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Employer link 2019

Employer Link newsletter

1 September 2022

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This newsletter provides a round-up of all the relevant news that Employer Link has gathered over the last month.

You will need to be logged in to the service to access some of the detailed reports. Please refer to the How to access the Employer Link services to ensure you and colleagues have access to all relevant resources.


Pay negotiations:  Local Government Services (Green Book)

The National Employers’ final pay offer was made on 25 July. The offer would provide employees with a pay increase of £1,925 per annum from 1 April 2022. The offer also includes a one-day increase to all NJC employees’ annual leave entitlement from 1 April 2023. In response:

  • UNISON have agreed to consult their members, with a closing date of 19 September. They will remain neutral on the question of whether to recommend that the offer be accepted or rejected.
  • GMB have agreed to consult their members, with a closing date of 21 October. They will remain neutral on the question of whether to recommend that the offer be accepted or rejected.
  • Unite have agreed to consult their members, with a closing date of 14 October. They have recommended that the offer is rejected.
  • National Education Union, although not party to the negotiations, are consulting their members, with a closing date of 19 September.

We will provide updates on progress of this year’s pay negotiations as soon as there are any public developments.

The National Employers continue to repeat their clear and consistent position, that they advise very strongly against making any up-front payment in lieu of the pay award being finalised.


Pay negotiations:  Chief Executives and Chief Officers

One-year final offers have been made to the Staff Sides representing Chief Executives and Chief Officers.


Pay negotiations: Craft Workers (Red Book)

The Joint Negotiating Committee for Craft and Associated Employees (under the ‘Red Book’) has finally agreed a 2021 pay award of 1.75 per cent on all pay rates and allowances. Accordingly, with the 2021 pay round at last concluded, the National employers have made a final offer in response to the Craftworker unions’ pay claim for 2022 (covering the period 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023).


Pay consultation:  School teachers' pay 2022/23 

The Government’s response details the acceptance of the School Teacher’s Review Body (STRB) recommendations on teachers’ pay for 2022 as set out in the STRB’s 32nd Report. Five per cent increase for most teachers and all leaders, with bigger increases for early career teachers. Schools are not expected to receive extra funding to cover the cost. The draft School Teachers Pay & Conditions Document can be found alongside all relevant information at school teachers’ pay 2022.  

There has been a good response to the  Employer Link survey on teachers pay for 2022 - there is still an opportunity to have your say as consultation closes at 12pm on the 5 September 2022.

Employer Link subscribers have flagged a couple of discrepancies in the draft School Teachers Pay & Conditions Document, in relation to the main (M6) and upper pay ranges (U1). These will be amended as a result in the final version.


Pay negotiations:  Fire & Rescue Services

The National Joint Council for Local Authority Fire and Rescue Services covers uniformed employees ranging from firefighters to middle managers across the UK.

The employee side of the NJC have rejected the offer made by the National Employers. The NJC for LAFRS National Employers will be considering next steps in the light of all recently available information and has issued Employer Circular EMP/3/22 to outline the position in full including engagement with respective governments across the UK.


Pay negotiations:  Youth & Community

The Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC) youth and community workers has reached a pay agreement for a 1.75 per cent pay increase for 2021. The employee side has submitted its pay and conditions claim for 2022. The headline element is for a 10 per cent or inflation (RPI) plus two per cent pay increase (whichever is greater). The National Employers will shortly undertake a consultation on the claim.


National guidance: Soulbury

The Soulbury Committee has issued guidance on employment arrangements for trainee educational psychologists.


LGA Lobbying: HMRC mileage rates

The LGA has written to ministers requesting an urgent review to the rates to help employers reimburse staff at a fairer level. This is a result of an 11-year freeze of HMRC mileage rates in light of soaring fuel prices.


Employment Law

The latest edition (704) of our monthly advisory bulletin is available to download.

Remember, you can sign up to receive this directly (along with other newsletters such as the Workforce Bulletin, these are all free as part of the Employer Link subscription) by going to the e-bulletins page.

Read past advisory bulletins on our website.


Apprenticeships - Public Sector Target Reporting Process deadline

All public sector bodies that employ 250 staff or more need to complete a report on their progress towards meeting the public sector apprenticeships target for the 1 April 2021 – 31 March 2022 period by 30 September 2022. This is the final year of the target, although reporting on public sector bodies’ progress on starts will continue in an altered form annually from 2023.

The reporting process should be completed via the DAS (you can find the link to the form under the ‘Apprentices’ tab on your DAS account). For more detailed information regarding what data is required, please see the published guidance on gov.uk. If you are unsure how to complete the return, please contact the Apprenticeship Service Support Service on 0800 0150 600 or email helpdesk@manage-apprenticeships.service.gov.uk.


Keeping children safe in education

This statutory guidance is regularly updated, with a reference to conducting online searches of shortlisted applicants contained in the latest iteration (due to come into force from September 2022.) Employers have made us aware of concerns over interpreting that addition, therefore, following conversations with DfE we produced an explanatory note.


Local Government Pension Scheme

The latest edition (228) of our monthly bulletin can be found on the Bulletin page of www.lgpsregs.org and the Bulletin page of www.scotlgpsregs.org.


Teachers’ Pension Scheme

The latest edition of our monthly bulletin is available to download.

Following LGA lobbying, Teachers Pensions’ has confirmed that that the online opt in form for teachers is now live and can be accessed by teachers via the employer portal.

Remember, you can sign up to receive this directly (along with other newsletters such as the Workforce Bulletin, these are all free as part of the Employer Link subscription) by going to the e-bulletins page.


Teachers’ Pensions Scheme: Indexation

Employer Link issued a bulletin on 18 February, including information about TPS indexation and the impact of the 2021 pay freeze. We did not expect any further guidance.

At the TP Scheme Advisory Board (SAB) meeting of 16 June 2022, the DfE confirmed that the TP regulations have been working as intended when the average salary calculation was introduced to the TPS in 2007. However, as some members with final salary service have been affected by the recent pay freeze, the DfE is considering changing the policy to increase the average salary rate each April in line with the Treasury Order that is used for the TPS career average scheme re-valuation. Any proposed change to the TP regulations will be subject to public consultation and unlikely to be completed before 2023. The DfE also confirmed that there would not be a retrospect change to the regulations; this change will not affect those teachers who retire from the final salary section of the TPS before the regulations come into force.

As a reminder, under the TPS administration processes, it is possible to report a change of salary retrospectively to trigger the indexation for 2021/22, if the teacher has not applied for their retirement benefits before the change is made. Any retrospective change of this nature would need to be consistent with the teacher’s contract of employment and the employer’s pay policy.


Firefighters’ Pension Scheme

The latest edition (60) of our monthly bulletin is available to download. It includes topical issues including age discrimination eligibility, electric vehicle salary sacrifice and updated abatement guidance.


Events

Details of events will be found on the Employer link Events Page.

If you have not received a discount code to receive the free (or discounted) rate for any event you see on that page please email us.

Presentations from past events are available to download. A recording of past events can be found on our website.


A collection of Employer guidance and Government updates from July: 


If you have any questions about any of the items in this newsletter or any difficulties in logging into the secure parts of the website, please contact us.