Shropshire Council’s pay freeze plan to protect jobs
Thursday 9th December 2010, 12:54PM GMT.
Shirehall leaders have backed a pay freeze for Shropshire Council staff and a series of changes to employment terms and conditions aimed at saving millions of pounds a year.
Though the moves were supported by the council cabinet yesterday, chief executive Kim Ryley stressed that the proposals would be the subject of consultation and negotiation with staff and the trade unions before a final decision is made in the New Year.
Plans include reducing the standard working week to 35 or 36 hours – the standard is currently 37 – and adjusting pay accordingly.
Other possible reductions relate to overtime, enhancements for night and weekend working, payments for call-out or standby and occupational sick pay.
Annual leave which ranges from 22 to 32 days might also be cut.
It is also proposed to stop the payment of annual and six-monthly salary increments for two years from April 2011 – effectively a pay freeze for many staff.
Cabinet member Mike Owen said this measure would affect about a third of staff and the projected savings were at least £3 million over the two-year period.
Labour opposition leader Alan Mosley said he hoped that the council leader Keith Barrow and officers would pay notice to the effect of the proposals on staff morale and on recruitment and retention.
Councillor Barrow said it “just can’t be right” that someone could start work at the council on a £60,000 salary and see the amount increase £5,000 a year until it reached a top figure of £90,000.
By Dave Morris
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Do we see mention of councillors expenses and allowances being frozen or cut?
I guess not !!!!!!!!!!!
Since when did councillors and the chief exec care about staff morale?
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these fat cats should be glad to have a job right now, i cannot beleive as the leader rightly says anyone could earn £60,000 for running services which dont even generate any money! this is rediculous, the whole lot should be sacked
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Dave, you say “the whole lot should be sacked”
Who is that aimed at?
The cuts in public spending are already impacting on front line services which protect vulnerable people.
It isn’t helpful that the leader of the Council focuses on high level earners to defend his position when in reality the vast majority of Council staff earn nowhere near those salaries
Don’t believe the words of politicians – they are all to often prepared to offer half truths and snip-its of information to suit their needs. When you stand back and look at the whole picture the landscape looks very different
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Would like know which or how many council posts have a starting salary of £60K rising over to £90K in annual increments of £5k.
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Absolutely no one. If these are the figures used by the Councillors for their decision, they are living in the clouds.
With all the changes proposed, many officers are facing a drop in income of between 15 and 20%.
Some of the changes proposed are not immidiate cost savings but will affect council workers permanently. For these, the cuts are just an excuse.
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I wonder if the Councillors will lead by example and have their remunerations/expenses frozen?
I would also wonder just how many staff the Council employs on £60,000 who enjoy the annual £5,000 increase, or if this is just a spurious figure plucked out of nowhere to whip up a Daily Mail-esque frenzy about cuts. It is my belief that the vast majority of Council staff receive a salary substantially below such an amount, yet will be tarred by this riduculous comment as malingering wastrels, profiteering in their non-roles, when this clearly is not the case.
I worry that this swathe of cuts will have a massive and detrimental impact on vital front-line services, undermining staff morale and their willingness to undertake often thankless roles.
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Councillor Barrow chooses to quote an example of someone starting on a salary of £60,000.
It is very easy to say that someone on such a high salary should accept a pay freeze. But how many of the thousands of council employees who are likely to be affected by the proposed changes are in that pay bracket? – not many I suspect.
If he thinks that that example gives a fair representation of the effects of the proposed pay cuts then I’m afraid it shows how out of touch he really is.
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A “pay freeze” – ie halting increments – will affect a third of staff, not everyone.
Reducing everyone to a 35 hour week (the clear plan) and “adjusting pay accordingly” may result in a 5.4 per cent salary decrease for everyone – which will surely have a more raw effect if you’re only earning 16,000 pounds a year to begin with, not 60,000? Is no-one being honest about this planned decrease yet?
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It appears that Shropshire Council has declared independance from the rest of the UK. They have also not looked at what is happening elsewhere. Aberdeen Council tried to stop incremental payments but these are a nationally agreed contractual term. By refusing to pay increments, the Council will be in breach of contract.
Shropshire Councillors should realise that only a small number of contractual terms are agreed locally, others require national agreement. Did the council monitoring officer point out to Councillors that they cannot remove nationally agreed increments unilaterally?
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Well pointed out.
The councillors are wasting time even considering such thoughts as national terms and conditions are applicable.
Have the councillors volunteered a cut in pay to their own employers ?
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It’s doesn’t matter whether they are nationally agreed contractual terms or would be in breach of contract.
Just like six months ago when they forced all officers to re-sign new contracts with worse terms and conditions, they’ll just do it.
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“Labour opposition leader Alan Mosley said he hoped that the council leader Keith Barrow and officers would pay notice to the effect of the proposals on staff morale and on recruitment and retention”.
Times are hard perhaps the staff should reflect on the fact they have retained a job and if they are not happy LEAVE.
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They should get rid of all those parastitic non-jobs e.g ‘diversity officer’.
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Helen,
Why are you against help for people with diverse needs? This, of course includes people with disabilities or special educational needs. Have you ever even looked at the job description of a diversity oficer? Or do you get all of your information from tabloid newspapers?
If you’re looking for parasites I think you’d do better to look at the extremely wealthy people in this country who do their damnedest to avoid paying their fair share in tax.
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Re. the last para of your report -’it can’t be right’… well it isn’t right, it’s ludicrous and a totally misleading ‘example’. There are relatively few Council staff earning in the region of £60k (probably too many though) but the idea that these could typically get an annual pay rise of £5000 is ridiculous and plain wrong. For those staff lucky enough to get an annual increment this would normally only amount to a few hundred pounds more, until they reach a ‘ceiling’ after only a few years. The spurious scenario you mention is quoted as a justification to squeeze even more the pay and conditions of hundreds of relatively low paid Council workers (no, they’re mostly not generously paid). I’m sure most reasonable Council staff would be willing to ‘do their bit’ to bear some of the pain of cutbacks in recognition of the dire economic situation. But what is currently being planned by the Council amounts to a declaration of open war on their staff, and would have a disastrous effect on staff morale, commitment and efficiency. The service to the general public would without doubt be seriously damaged by the Council’s proposals.
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£60000 with £5000 annual increments – this probably reflects the situation of a very small minority of staff in the Council. The reality is this: those earning in the region of £17000 a year get an annual increment of no more than £650.
And why was the Cabinet meeting timed for 12.30pm so as to need a buffet lunch to be provided? Surely it could have been put back 1/2 an hour or so, to avoid another needless expense.
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No one has increments of £5000. I believe the annual increment at £60000 is roughly £300 and the maximum salary achievable is £62000 after 4 years
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I work for Shropshire Council, I earn less than £20k per year and I work in excess of the 37 hour week and do not get paid overtime.
Sickness none at all over the 10yrs of service, benefits – none.
So I will have a pay reduction, less hours to do work that cannot be done in 37.
Observations. It is timely that all of these proposals come after the senior staff positions and terms are reviewed!!
Usn’t consultation a two way affair, not a dictate!!! where are the union – nowhere, not hear a peek from them, they are effectively week and under the control of Mr Ryley, so why bother paying the union dues, better opting out and use the saving to offset the pay cut.
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Does anyone know if there is a full list of Council job titles and pay scales available online? I can’t find it! Surely this is in the public domain.
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nationally the conservative government took a 5% pay cut on entry, fair play what ever you think of them, that is sensible politics and welcome , why cant local politians lead by example in this way?
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I believe that of all the proposed contractual changes are put through, staff will lose between 15 and 20% of their income!
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Remind us Ad, how many of the current cabinet are millionaires? And how many are actively involved in tax avoidance?
A 5% pay cut is meaningless to such people.
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that old chestnut hey. come on workers, dont complain this is really in your interest!! lol
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“Thats it for me” – regarding the terms and conditions you mention, consultation has not yet started. It will last for three months.
I do suggest you come up with some alternatives about how the £10 million will be saved next year without taking it from the salary budget.
“Ph7″ – the payment of increments is not a national provision. It is a local policy which Shropshire Council are varying through consultation.
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There continues to be a confusion between councillors and council officers.
If I have got this wrong please put me right!
Council officers are employees and the they are employed for their skills and or qualifications. They have line managers, targets, disciplinary procedures in others words could be anything from a cleaner to a solicitor though some council officers act in a more consultant capacity.
Councillors are a group of what can be described as ‘do- gooders’ though exactly who they do good for is somewhat debateable but you can guarentee it will be themselves.
They for some unknown reason get paid for the job these days although the concept initially was one of a voluntary public service.
This ‘pay’ is called an allowance and when these were first introduced they were supposed to merely be for out of pocket expenses.
I know of one councillor who said he did the job because he could not manage purely on his pension!
The councillors are supposed to be our voice when they are applying government policy but this can often result in a ‘you scratch my back I’ll scratch yours’ situation with the officers. If they have a personal interest in something they can apply a lot of pressure on officers and manipulate them.
We vote them in but in Shropshire what ever political allegiance they represent they are all in reality Tories and certainly work together to make their life less stressful.
They occasionally get caught out and a minimal re-training programme is their punishment but with the council legal department on tap that can usually be avoided.
With all the stringent cuts to services being applied,it would be interesting to know if the councillors will be affected as when the new unitary council began, with its promise of less councillors therefore apparently saving us money, the town and county councillors promptly got a large increase in allowances which at the time only two councillors had enough integrity to vote against.
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