Unified Pay Update – Please read

Dear Colleagues

Barnet Council issued the following statement yesterday Thursday 28 January 2016:

“The following communication applies to directly employed council staff, with the exception of those employed in Education and Skills who are currently subject to alternative delivery model proposals. The proposals will automatically apply to non-teaching staff in Community Schools. These proposals do not automatically apply to non-teaching staff in non-community schools where it is for the governing body to decide.

As you will know, the council has been working on the Unified Reward project since 2012, reviewing the basic pay, terms and conditions of all staff, including support staff in community schools whose terms and conditions are governed by National Joint Council (NJC), but excluding Education and Skills staff. The council’s aims and objectives of Unified Reward is to create a pay and reward system which is simpler, fairer, more flexible and rewards performance. The council believes this was needed to address the wide range of grades that had been created across the authority, remove inconsistencies and to ensure that staff are being rewarded for the work they do. The trade unions have worked closely with the council to jointly evaluate more than 4,000 jobs.

Since October 2015, the council has been negotiating with the trade unions on the updated package of proposals. Those negotiations have now reached a conclusion, and both the council and trade unions will be in a position to shortly present a full package of proposals to staff for the purposes of consultation.

The last three months of negotiations have been looking at a number of elements. As well as reviewing basic pay, other forms of pay and reward have been reviewed, and terms and conditions including changes to annual leave, sickness and other allowances have all been discussed. The negotiations have been constructive and both the council and your trade unions have moved from their initial positions, to try and reach the mutual goal of a fair package for all, to present to staff for consultation.

The council and trade unions have now in principle reached an agreement on the proposals to be shared with and considered by staff through a formal consultation process, which for the council will take place in the form of briefings and for trade union members will be conducted by way of a formal consultative ballot according to their democratic procedures.

We will let you know more about these council briefings and how you can book your place soon.

Any questions you have about the process at this stage should be directed to unified.reward@barnet.gov.uk.

You can contact your trade union at contactus@barnetunsion.org.uk mary.goodson@barnet.gov.uk”

 

IMPORTANT PLEASE NOTE :

If you have any questions or concerns please email the Council at unified.reward@barnet.gov.uk and copy in UNISON at contactus@barnetunison.org.uk