Latest updates about support staff pay negotiations

February 2020

At a meeting on 5 February, the Employers (the Local Government Association – LGA) made an offer of 2% on all pay spine points for the year 2020/21, payable from 1 April 2020.

The Employers also agreed to the continuation of discussions on “a comprehensive joint national review of the workplace causes of stress and mental health”. 

The recognised Unions immediately rejected the pay offer, and the Employers will now convene a meeting of the full Employers’ Side to discuss their next steps.

December 2019

In a recent response, the National Employers informed the unions that they will not be in a position to respond to the pay claim (see below for details) until the impact of the outcome of the General Election is known, and they therefore do not expect to be able to respond until the New Year.

July 2019

The recognised unions have submitted the following pay claim for 2020/21, to be payable from 1 April 2020:

  • A 10% increase in pay
  • A one day increase to the minimum paid annual leave entitlement
  • A two hour reduction in the standard working week
  • A comprehensive joint national review of the workplace causes of stress and mental health throughout local authorities

The Local Government Association (LGA) will be consulting Councils during September and October, and will respond to the Union claim after that.

April 2018

  • Agreement has now been finalised on a two year pay deal for employees covered by the Local Government bargaining arrangements, which includes maintained and (most) academy school support staff.
  • The agreement is for a two-year pay increase, payable from 1 April 2018. The majority of employees - those on Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) salaries starting at £19,430 per annum - will receive an uplift of 2 per cent on 1 April 2018 and a further 2 per cent on 1 April 2019, with those on lower salaries receiving higher increases.

Maintained sector

Most LA schools use the local government pay rates to pay their support staff in conjunction with National Joint Council (NJC) terms and conditions.

However, this can vary between local authorities, which means it is not possible to be prescriptive about the rate of pay support staff will receive. An employee's contract should state their rate of pay, the point on the local government pay scale that refers to, and how the rate will increase on an incremental basis to a certain point.

Academies and Free Schools

Whilst academies have the freedom to establish their own policies for pay and conditions, nearly all stand-alone academies and all Multi-Academy Trusts (MATs) have maintained the link to the Local Government pay arrangements, which means that they adhere to the pay agreements reached periodically, and also use the Local Government pay spine and the National Agreement on Pay and Conditions of Service – otherwise known as the Green Book.

Free schools have the ability to set their own pay, terms and conditions, without reference to the maintained sector.

Independent schools

Support staff in most independent schools are employed on a range of terms and conditions that are determined by their individual contracts Details of support staff pay should be included in a written school pay policy, and school policies on employment-related matters should be published in a staff handbook or on the school’s intranet.

In more than 100 independent schools, the NEU is recognised by the employer for collective bargaining purposes, and in most instances, the Recognition Agreement covers teachers and support staff. This means that NEU members at the school negotiate with management on their pay, hours, holidays and other matters.

Local government pay scale for support staff

New spine point April 19 - National April 19- Outer London April 19 - Inner London
1 £17,364 £20,103 £21,231
2 £17,711 £20,466 £21,612
3 £18,065 £20,835 £22,002
4 £18,426 £21,210 £22,398
5 £18,795 £21,591 £22,800
6 £19,171 £21,981 £23,211
7 £19,554 £22,377 £23,628
8 £19,945 £22,779 £24,054
9 £20,344 £23,187 £24,486
10 £20,751 £23,607 £24,927
11 £21,166 £24,030 £25,377
12 £21,589 £24,462 £25,833
13 £22,021 £24,903 £26,298
14 £22,462 £25,353 £26,772
15 £22,911 £25,809 £27,255
16 £23,369 £26,274 £27,744
17 £23,836 £26,745 £28,245
18 £24,313 £27,228 £28,752
19 £24,799 £27,717 £29,271
20 £25,295 £28,215 £29,796
21 £25,801 £28,725 £30,333
22 £26,317 £29,241 £30,879
23 £26,999 £29,766 £31,434
24 £27,905 £30,213 £32,001
25 £28,785 £30,708 £32,577
26 £29,636 £31,548 £33,162
27 £30,507 £32,430 £33,759
28 £31,371 £33,291 £34,128
29 £32,029 £33,945 £34,986
30 £32,878 £34,794 £35,637
31 £33,799 £35,724 £36,486
32 £34,788 £36,711 £37,413
33 £35,934 £37,842 £38,403
34 £36,876 £38,799 £39,543
35 £36,876 £39,774 £40,491
36 £36,876 £40,728 £41,466
37 £36,876 £41,706 £42,432
38 £36,876 £42,681 £43,404
39 £41,675 £43,590 £44,373
40 £42,683 £44,607 £45,288
41 £42,683 £45,585 £46,293
42 £44,632 £46,560 £47,274
43 £45,591 £47,511 £48,252

Special educational needs

April 2017 April 2018 April 2019

£1,239

 £1264 £1289

    Sixth Form Colleges NJC support staff salary spine - 1 September 2018

    Pay Point Per Annum Pay Point Per Annum
    13 Deleted 34 27,481
    14 16,000 35 28,371
    15 16,500 36 29,256
    16 Deleted 37 30,062
    17 17,000 38 30,869
    18 17,350 39 31,678
    19 17,700 40 32,485
    20 18,000 41 33,291
    21 18,400 42 34,101
    22 18,780 43 34,907
    23 19,381 44 35,796
    24 20,070 45 36,685
    25 20,765 46 37,571
    26 21,451 47 38,459
    27 22,142 48 39,430
    28 22,828 49 40,316
    29 23,496 50 41,283
    30 24,162 51 42,252
    31 24,947 52 43,223
    32 25,725 53 44,192
    33 26,593 54 45,161
    Inner London 3,859    
    Outer London 2,571    
    Fringe 1,019    
           
    Support Staff      
    Standards 320 p.a.    
    Payment      
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