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2010 and 2011 NI Civil Service Pay

16/03/2011

A delegation from NIPSA met with the Finance Minister Sammy Wilson on Tuesday, 15 March to discuss our concerns at the inadequacy of the pay offer for the NI Civil Service for the years 2010 and 2011.

Click here to download pdf bulletin

Click here to download pdf proposed pay scales

Click here to download pdf consultation exercise form

 

Dear Colleague

Further to NIPSA Bulletin B/01/11 I can advise that a delegation from NIPSA met with the Finance Minister Sammy Wilson on Tuesday, 15th March to discuss our concerns at the inadequacy of the pay offer for the NI Civil Service for the years 2010 and 2011.  At the meeting NIPSA made a very forceful case that the offer would result in a further erosion of the real earnings of civil servants.  In particular the Minister was advised that the nonconsolidated £250 payment was unacceptable as was the absence of any improvement in the salaries of staff who are at the maxima of their pay scales.  NIPSA emphasised the plight of staff at the maxima of their scales and pointed out to the Minister that this was the 5th year in a row in which there have been little or no pay increases to many staff at the maxima of scales.

The Minister has unfortunately not been prepared to take on board our concerns and has confirmed that the offer outlined in NIPSA Bulletin B/01/11 is the final offer for the years 2010 and 2011.

The Civil Service Group Executive Committee has now decided, in line with NIPSA Conference policy, to put the offer to branches.  Branches are requested to convene meetings of members to consider the offer. The Executive Committee has given detailed consideration to the offer and to the political and economic environment that we face and has concluded with the following assessment.

CS Group Executive Committee Assessment of the Situation

  1. The Executive Committee is mindful that the Management Side unilaterally withdrew from the 2002 NICS pay agreement in 2010 because it claimed the cost of progression would exceed the HM Treasury remit of 0% to 2% increases in pay in 2010. It was only after a process of intense lobbying by NIPSA and its members over the previous 6 months that the Finance Minister approved the payment of progression for Northern Ireland civil servants.  Had members not taken the trouble to write to their MLAs and had NIPSA not met with all the Assembly political parties and MLAs then the offer from Management Side would not have included the commitment to retain progression arrangements within the offer.  Members are to be congratulated for their active participation in the campaign to secure some fairness in the pay of civil servants for 2010 and 2011. The cost of the offer in 2010 is over 3% while the application of the offer in 2011 is around 2.7%.
  2. Despite the honouring of the progression arrangements, NIPSA is opposed to the UK Government’s two year public sector pay freeze and cannot agree to an offer which erodes the real income of members.
  3. The only prospect of securing an improved offer would be to embark upon a sustained campaign of industrial action. While the Executive Committee has given serious consideration to this option it concluded for a number of reasons that members would not at this point be likely to be prepared to engage in a sustained programme of industrial action to secure improvements to the offer.
  4. As a consequence the Executive Committee rather than mislead members about the prospects of delivering a successful campaign of industrial action decided to ask branches to vote, not to accept or reject the offer, but on the assessment of the Executive Committee that while the offer is unacceptable and cannot be agreed by the union there is no further scope for negotiation and there is not likely to be widespread support among members for industrial action.
  5. Notwithstanding the above assessment the Executive Committee decided that it was critical that NIPSA launches a campaign, similar to the lobbying campaign in 2010 using the specially published booklet on Pay Fairness for Civil Servants, to pressurise the NI Executive and the Assembly to recognise the ongoing injustice in the treatment of staff at the maxima of their pay scale.  NIPSA intend to commence work immediately on the production of a booklet exposing this injustice.  All civil servants must recognise that this is not just a matter which has a detrimental impact upon staff currently at the maxima. Freezing the maxima of pay scales has a long term negative impact upon the pay of every member of staff and for those on points below the maxima this policy suppresses the pay that members can potentially earn in the future.  It represents a major detriment to everyone and because of that we will be asking all members to play an active role in lobbying MLAs and Ministers on this very important matter.
  6. Some members will also be concerned and perplexed that as a result of the removal of the minimum points of most pay scales they will find, despite a number of years service, that they still remain on the minimum point on their scale.  NIPSA has attempted during previous negotiations to have this issue resolved in a satisfactory manner.  However in the absence of a commitment from the Management Side to resolve this legitimate grievance the only other solution would be to retain the pay scales at their current length with no scale shortening taking place.  This would mean that members who have been at the minima of their scales would be no better off than they would be if the scales were shortened and new entrants to the scales would take longer to reach the maxima if the scales had not been shortened.  For this reason the shortening of the length of pay scales is important even if it does create the anomaly whereby some staff remain at the minimum point.  The objective is to ensure that staff reach the maxima as quickly as possible but it is appreciated that this will be of little consolation to staff who are aggrieved at finding themselves still on the minimum point of the scale as result of scale shortening.

In order to progress the issue of 2010/2011 pay branches are requested to convene meetings of members.  Speakers from HQ and the Executive Committee are available to address these meetings if necessary.  If your branch requires a speaker please contact Aidan McDonnell at NIPSA HQ, aidan.mcdonnell@nipsa.org.uk.

Attached is a copy of the pro forma which should be used to convey the decision of your branch to NIPSA HQ.

The question which should be put to branches is as follows:-

Do you agree or disagree with the above assessment of the Civil Service Group Executive Committee in relation to the 2010 and 2011 final pay offer.

If branches agree with the assessment of the Executive Committee then steps can be taken to ensure any increases are paid in salaries as quickly as possible.

The closing date for responses to this branch consultative exercise is Wednesday, 6th April 2011. The completed pro forma should be returned to Karen Wright at NIPSA HQ.

Attached also are details of the final offer from the Management Side.

Yours sincerely

BRIAN CAMPFIELD

General Secretary

 
 

Management Side Final Offer - 2010 and 2011 Pay

 

This is a two year pay award package, with year 1 payable from 1 August 2010 and year 2 payable from 1 August 2011 and in relation to reporting years 1 April 2009 to 31 March 2010 and 1 April 2010 to 31 March 2011 respectively. The main elements of the offer are as follows:

(a)         All eligible fully satisfactory or better performers receive one step progression with effect from 1 August 2010 and a further step progression from 1 August 2011;

(b)         The majority of pay scales will have the minimum point removed;

(c)         Following the one step progression all staff below a full time equivalent salary of £21,000 will receive a non consolidated payment of £250 (pro rated for part time staff);

(d)         Restructuring of ‘O’ level trainee pay scale; and

(e)         Support Grade Band 1 Security guards and staff on the maximum of their pay scale will remain on their existing salary but will receive the benefit of (c) above if their salary is below £21,000.

Implementation

The sequence for implementing pay awards for 2010 and 2011 is as follows:

  • For the 2010 pay increase all eligible fully satisfactory performers or better should move up one step on the 2009 pay scale with effect from 1 August 2010;
  • The minimum point is removed from the pay scales with effect from 1 August 2010 (with the exception of the Graduate Trainee and ‘O’ Level Trainee scales);
  • Following the one step progression all staff below a full time equivalent salary of £21,000 will receive a non consolidated payment of £250 (pro rated for part time staff);
  • For the 2011 pay increase all eligible fully satisfactory performers or better should move up one step on the 2010 pay scale with effect from 1 August 2011;
  • The minimum point is removed from the 2010 pay scales with effect from 1 August 2011 (with the exception of the Graduate Trainee and ‘O’ Level Trainee scales); and
  • Following the one step progression all staff below a full time equivalent salary of £21,000 will receive a non consolidated payment of £250 (pro rated for part time staff).

     

 

 

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