EDITORIAL: Pay scales need to be joined up too

But despite all the above, there is unrest on the horizon.

According to Doug Nicholls, general secretary of the Community and Youth Workers' Union, for the first time in 42 years the Joint Negotiating Committee for Youth and Community Workers (JNC) has failed to come to an "easy and amicable" agreement over pay and conditions (see p2).

Some might say this is just part of the usual annual round of tub-thumping that accompanies pay negotiations. But this time the union is considering a ballot over strike action to rectify what it sees as inequities in pay scales and working conditions.

The union doesn't feel that youth work is keeping up with professions such as teaching, social work, health workers and the police in what it gives its staff. For example, a managerial-level youth worker would get around 30,000, whereas a teacher in the equivalent position of head of department gets around 40,000. The teacher will also get 11 weeks' holiday, as opposed to the six or seven weeks that the youth worker gets (depending on years of service). That's a big difference for two roles that are delivering similar outcomes. An equivalent Connexions role probably comes somewhere between the two.