Pay offer remains the final offer

LGA press release - embargoed until Wednesday 16 July

Local government employers today re-iterated that the offer on the table for this year’s pay settlement remains the final offer.

Commenting as unions embark on a two-day strike – which is expected to involve less than a quarter of council staff (1) – Jan Parkinson, Managing Director of the Local Government Employers, said:

“It is disappointing that the unions are taking staff out on strike when only seven per cent of them voted for industrial action. Council workers will lose two days’ pay and many of them can ill-afford this.

“The settlement on the table is affordable to the council tax payer and will also make sure local government continues to be an attractive place to work. Employees on the lower grades will also receive an extra £100 a year, which equates to an overall pay increase of 3.3 per cent.

“Our greatest asset is our staff but we have simply reached the limit of what is affordable. Any higher offer would have to be funded through increases in council tax or cuts to essential services. In the current difficult economic climate we do not believe it would be fair to add to people’s burden.

“We remain willing to talk to the unions on a constructive basis about the future employment conditions of our workforce. But this week’s strikes will not change the fact that our last offer was our final offer.

“Councils will do all they can to ensure that essential services continue to be delivered to local people during the strike period.”

Commenting on union claims that councils are sitting on money kept in reserve that could be used to pay people more, Jan Parkinson said:

“The whole point of contingency funds is to make sure that in lean times council services still get provided to the most vulnerable in society. The rising costs of oil, petrol and diesel have increased the cost to councils of providing local services by £239m in the last two years. Local authorities are already having to dip into these emergency funds in order to protect front line services.

“As people would rightly expect, councils have put money aside for a rainy day and now that the credit crunch has hit alongside the huge rise in fuel and energy prices, their prudence will pay dividends by protecting services. It would be irresponsible of councils to dip into their emergency reserves just when the economic downturn is starting to bite.”

Notes to editor

(1) The LGA has contacted 157 councils by telephone from all regions of England, and in Wales and Northern Ireland. Out of the 177,838 workers affected in those councils which were able to respond, 44,072 are expected to take industrial action (24.78%). There are around 1.3 million staff affected by this pay dispute, meaning 325,000 are expected to take industrial action. Around 300,000 staff at 40 councils are not affected at all. This means out of a total local government workforce of 1.6 million, around 20% are expected to strike.

The survey was conducted between July 8 and July 14.

Author: LGA Media Office
Contact: Matt Nicholls -0207 664 3053