- Conference
- 2025 Local Government Service Group Conference
- Date
- 10 January 2025
- Decision
- Carried as Amended
Conferences notes that the bargaining framework for many UNISON members in local government is changing.
The government’s Employment Rights Bill, published in October 2024 included clauses to reinstate the School Support Staff Negotiating Body (SSSNB) and to put in place the means to create a fair pay agreement in adult social care.
Conference welcomes these developments as providing the potential to deliver real improvements for members in schools and social care, as well as giving those members a far greater voice in the determination of their own workplace pay and conditions.
There needs to be careful consideration of the devolution implications of these changes. For example, the SSSNB is being set up as England only, though other nations may be able to be involved in some way. Devolved nations/administrations need to be full partners in any decision-making process affecting members. And broader consideration of the implications for the members remaining in the NJC will be essential.
NJC pay increases in recent years has been implemented through a succession of one-year settlements. Conference notes existing Service Group policy, passed in 2006, opposing pay settlements of more than 12 months.
Conference believes that there are benefits and drawbacks to this approach. Sometimes, we would not want to tie ourselves to a multi-year pay settlement which could end up being a worse deal, for example if inflation were to rise more than expected.
However, many members welcome the stability and certainty that multi-year settlements provide. A multi-year claim could strengthen our case for a better pay deal, as employers will be able to plan more effectively over the medium term. Furthermore, the longer period between negotiations would give UNISON the opportunity to build stronger, more effective campaigns and to build organisation locally. Multi-year settlements, if reached, would also enable sectors to start the work on subsequent pay rounds earlier.
The sector committees within the Local Government Service Group are responsible for proposing draft pay claims and consulting members on their content. Conference believes that these sector committees should have the flexibility to consider all relevant factors and propose a pay claim covering one or more years, as appropriate, and to consult members on that basis.
Conference instructs the Service Group Executive to:
1) Ensure that all necessary information on potential involvement by devolved nations/administrations in the SSSNB is available, and work with the NJC Committee and devolved nations/administrations to ensure members’ views are represented;
2) Seek to ensure school and care staff in Cymru/Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are placed at no disadvantage to their counterparts in England by the passage of the Employment Rights Bill;
3) Work with the NJC Committee and UNISON’s devolved nations/administrations to consider the implications of the SSSNB and social care fair pay agreement for members left in the NJC, including issues relating to pay and conditions, the pay spine, devolution and internal democratic structures;
4) Work with the NJC Committee and Schools Committee to ensure a fair and positive transition from the NJC to the SSSNB for schools members;
5) Work with the NJC Committee and the newly established National Social Care Committee (England) to ensure the co-ordination of Service Group policy on behalf of care workers directly employed by local councils and/or covered by NJC pay bargaining;
6) Issue guidance to all the sector committees within the Service Group, permitting them to submit pay claims of one or more years, providing they follow all existing procedures for consulting members, including consulting members explicitly on the length of the claim as well as the contents of the claim.
