councils to draw attention to the provision (that suspension has to be on full pay) and to us indicating that they will be seeking to discuss this issue within the JNC. We immediately responded stating that we had no wish to discuss this matter at the JNC and we wish to see GMB members conditions of service protected not diluted; especially as the ACAS code states “Employees must always receive their full pay and benefits during a period of suspension unless there is a clear contractual right for an employer to suspend without pay or benefits. Disciplinary procedures should specify how pay is to be calculated during any period of suspension.”

Our stance shows the value of GMB membership in protecting your terms and conditions. As a Trade Union we are represented on the JNC and we will continue to protect your interests.

Yours sincerely

George Georgiou

National Officer Public Services Section

Tel 07841 181541 Email George.georgiou@gmb.org.uk

Posted on: 9 May 2023

The GMB recently submitted a pay claim for members covered by the Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC) for Chief Officers of Local Authorities asking for:

• An increase of RPI + 2% for all Chief Officers covered by JNC terms and conditions
• An additional day of annual leave for all Chief Officers to be implemented from 1 April 2023
• An additional day of annual leave for personal or well-being purposes

In response the employers put forward a full and final one year pay offer of

• With effect from 1 April 2023, an increase of 3.50 per cent on basic salary

We put this offer to members in an indicative ballot that closed Friday 28th April 2023. In a 36% turnout those GMB Chief Officer members who voted agreed to ACCEPT the offer by 59% to 41% of those.

The LGA have accordingly been advised and they encouraged employers to implement the award as swiftly as possible applicable from 1 April 2023 (covering the period 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024).

This increase applies to individual salaries as well as pay points.

LGA also advise that, if requested by an ex-employee to do so, employers should pay any monies due to that employee from 1 April 2023 to the employee’s last day of employment and that when these arrears are paid the employer must inform its local LGPS fund.

Further details are available on the employer resources section of www.lgpsregs.org.

Posted on: 27 March 2023

The GMB recently submitted the following pay claim for members covered by the Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC) for Chief Officers of Local Authorities:

• An increase of RPI + 2% for all Chief Officers covered by JNC terms and conditions

• An additional day of annual leave for all Chief Officers to be implemented from 1 April 2023

• An additional day of annual leave for personal or well-being purposes

In the claim we showed that

• The pay of Chief Officers earning below £100,000 has fallen in real terms by 40 per cent since April 2008 while comparable private sector rates have increased.
• Local Government Chief Officers shouldered an exceptional burden during the pandemic and the ongoing financial strain on local government services.
• RPI remains in double figures and the cost of living crisis continues.
• Chief Officers continue to report dangerously high workloads, long hours and unpaid overtime.

In response the employers put forward a full and final one year pay offer of

• With effect from 1 April 2023, an increase of 3.50 per cent on basic salary

We are putting this offer to members in an indicative ballot and asking Chief Officer members to consider it in the light of the ongoing cost of living crisis.

Ballot papers have been issued by GMB Regions. The ballot opens on Monday 27^th March and closes at noon on Friday 28^th April 2023.

Once all ballot papers have been received and counted, in the event of us reaching the threshold for industrial action, we will then seek views on what form of industrial action, if any, members are willing to take and proceed to a formal ballot for action.

Posted on: 3 March 2023

LOCAL GOVERNMENT CHIEF OFFICERS PAY 2023

On behalf of our Local Government Chief Officer members a pay claim was submitted in February 2023 asking for a pay rise of RPI + 2% and an additional days Annual Leave.

The employers moved very quickly to brief councils on it, with that process concluding on 15 February.

In response the employers have stated

“National Employers recognise the many points raised in your Side’s claim that relate to the size and scale of Chief Officers’ roles and responsibilities in a modern council. However, the employers must be able to demonstrate that pay offers they make to senior officers can be defended to council tax paying local residents and other employees.

Therefore, the National Employers wish to make the following full and final, one-year (1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024) offer:

• With effect from 1 April 2023, an increase of 3.50 per cent on basic salary¹

The National Employers hope this final offer can quickly form the basis of an agreement between the two Sides so that Chief Officers, who continue to provide such critical support to their communities, can receive this award as soon as is practicable.’

In line with the policy for NJC Green Book staff we will be seeking further negotiations with the employers as soon as practicable.

¹ Basic salary should exclude other separately identified payments such as Returning Officer fees etc

Posted on: 15 February 2023

Local Government and School Support Staff say

WE'RE WORTH MOR£

The GMB has submitted the following pay claim for our members covered by the Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC) for Chief Officers of Local Authorities:

• An increase of RPI + 2% for all Chief Officers covered by JNC terms and conditions

• An additional day of annual leave for all Chief Officers to be implemented from 1 April 2023

• An additional day of annual leave for personal or well-being purposes

GMB Chief Officers deserve a pay rise and an extra day’s annual leave. The pay of Chief Officers earning below £100,000 has fallen in real terms by 40 per cent since April 2008 while comparable private sector rates have increased.

Local Government Chief Officers have shouldered an exceptional burden during the pandemic and the ongoing financial strain on local government services and this needs to be fairly rewarded especially as RPI remains in double figures and the cost of living crisis continues. Compared to the RPI inflation measure, a Chief Officer will have lost between 36 and 39 per cent since the start of pay austerity in local government.

Our members continue to report dangerously high workloads, which in some cases have increased significantly over the last 12 months. The long hours worked by Chief Officers are reflected in official data. ONS Labour Force Survey data suggests that Chief Officers work longer regular hours, on average, than their counterparts in other sectors, and that these hours are supplemented by very high rates of unpaid overtime working.

We call on JNC employers to recognise this contribution and make our members an offer in line with the NJC Green Book claim in order to promote a single organisational ethos.

Posted on: 2 November 2022

To: Chief Executives in England and Wales (N Ireland for information) (copies for the Finance Director and HR Director) Regional Directors Members of the Joint Negotiating Committee 

Dear Chief Executive,

CHIEF OFFICERS’ PAY AGREEMENT 2022 Agreement has now been reached on the pay award applicable from 1 April 2022 (covering the period 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023).

The individual basic salaries1 of all officers within scope of the JNC for Chief Officers of Local Authorities should be increased by £1,925 with effect from 1 April 2022 (NB: this increase applies to individual salaries as well as pay points, if applicable).

Employers are encouraged to implement this pay award as swiftly as possible.

Backpay for employees who have left employment since 1 April 2022

If requested by an ex-employee to do so, we recommend that employers should pay any monies due to that employee from 1 April 2022 to the employee’s last day of employment. When salary arrears are paid to ex-employees who were in the LGPS, the employer must inform its local LGPS fund. Employers will need to amend the CARE and final pay figures (if the ex-employee has pre-April 2014 LGPS membership) accordingly. Further detail is provided in section 15 of the HR guide which is available on the employer resources section of www.lgpsregs.org

Yours faithfully,

Naomi Cooke

George Georgiou

cc Ruth Levin, UNISON

*1 Basic salary should exclude other separately identified payments such as Returning Officer fees etc

Posted on: 9 February 2022

Agreement has now been reached on the pay award applicable from 1 April 2021.

The individual basic salaries1 of all officers within scope of the JNC for Chief Officers of Local Authorities should be increased by 1.50 per cent with effect from 1 April 2021 (NB: the percentage increases apply to individual salaries as well as pay points, if applicable). Employers are encouraged to implement this pay award as swiftly as possible.

This pay agreement covers the period 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022.

Posted on: 9 February 2022

If requested by an ex-employee to do so, we recommend that employers should pay any monies due to that employee from 1 April 2021 to the employee’s last day of employment.

When salary arrears are paid to ex-employees who were in the LGPS, the employer must inform its local LGPS fund. Employers will need to amend the CARE and final pay figures (if the ex-employee has pre-April 2014 LGPS membership) accordingly. Further detail is provided in section 15 of the HR guide which is available on the employer resources section of lgpsregs.org

Posted on: 11 January 2021

The NJC pay survey closed in November 2020. The headline results are as follows:

75% of respondents would be willing to accept a 3% pay increase to at least maintain standard of living. The mean settlement across all responses was 3.25%

All respondents think GMB should continue to campaign for minimum £10.00 starting rate.

66% of respondents do work regular unpaid overtime.

NEXT STEPS

GMB are meeting with NJC Unions to agree the full staff side pay claim. GMB NJC meetings have already taken place with the majority view that we move to a pay claim that asks for a substantial pay increase but that this pay round we include a condition’s claim as there are several areas NJC unions want to discuss with the employer in the next pay round.

TIMELINE (subject to change please visit this page regularly as it will be updated)

Posted on: 26 August 2022

GMB members whose pay is linked to the JNC for Chief Officers for Local Authorities in England and Wales have now had the opportunity to respond to the GMB consultation ballot, following the offer made by the National Employers.

The outcome of the ballot was that GMB members have accepted the offer.

This offer applies only to those members whose pay is determined by the above agreement, and does not apply to members whose pay is determined by NJC ‘Green Book’ or Craft Workers ‘Red Book’ arrangements.

Background

GMB expressed dismay at the opening offer of 2% tabled by your employer earlier this year, and rejected it. The employer then considered the rejection and tabled a revised offer, as detailed below.

Headlines for the offer are as follows:

• With effect from 1 April 2020, an increase of 2.75 per cent on basic salary
• The National Employers also propose that the Joint Secretaries should enter into exploratory discussions, without prejudice, on the non-pay elements of your claim that seek “a joint survey of all local authorities to establish the extent of the gender pay gap among Chief Officers across local authorities, and a commitment to a joint approach to removing the gender pay gap”
• “a commitment to agree a new package to improve Chief Officers’ work-life balance”

Following a full consultative ballot GMB members voted to accept the offer.  Members of Unison also voted to accept the offer. GMB have now written to the employer on behalf of the trade union side formally accepting the offer.

Next steps

Employers will now begin making arrangements to pay the salary increase, which will be backdated to April 1^st. GMB will begin discussions with the employer on the non-pay elements of the offer.

Full details of the offer can be found here.

Posted on: 22 September 2021

GMB recently met with the JNC to discuss the two tier pay offer tabled to Chief Officers. We made it clear that whilst we are recommending a rejection of the NJC Green Book offer to our members we expect parity for Chief Officers negotiating group.

BACKGROUND

GMB submitted a pay claim setting out the case for a pay increase for all chief officers this year and expected parity across the sector.

PAY OFFER

The National Employers made the following, final one-year offer:

With effect from 1 April 2021, an increase of 1.5% on basic salary.

GMB POSITION

We swiftly set out our disappointment on the level of the offer. NJC staff were offered 1.75%. We made it clear that we were not able to accept the offer and asked for an urgent meeting to discuss why Chief Officers pay offer fell short of what was made to the sector. In our meeting with the JNC we made the case that:

1. Chief Officers shouldn’t be treated differently to staff they work along side with in the sector.
2. The JNC should conduct and Equality Impact Assessment.
3. All staff across Local Government had made a tremendous contribution throughout the pandemic.
4. The 1.5% offer is revised to at least mirror the NJC Offer.

Whilst we will be recommending a rejection of 1.75% to all members, there is a precedent historically for parity between the offers made to local government staff and chief officers.

JNC RESPONSE

The JNC have said that full consideration will be given to the above and a response will follow in early October 2021.

NEXT STEPS

Depending on how the JNC respond in October a full GMB members ballot will follow.

Please ensure all your details are up to date at Join GMB.