Ballot Result
The results of the consultative ballot for local government pay 2024 (concluded 27/11/24) is as follows:
87.27% Voted to Agree
As members have accepted the revised offer, this now concludes pay for 2024.
Thank you to members who engaged in this process.
Twin track approach
UNISON has pursued a twin track approach to securing a positive way forward for local government pay.
- UNISON members working in schools and early years in Perth & Kinross Council took two weeks strike action (from Monday 21 October to Friday 1 November) to highlight the anger and frustration over pay – and continually being asked to do more work with less resources.
- Alongside this UNISON has been pressurising and lobbying the Scottish government and Cosla, publicly and behind the scenes, to move.
Your local government committee is made up of local government workers like you. They’re elected and organise democratically. They’ve asked for your views at every significant step. They will always try and recommend how they think you should vote but in the end it is your decision. They want to hear from their colleagues. Whatever you decide make sure you vote.
New commitments from the Scottish government and Cosla
We have now received commitments which we believe materially improves the landscape of local government negotiations around pay.
- A local government finance meeting in December, before council budgets are set, involving unions, the Scottish government and Cosla.
- Talks with the government, and Cosla on how to reduce the working week and deliver a minimum hourly rate of £15.
- A commitment to making a credible offer for 2025/26 before 1 April 2025 and subsequent pay offers in future years. Most years local government workers have had to wait more than six months for their annual pay rise. This is because of the time it takes local government employers Cosla to make a serious offer.
Further information on your pay offer and commitments
• Cosla letter 8 November 2024
• Scottish government letter 8 November 2024
COSLA’s improved pay offer
Your local government committee is now consulting you on their recommendation to conclude the 2024/25 pay negotiations with Cosla, and move on to preparing a claim, entering negotiations and securing an offer for 2025/26 before 1 April 2025.
Perth and Kinross education strikes
Schools and early years workers in Perth and Kinross were on strike for two weeks from 21 October to 1 November, over the pay dispute that affects all council staff in Scotland.
UNISON Perth and Kinross branch secretary Stuart Hope said: “Taking action like this is the last thing school and early years staff want to do.
“Employees are taking this first stand on behalf of all local government workers because they’ve seen a decade of pay cuts and they see other sectors being offered deals of greater value.
“A fair pay deal should have been in place from 1 April, but six months later it’s still not been agreed. Instead, the employer has imposed a wage rise rejected by a majority of the workers UNISON represents. Yet again local government staff are being forced to strike to simply get fair pay.
“The Scottish government needs to understand that council staff need more than platitudes. Ministers must tackle the severe decline in local government funding and start to value councils and their dedicated workforce as they do other areas of public services.
Strike ballot result for schools, early years and family centre staff.
The national turnout was 42.5% with 92.7% of those who voted in favour of taking industrial action.
The branches with legal mandates for industrial action are: Perth & Kinross Council; Shetland Islands Council; Orkney Islands Council; East Renfrewshire Council; Angus Council
We conducted separate ballots for each council. To secure a strike mandate, unions need both a majority vote in favour of strike action and at least 50% voter turnout in each ballot. Although all branches supported strike action, five councils met the legal threshold required to take action.
For information on the results of the ballot in your branch, please contact your branch directly.
All local government consultative email ballot result on pay
UNISON local government members voted to reject Cosla’s latest pay offer, with 86% of those balloted choosing to reject.
This ballot email ballot was to all local government workers. Thank you to the thousands of you who voted. Over 50% of you voted in this ballot.
UNISON has mandates for strike action by waste and recycling workers at 13 councils, and for education and early years staff at five councils.
UNISON Scotland local government committee chair Colette Hunter said: “The last thing anyone wants to do is go on strike, but local government workers deserve a fair increase to stop their pay lagging further behind inflation, and the wage increases being given to other sectors of the economy.
“Council staff have seen the value of their pay fall, while being asked to do even more. They provide vital services to their communities by caring for the most vulnerable, educating children, waste and recycling and keeping people safe. Council workers deserve better.”
Pay Claim
The unions submitted their pay claim earlier this year. UNISON made it clear we want a deal agreed as close to the 1st April implementation date as possible. We are still in dispute.
UNISON Scotland local government committee chair Colette Hunter said: “This highlights just how undervalued local government workers are.”
“Local government workers are continuing to struggle with the cost-of-living crisis and UNISON has warned there is a real risk that workers will find better-paid, less-stressful work elsewhere if their pay continues to lose its value.”
The key elements of UNISON’s claim
UNISON says that an above-inflation pay increase is the only way to maintain the staff levels necessary to deliver services to the public, looking after the most vulnerable, giving children the education they need and keeping neighbourhoods safe.
- A one-year settlement that runs for the period 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025.
- For those on the lowest pay – an above-inflation increase in line with the aspiration, agreed with UNISON in November 2023, to achieve implementation of a minimum rate of pay for all local government workers of £15 per hour by 1 April 26.
- An increase of 7% to all spinal column points (or an increase of £1.60 to the hourly rate whichever is greater) and related allowances.
- Urgent progress to be made on how we achieve a no detriment reduction in the working week to enable members to achieve a better work-life balance.
- A review of the scope and level of the Distant Islands Allowance.
- No less than parity with other local government bargaining groups.
You can read the claim in full here.
Lilian Macer, UNISON’s Scottish Secretary, said: ” Unless councils and schools can pay competitive rates, employees will find better-paid, less-stressful work elsewhere and new recruits will be thin on the ground.
“UNISON members tell us how they are struggling with the cost-of-living. Local government workers must be properly rewarded for the vital services they provide.”
Union and Cosla joint letter on council funding
UNISON signed a joint letter with Cosla and other unions to the Deputy First Minister, Shona Robison MSP, saying it is clear to both employers and unions “that funding levels for councils have not kept pace with increased demand for services.”
They say “Local Government is facing a cut in real terms to both core revenue and capital budgets. As a proportion of funding allocated to the Scottish Budget, the percentage for local government has declined.”
And that “this is impacted by both the growing need of services due to demographic pressures and the ongoing cost of living crisis.”
It is in everyone’s interest to achieve a sustainable settlement on pay at the earliest opportunity. The letter states: “Scottish Local Government settlements must be sustainable alongside the significant budget challenges facing councils and it is vital that the approach to our workforce is fair, acknowledging the essential front-line services that are delivered every day.”
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