Employers make pay rise offer to council youth workers

The Local Government Association (LGA), which represents employers on the Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC) for youth and community workers, along with the Welsh Local Government Association, said the majority of employees would receive an increase. ?

?The JNC agreement, known as the "pink book", was first established in 1961 and sets out a 32-point pay scale for youth and community support workers, from £14,597 up to £39,173. The current agreement is due to end on 31 August.??

The offer would see those on salaries starting at £17,651 receive a rise of one per cent from September 2016, followed by a further one per cent increase in September 2017.

??Meanwhile, those on lower salaries would receive increases of up to two per cent a year to take account of the new National Living Wage. Employers also backed the unions' call to scrap the lowest grade on the pay scale.

Earlier this year, employers said they wanted to end the JNC agreement and transfer youth workers to the same terms and conditions as other local government staff, a move opposed by youth work unions.

However, in a letter seen by CYP Now confirming the terms of the pay offer, employers' side secretary Simon Pannell said no decision on the future of the JNC agreement would be made until the "end of the next qualifications cycle". Pannell said this will allow local government officers to "look at the operation of the framework and report back".

Roy Perry, chair of the LGA's children and family board and chair of the employers' side of the JNC, said: "Despite the challenges now facing local authorities, there is a broad consensus among councils that there should be a pay offer to youth workers this year.
 
"This offer balances our commitment to increase the pay of our hardworking employees with the responsibility we have to address the ongoing financial pressures we face.
 
"We believe that this is a fair deal for youth workers, given the limits of what we can afford, and a fair deal for the taxpayers and residents who use and pay for the vital services which local government provides."

?The offer comes following a meeting on Wednesday between the employer representatives and staff representatives, made up of Unite, Unison, the National Union of Teachers and the University and College Union. ??

Employers have rejected some other elements of the union's pay and conditions claim, including calls to bring all pay grades above the Minimum Income Standard, redefining evening working and the length of the working week, reviewing area allowances, and entering discussions over bringing play workers into the JNC agreement.

Colenzo Jarrett-Thorpe, national officer at Unite, said: ?"It is an opening offer, but it doesn't meet our expectation. We are going to go back to various stakeholders and see what they think before we respond and continue negotiations." ??