Council Pay Reform

[ChrisN-0123]

Hi all!

 

Just wondering if anyone has seen anything happen with this council pay reform that was meant to happen in June?

 

Basically it was to compare pay from schools support staff t similar jobs in the Council etc.

 

I haven't heared anything nor seen any pay changes. Will be asking the

accounts lady when she is back from holiday!

 

Thanks in advace

Chris

[leon]

It was delayed here till September. That was the 3rd (?) delay, so I'm less than optimistic. Even less so about actually getting a rise. A one man strike action might be in order :-P.

[Adam]

one man strike must considered at least once a week!

 

I assume this is seperate to the cost of living increase that we're due? has anyone recieved this since april? Apparently we dont even know how much the increase is. I think last year it was 2.6, in line with inflation, but this year the rumor is it'll be less - more like what the nurses got.

 

any ideas?

[limbo]

I know in Birmingham the negotiaions for the cost of living increase are ongoing, so nothing is decided yet. I think last I heard the unions were talking about 5% and the council were at about 2% so some way to go yet.

 

The only good thing is that is should be back dated when it happens - so the longer it goes on the more noticeable it will be for the month you get it!

[Adam]

that's true, if they drag it out for a year it'll almost add up to the cost of a pint! ooo, two levels of political irony there, i mush have eaten something funny....

[plexer]

This is nothing to do with the cost of living increase that has still yet to be agreed between Norfolk County Council and the Unions.

 

This is what they are calling the "Modern Reward Strategy" if you haven't heard anything then whoever is receiving the information in your school is not passing it on.

 

At the moment they are planning on sending out the letters detailing your new job description and pay in september.

 

Any pay increases will be back dated from april which is when it was supposed to be implemented.

 

Any pay drops will not be back dated.

 

Yoru pay will be protected at it's current level for a specific length of time which hasn't been announcec yet.

 

After the letters are sent out the unions will ballot their members on wether we agree with the new pay scales.

 

Ben

[Adam]

Oh, it's just happening in norfolk is it? We had the Hay Evaluation about 5 years ago in leics (apparently), so i'm assuming we're not having another one....

 

Do they take into account the norfolk gene puddle? you get more pay the more genetically unique you are, in comparison to the 2 bloodlines that exist on the fens?

 

hehehe!

[plexer]

Hehe very good.

 

It has happened elsewhere as well and people have allready completed it but I'm just passing on the information that has come from Norfolk as the original poster is also from Norfolk.

 

I don't know if the ones that have allready been through it will be comparable to the pay scales norfolk comes out with.

 

Ben

[bishopsgarthstockton]

Im pig sick of it all. still not had cost of living increased. and as for job evaluation.... still going on

[Adam]

Apparently the one that happened here in leics saw many low paid workers wages going up, and a few going down - many staying the same.... Those who's wage went down however, apparently appealed the decision, and the majority (so i'm told) were successful in thier appeals.

 

the reason for all the uses of 'apparently' is that i wasn't actually resident in leics back then, so it's only what i've been told...

[Oops_my_bad]

Yes.. up here it's called "PARIS" - pay and reward something or other. The woman who came in from the council did a powerpoint presentation and it was watermarked with the Eifel tower. Very cheesy.

 

Anyway. Basically they do an assessment on the job you do (as opposed to the job description). As the previous poster, based on this info your pay can go either way. If this is true then I am due a hefty payrise But I doubt this will materialise.

 

We have heard nothing for over 3 months. It is all supposed to be finalised by January as the council could be liable for pay-related discrimination claims against them otherwise. I don't see all the consultations, interviews, pay changes, backlash, appeals.. etc going through by then

[Halfmad]

A lot of the Scottish councils have gone through a similar thing (called Single Status here). Most IT people have had their salaries cut, including myself although my Headteacher is appealing on my behalf in October when we're permitted (yes permitted) to know HOW they rated our jobs.

 

One thing that was rather nice is that a comparible job in the councils central IT department has been given the same and lower scale than mine, hinting that the level of skill to do the job is slightly less than mine.

 

However I get no more pay rises for 4 years as I'm not over my pay scale. I've been let off lightly, some of our IT workers in the council have now found out that after the 4 year conservation their salaries will drop by up to £9,000. Most however are losing between £1,000 and £3,000.

 

Good luck chaps! Amusingly my boss and most managers (am I not a manager?) have recieved rather good wage rises as has most people with "senior" in their titles, with the exception of senior technicians!

 

I can't wait to see how they rated my job..

[russdev]

one man strike must considered at least once a week!

 

I assume this is seperate to the cost of living increase that we're due? has anyone recieved this since april? Apparently we dont even know how much the increase is. I think last year it was 2.6, in line with inflation, but this year the rumor is it'll be less - more like what the nurses got.

 

any ideas?

 

Hi Adam

 

Currently in Leicestershire the cost of living is being decided initial offer from unions was I think 2.5 % plus increase of paid holidays from standard 22 to 25 or those already on 25 or above get 3 more holiday days.

 

But as most public sector wages (ironey including teachers wages) lea wants to follow government line of a max of 2% for public sector increases.

 

At moment unions still talking to lea etc so it is wait and see game..

 

Russell

[User3204]

If they are introducing a standardised pay scheme across L(E)As, this it would be nice to see what these figures are.

 

I'm after getting a pay rise/promotion at work, and I'd like to know what I should (can) get paid... or at least con out of them

[kylewilliamson]

It was called Pay & Benefits here - I work for a foundation school and therefore we havent heard a thing yet.

 

I think the idea is that a (male or female) Person B in Taunton will responsibilites X Y Z will get the same pay as a male or female person in say, Norfolk. (This of course, excludes london weighting)

 

Kyle

[GrumbleDook]

The same way that Teachers have a common pay scale but still have additional money for extra responsibilities that vary from school to school the idea that all support staff are paid according to a common scale according to the work they do.

 

The main problem is that what support staff actually do is often not the same as what is n their job description. Also, when the review happens they compare you against a job structure they already have and they try to pigeon hole you. For some it works, for others it doesn't.

[Heebeejeebee]

It's called R2R here. It stands for Route to Review and it's really, really upset many people because it's effectively telling them that they only type or that their level of knowledge does not constitute the pay that they're on at the moment.

 

Some schools have dished out all of their "evaluations" but I've yet to see mine despite everyone else having theirs. This leads me to think that it's not good news at all.

 

Some people report examples like the Site Manager getting less points than the Lunchtime Supervisor, Finance Assistants/Bursars being graded less than Office staff and Network Managers being dropped to Technician status. Not that all those jobs aren't important and worthy in their own right.

 

Seems like an exercise in reducing overall pay packets to me.

 

Here they're using the Greater London scales to calculate our points and so far I've not heard of anyone being told what points will equate to which pay scale and we're expected to sign this agreement effective blind. Guess what - I foresee loads of appeals being put in come September.

 

Does anyone have a points/Pay table they care to PM to me for a loose comparison of what we're likely to get?

 

HBJB

[ChrisN-0123]

Thanks for all of your responses If our head of Admin is in tomorrow, then i'll ask her whats going on! I've heared nothing about the County Council comparison.

 

The unions etc are deciding on that cost of living change percentage.

 

Will update you as and when I hear anything!!

[Adam]

 

Hi Adam

 

Currently in Leicestershire the cost of living is being decided initial offer from unions was I think 2.5 % plus increase of paid holidays from standard 22 to 25 or those already on 25 or above get 3 more holiday days.

 

But as most public sector wages (ironey including teachers wages) lea wants to follow government line of a max of 2% for public sector increases.

 

At moment unions still talking to lea etc so it is wait and see game..

 

Russell

 

i like the sound of 3 more days holiday! that'd come in very handy... 2& is a bit naff thought, is inflation still set at 2.6%? I assume the increases in the BOE base rate are designed to keep it at that rate, but my info is a year old i fear...

[MrLudwig]

It's called Job Evaluation down here in Devon.

 

It was supposed to be complete by April, but very few of the appeals (and there are lots of them from what I've herd) have been processed yet).

 

Not sure how it is being done elsewhere, but here we all got a list of generic 'job roles' and a somewhat brief description of each of them. These consisted of about 5 or 6 statements for each 'job role' (all very vague) which defined the level of responsibility of the role rather than specific tasks.

 

We had to decide which of these was a 'best fit' to what we actually do and place ourselves into a specific box. The Head also did this (for us). We then each had a meeting with the Head where he stated which box he felt was closest and we stated if we agreed or not, and if not, which box we felt was more appropriate.

 

To achieve the April deadline, we were all re graded to the 'Job Role' the Head decided (whether we had agreed or not).

 

We are now waiting for the first round of appeals to be herd.

[ninjabeaver]

Well, this is still dragging with no date for a finish yet. Broken promises litter the path that we have trod so far.

 

Latest news is here http://schools.norfolk.gov.uk/index.cfm?s=1&m=557&p=575,index

 

with the latest News Letter.

[plexer]

Hmm:

 

Q. What about pay protection?

A. We have always said we would put in place measures to help any staff whose salary is reduced as a result of MRS. From the effective date of 1 April 2007 if your pay is reduced your salary will be protected at its current level until 31 March 2010 on a ‘mark time’ basis. Effectively this means that your pay will be frozen at its current level until that date and you will not receive increments and cost of living pay awards. This will be in the final proposal that will be consulted upon when all the negotiations have concluded.

 

So no increments ok fair enough but also no cost of living increases? wtf!!!

 

Ben

[greenfieldsupport]

Sounds to me like a "nice" way of cutting your pay, instead of taking it away from you, they freeze your pay until the rest of the world catches up...

[ninjabeaver]

Sickening is all that I've seen so far. The worst part is the not knowing what is going on. I'm lucky in that we have a Unison Shop Steward on site who is very up on Union matters.

[plexer]

The trouble is that until the pay scales are decided and letters are sent out we will not know exactly where we stand.

 

At this point the unions will ballot their members.

 

Bit bloody late at that stage.

 

Ben