UPDATED GREEN BOOK PART 4.12 TERM-TIME EMPLOYEES
13.2.24 – A copy of the circular can be found here: Circ NJC Part 4.12 TTO updated 04Mar24
LOCAL GOVERNMENT PAY 2024
29.02.24 – We have today received from the NJC Trade Unions the 2024 pay claim for local government services (‘Green Book’) employees. Councils will be consulted on the unions’ claim (and the other pay claims, for Chief Execs, Chief Officers and Craftworkers) at our on-line regional pay briefing on 26th March 2024.
The pay claim can be found here: NJC Pay Claim 2024-25
LOCAL GOVERNMENT PAY 2023
1.11.23 – Agreement has this afternoon been reached on the 2023 pay awards for local government services (‘Green Book’) employees which covers the period 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024. The details can be found here. A separate employer circular, providing some context to this year’s pay round can be found here.
31.10.23 – GMB has just informed the National Employers that it has accepted the full and final pay offer for local government services ‘Green Book’ employees. Details can be found here.
The three national Trade Union Joint Secretaries will be meeting on Wed 1st November 2023. An update will follow.
National Pay Negotiations – Joint Union Meeting 19 September 2023
The full NJC Trade Union Side met this afternoon (19.09.23) to discuss the National Emplhyers’ full and final pay offer, which they received on 23 Feb, this can be found here .
You will be aware that UNISON announced recently it would not be taking any strike action and wished instead to, “…resolve this year’s pay dispute and get that pay increase in [its members] pockets as soon as possible.”You will also be aware that Unite is currently engaged in industrial action in a small number of councils, and GMB is conducting industrial action ballots, targeted at some councils and schools, which close on 24 Oct. The link to UNISON can aslo be found here.
No decision on the pay offer was reached today. The unions did though agree to reconvene within a few days of GMB’s strike ballots closing.
The National Employers share councils’ exasperation at the unions’ continued procrastination, which results only in yet more delay before employees can finally get the £1,925 pay increase they’ve been waiting for since April.
Despite this further delay, the advice that we are sharing on behalf of national colleagues continues to be 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 would also leave councils 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, councils 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.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT PAY 2023 – Unions’ Response to National Pay Offer
The National Employers have reaffirmed the pay offer as full and final, in response to a letter from the NJC unions, received on Wednesday (16.08.23) in which they sought an improved pay offer.
Please see below the letter from the Joint Unions and the National Employers’ response.
Trade Union Side reponse (16.08.23)
National Employers response (17.08.23)
LOCAL GOVERNMENT PAY 2023 – Unions’ Response to National Pay Offer
A circular issued today (08.03.23) following a meeting of members of the National Employers and Joint Unions that took place this morning can be found here .
You will see that the Employers’ full and final offer has been rejected and that unions will be balloting their members. UNISON has announced it will ballot for industrial action, whilst GMB and Unite members will be consulted on the basis of a recommendation that the offer be rejected. The Circular also provides timescales indicated for the ballots.
NJC PAY CLAIM 2023-24
23.2.23 – The National Employers have today made a full and final offer to the trade unions representing local government services (‘Green Book’) employees. A copy of the offer can be found here.
On 30th January 2023 the joint unions presenting Local Government Services staff (those on Green Book terms and conditions) submitted their pay claim for 2023. A copy of the claim can be accessed here.
The Coronation of His Majesty King Charles III and updated Green Book Part 4.12
3.12.22 – The NJC circular setting out guidance relating to the additional bank holiday on 8 May 2023 can be found here. Attached to the same circular is updated Green Book Part 4.12 guidance that reflects the additional day of annual leave awarded to all NJC employees (with effect from 1 April 2023) as part of the 2022 NJC pay agreement.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT PAY 2022
Agreement has today (1st Nov 22) been reached on the pay award for local government services (‘Green Book’) employees. A copy of the circular can be found here.
2022 National Pay Negotiations – Update on Timelines
You will be aware that two of the unions’ pay consultations are still taking place and without making any presumption of their outcomes, it may be helpful to update you on timescales of next steps in the event that a majority of the unions do vote to accept the offer.
As advised previously, UNISON has already accepted the National Employers’ final pay offer and Unite’s consultation on the offer closes on Friday 14th October and GMB’s consultation closes on Friday 21st October. In order for a formal collective agreement to be achieved, GMB and/or Unite must also vote to accept.
The full Trade Union Side will be meeting on Tuesday 1st November to discuss the results of their respective consultations and to decide whether to formally accept the employers’ offer. Therefore, if a pay deal is agreed, the NJC pay circular will not be issued before 1st November, even if before that date it has been announced that GMB’s and/or Unite’s members have voted in favour of accepting the employers’ offer.
Councils should not implement the employers’ pay offer until the NJC pay circular, which constitutes a formal collective agreement, has been issued. The national employers are fully aware of payroll cut-off dates as Christmas approaches, so we will endeavour to distribute the circular as soon as possible after 1st November if a majority of the unions accept the employers’ offer.
We shall continue to keep you informed of developments, including on the position of the pay offers made in respect of local authority Chief Executives, Chief Officers and Craftworkers.
2022 Pay Negotiations
The National Employers for local government services have today (25th July 2022) made a final pay offer to the unions representing NJC ‘Green Book’ employees. Details can be found here.
National Employers have written to trade unions to avoid a repeat of last year’s delays in reaching agreement due to the unions’ consultation and balloting arrangements. A copy of the letter is here.
The National Employers have issued a circular with background information relating to this year’s pay negotiations and the regional pay briefings. EMC is hosting the pay briefing for our region which is being held virtually on 21st June 2022 [details here]. The circular can be accessed here:- Employers Circular – National Pay Negotiations 2022 (19 May 22)
HMRC Rates
The Regional Employers’ Board and Joint Council have agreed to support lobbying of HMRC to review their mileage rates. The Chair of the LGA’s Resources Board wrote to HMRC regarding this issue and has now received a response – a copy of which is available here.
2021-22 Pay Agreement
Agreement has been reached on the pay award for local government services (‘Green Book’) employees, covering the period 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022. A copy of the circular can be found here .
Unite has refused to have its details included in the circular as it will be staging targeted industrial action in as yet, unnamed local areas. This is regrettable but does not prevent a formal collective agreement being reached and implemented as the NJC Constitution requires a majority on each Side to be in favour, which UNISON and GMB both are.
25 April 2022 – National Agreement ‘Green Book’
The ‘Green Book’ has been updated and we have issued two versions:
National agreement ‘Green book’: updated edition April 2022 – no tracked changes
National agreement ‘Green book’: updated edition April 2022 – with tracked changes
The ‘Green Book’ is available online only. All employees with an email address ending “.gov.uk” can freely access it via the link below [NB: log in required]):
https://www.local.gov.uk/our-support/workforce-and-hr-support/local-government-services
Review of Term-Time Working
Please find attached a circular that provides an update on the NJC’s review of Term-Time Only working (25.2.20)
Job Evaluation
Updated NJC JE Guidance Notes – 3rd August 2020
The NJC’s Job Evaluation Technical Working Group (JETWG) has now completed its work on updating the scheme guidance notes (as advised in NJC circular dated 1 March 2019). The Cover Letter Circular can be found here along with one copy showing all track changes here and one without track changes here. No changes have been made to the scheme’s factor level structure and associated weighting/scoring.
The revised guidance will be incorporated into the next update of the Green Book which will be issued later this year.
Finally, a reminder that the entire suite of NJC JE Scheme documentation, including model role profiles and technical notes, can be found at here.
NJC Job Evaluation Scheme: New Model Role Profiles June 2017
Please see below the latest batch of model role profiles for Commissioning, Family Support, Home Care, Public Health, Residential Care, Principal Social Worker and Support Time Recovery jobs.
Public Health and Social Health Care Profiles 21Jun17
The covering circular can be found here and new Tech Note 16 with advice on “Using Role Profiles to Implement Job Evaluation” can be found here .
The NJC JE Technical Working Group has produced (20.1.16) the attached technical Note which the LGA have asked us to circulate to Councils. Tech Note 15 Market Supplements Jan16 (003)