Single Status - Job Evaluation Results for Council Staff..

[Kintyre Forum News]

SINGLE STATUS

Letters will be sent to 4,350 Argyll and Bute Council employees next week detailing proposals for a new pay and grading structure as a result of Single Status.

Workers will be sent individual letters to their home address on the week commencing 19th February with details of how their individual pay and conditions of service may be affected in future years.

In common with other Councils, this is the outcome of a national agreement and the implementation of a national job evaluation framework to produce a new model which addresses equality issues and deals with historic imbalance in levels of pay.

Chief Executive James McLellan said: “This has been an intensive exercise over the last few years to bring former manual “blue collar” and APT&C “white collar” workers within a single set of terms and conditions and pay model.

“The Council has put forward a proposed package which addresses the equality issues and strikes a fair balance among competing pressures.

“Whilst for many employees the rate of pay will remain the same, there will be jobs where the rate of pay will increase and jobs where the rate of pay will reduce as a result of evaluation.

“In those cases where the rate of pay is reduced, there is provision for pay to be cash conserved for up to three years.

“Though in the nature of the exercise some employees will suffer a reduction in their wages, it is not a cost cutting exercise.

“The Council recognises the workforce is its biggest asset and has made provision of an additional £1.6 million to assist in the funding of Single Status, with the balance of the additional costs being met by a reduction of 140 posts over three years.”

The proposals are now out for consultation with both individual employees and Trade Unions. The deadline for individual job evaluation appeals is 6th April whilst the period for consultation on pay and grading and terms and conditions is 29th May.

Ends

Editor’s notes

• Single Status is a national agreement reached in 1999 aimed at removing inequality in the pay and conditions of Council employees.

• This agreement was drawn up between all Scottish councils and local authority trade unions. It recognises the need to modernise and improve services and to introduce a fair, non discriminatory grading structure, getting rid of the old distinctions between APT&C staff and manual workers which resulted in the unequal treatment of employees and harmonising conditions of service.

• Argyll and Bute Council, along with all other Scottish councils, has been working for seven years to put this agreement into practice.

• A job evaluation scheme was agreed by employers and trade unions at a national level. This scheme provides a common method for evaluating posts.

• The job evaluation exercise was undertaken, affecting 4,350 employees, 650 occupations and three sets of conditions of service. This has resulted in a ranking order for all affected jobs in the Council. However, the job evaluation scheme only provided a ranking for jobs ie, how they sit in relation to each other.

• With the ranking order in place, it was then up to the Council to decide on which proposed pay and grading model to take forward.

• The Pay and Grading Steering Group, which involves representatives from both management and trade unions, has considered over 80 models. They have had to take into account a variety of factors including the need to provide equal pay structures for the workforce, the ability of the Council to recruit and retain a workforce which will deliver the Council’s priorities to an appropriate standard, and the question of affordability.

• With the ranking order in place, it was then up to the Council to decide on which proposed pay and grading model to take forward for consultation.

• The pay and grading of Senior management were dealt with in two stages, with restructuring in 1997/98 and in 2002/03. Teachers pay and conditions were dealt with under the McCrone settlement.

• Of the 4,350 jobs

1366 31% are “white circled” – no change to pay level
1985 46% are “green circled” – an increase in pay
996 23% are “red circled” – a decrease in pay. Cash conserved for 3 years.