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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 Service (Green Book)
UNISON did not consult its members on the pay offer and moved straight to a formal ballot for industrial action, which opened on 23 May and closes on 4 July. UNISON will be balloting on a disaggregated basis, which means strike action could be taken at each individual employer / school where a turn-out of over 50 per cent is secured (if members vote in favour of strike action). If UNISON meets the threshold for lawful industrial action to take place, its timetable means strike action may not start until August in many employers and in schools from September. GMB rejected the pay offer by 64 per cent to 36 per cent and said it “plans to move to industrial action ballots in some areas.” Unite rejected the pay offer by 75 per cent to 25 per cent and plans to conduct a formal ballot for industrial action, which is expected to run from late May to early July.
The latest information about the pay negotiations can be found on the Local Government Services.
Despite the prospect of a very lengthy delay until this year’s pay rounds are settled, the National Employers advise very strongly against imposing any pay offer before the collective bargaining process has concluded. To do so would not only fragment the unity of the employers’ position but may also leave employers vulnerable to questions being asked by auditors about why, in the absence of a national collective agreement, expenditure has been unnecessarily incurred. Perhaps more importantly, employers would need to consider very carefully the wider legal issues, including those arising out of the cases of Kostal UK Limited v Dunkley and INEOS Infrastructure Grangemouth Limited v Jones & others.
Pay negotiations: Craftworkers (Red Book)
Unite rejected the pay offer by 76 per cent to 24 per cent and plans to conduct a formal ballot for industrial action, which is expected to run from late May to early July. GMB rejected the pay offer by 59 per cent to 41 per cent and is deciding its next steps.
Pay negotiations: Chief Officers
Agreement has been reached on the 2023 pay award for local authority Chief Officers. The agreement is for 3.50 per cent with effect from 1 April 2023.
Pay negotiations: Chief Executives
The Officers’ Side is yet to respond formally to the National Employers’ full and final offer made on 23 February 2023.
Pay negotiations: Soulbury
The National Employers remain in dispute with the Staff Associations on pay for Soulbury officers for 2022. Discussions are ongoing and it is hoped that a pay settlement can be reached.
Pay consultation: School teachers
There was a reported leak of the School Teacher review Body recommendations in the press during May. However, at the time of writing the report neither the response from the Secretary of State (which leads to next phase of the process) have been published.
The landing page for all information linked to the pay consultation process can be found on the LGA website.
Employment Law
The latest edition (713) 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.
Equality and Human Rights Commission – impact assessment
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is currently monitoring the impact of its guidance on Preventing Hair Discrimination (launched in October 2022), and as such is inviting education providers to complete a short confidential survey (open until 7 July 2023). The survey is available in both English and Welsh.
Local Government Pension Scheme
The latest edition of our monthly bulletin can be found on the bulletin page of www.lgpsregs.org and the bulletin page of www.scotlgpsregs.org.
Firefighters’ Pension Scheme
The latest edition of our monthly bulletin is available to download.
The Scheme Advisory Board response to the Consultation on the Firefighters’ Pension Schemes (Remedial Service) Regulations 2023 has been published on the consultation page of the Scheme Advisory Board website.
Events
Details of events will be found on the Employer Link events page. However, the recently released LGPS fundamentals training can be found on the LGA events page with dates in October-December in Manchester, London or online.
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.
Employer guidance and Government updates from May
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.
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