Management Information Sheet
Changes to Support Staff Pay
Important changes to the support staff pay structure
The 2018-20 pay deal for employees covered by the National Joint Council for Local Government Services (the Green Book), which includes support staff in schools, meant that changes are required to salary scales from 01 April 2019.
A proposed new pay structure has now been shared with trade unions. UNISON will ballot its members over the next few weeks and we are waiting to hear if GMB will do the same.
It would help if all union members who are invited to vote do so. If agreement with unions is reached, the changes and pay awards can be implemented without any delay from April 2019.
What will change and why
Changes are needed because of increases to the National Living Wage. Some of the national spinal column points (SCPs) Norfolk County Council (NCC) uses to construct its local salary scales will be deleted and new ones will be created. These salary scales apply to support staff in schools, who are employed under “Green Book†conditions.
NCC is deciding how the new SCPs are allocated to its salary scales. In summary:
- The changes impact on Scales A-J.
- Some salary scales have fewer pay points and others have new ones added.
- Most employees on these grades (76%) are on the scale maximum and will receive a pay award but will not be affected by any other changes.
- Local pay points are used for Scales K-S, so these are not impacted.
Impact on schools and academies
The NCC salary scales apply to support staff in Norfolk maintained schools, so the changes will automatically apply to them.
Some academies use the NCC salary scales so will need to decide whether to use the revised scales or do something different. There may be some obligation in relation to TUPE protected staff in academies.
Proposed pay structure
The following changes to NCC’s pay structure meet the requirements of the national pay deal. There are inescapable costs arising from the changes to scales A-D. Adding new SCPs into scales E-G helps keep the pay structure affordable. The changes also meet some fair pay principles agreed with unions in 2010:
| Proposed changes to the pay structure | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Existing scales and SCPs | New scales and SCPs | ||||
| NCC Scales | Old SCP number | Salary | New SCP number | Salary | Pay increase 1 April 2019 |
| Scale A | 6 | £16,394 | 1 | £17,364 | 5.9% |
| Scale B | 7 | £16,495 | 2 | £17,711 | 7.4% |
| 8 | £16,626 | 6.5% | |||
| 9 | £16,755 | 5.7% | |||
| Scale C | 10 | £16,863 | 3 | £18,065 | 7.1% |
| 11 | £17,007 | 6.2% | |||
| 12 | £17,173 | 4 | £18,426 | 7.3% | |
| 13 | £17,391 | 6.0% | |||
| Scale D | 14 | £17,681 | 5 | £18,795 | 6.3% |
| 15 | £17,972 | 4.6% | |||
| 16 | £18,319 | 6 | £19,171 | 4.7% | |
| 17 | £18,672 | 2.7% | |||
| Scale E | 18 | £18,870 | 7 | £19,554 | 5.7% |
| 19 | £19,446 | 8 | £19,945 | 2.6% | |
| 20 | £19,819 | 9 | £20,344 | 2.6% | |
| 10 (new) | £20,751 | ||||
| 21 | £20,541 | 11 | £21,166 | 3.0% | |
| Scale F 1048 |
22 | £21,074 | 12 | £21,589 | 2.4% |
| 13 (new) | £22,021 | ||||
| 23 | £21,693 | 14 | £22,462 | 3.5% | |
| 24 | £22,401 | 15 | £22,911 | 2.3% | |
| New Scp 16 not used | |||||
| 25 | £23,111 | 17 | £23,836 | 3.1% | |
| Scale G 1164 |
18 (new) | £24,313 | |||
| 26 | £23,866 | 19 | £24,799 | 3.9% | |
| 27 | £24,657 | 20 | £25,295 | 2.6% | |
| 21 (new) | £25,801 | ||||
| 28 | £25,463 | 22 | £26,317 | 3.4% | |
| Scale H 321 |
29 | £26,470 | 23 | £26,999 | 2.0% |
| 30 | £27,358 | 24 | £27,905 | 2.0% | |
| 31 | £28,221 | 25 | £28,785 | 2.0% | |
| Scale I 521 |
32 | £29,055 | 26 | £29,636 | 2.0% |
| 33 | £29,909 | 27 | £30,507 | 2.0% | |
| 34 | £30,756 | 28 | £31,371 | 2.0% | |
| Scale J 516 |
35 | £31,401 | 29 | £32,029 | 2.0% |
| 36 | £32,233 | 30 | £32,878 | 2.0% | |
| 37 | £33,136 | 31 | £33,799 | 2.0% | |
All bar one of the new national SCPs (point 16) have been used. Using point 16 would make scale F a six-point scale and there is general agreement that the maximum number of pay points in a scale is five.
See below for a summary of the changes with the level of pay increase employees in these scales would get in April:
| Scale | Proposed changes from 1 April 2019 |
|---|---|
| A | No change to scale. 5.9% pay increase |
| B | Reduces from three to one pay point. 5.7 to 7.4% pay increase* |
| C | Reduces from four to two pay points. 6 to 7.3% pay increase* |
| D | Reduces from four to two pay points. 2.7 to 6.3% pay increase* |
| E | Increases from four to five pay points. 2.6 to 5.7% pay increase* |
| F | Increases from four to five pay points. 2.3 to 3.5% pay increase* |
| G | Increases from three to five pay points. 2.6 to 3.9% pay increase* |
| H-O | No change to scale. 2% pay increase |
*actual pay increase depends on pay point.
Key points for school leaders
The national pay deal and National Living Wage increases leave little discretion on the structure of scales A-D (NCC could remove pay points from scales B-D but this would increase costs). Approximately 76% of support staff members in maintained schools are on these scales.
NCC plans to add all bar one of the new SCPs into scales E, F and G to help mitigate the additional cost. This is something unions do not support, particularly as scales above it (H-J) have only three points, but they acknowledge that reducing these scale to three or four points adds considerable cost. NCC has agreed to a further review of the pay structure by April 2020 to see if further improvements can be achieved.
Key points for your support staff
It is important to make your support staff aware that this is not a cost cutting exercise, and all employees will get a pay award of at least 2% in April, with some getting significantly more (up to 7.4%).
There will be no further impact on employees at the top point of their scale (approximately 76% of support staff members).
Employees who are due a service related increment (on 1 July for most) will still get one.
The approach follows guidance from the Local Government Association and national unions which says that good practice is to have no more than six points in a scale – in fact the maximum proposed here is five.
Pay progression has been equalised throughout the structure - so from April when an employee progresses to the next pay point or the next pay scale they will receive a 2% pay increase (those moving from point 15 to point 17 will get more than 2%). This is on top of any nationally agreed pay awards agreed from April 2020 onwards.
Urgent actions for school leaders
Please discuss the proposed pay structure with your team and explain the impact the changes would have on their salary and incremental progression through their scale. Point out the percent increase they will get in April if the changes are agreed by unions.
Encourage those trade union members who are eligible to vote in the ballot to do so. It is important that all eligible union members, even those at the top of their scale, or seeing a small change take up the opportunity to vote. Their vote will help to secure an agreement is signed off in time to implement pay increases with April 2019 pay.
Your HR provider will be able to offer advice on pay.