Camden UNISON secures pay rises for workers on secondments on the new contracts

Camden Council workers on secondments who signed the new contracts did not receive any performance related pay (PRP) rises in June this year. After a challenge from Camden UNISON management eventually reversed their position and awarded the pay rises with backdating.

When workers in their substantive posts received their pay rises in June, up to 120 workers on secondments (who on the old contracts were always treated the same as those in substantive roles) had had their acting up allowances cut by the same amount their substantive salaries increased. In some cases up to £80 per month, leaving their take-home pay unchanged (see our previous post here for more information).

Apart from being unfair, and undermining the spirit which the council claimed for PRP – namely, that it was to reward good performance – we argued that workers were in fact contractually entitled to these rises and that not awarding them amounted to an unlawful deduction of wages. It also lent weight to our argument that PRP was really just intended as a crude way to cut wages.
Workers from P&M grades (old SO1 and up) acting up in higher graded P&M posts had their acting up allowance slashed by up to almost £80 per month, and workers whose substantive posts are on SP grades (old scale 6 and below) acting up in P&M did not received any bonus or pay increase at all, regardless of their performance rating.

Camden UNISON immediately raised the issue with senior management, and after lengthy discussions HR agreed to reverse the acting up allowance cuts for P&M workers, awarding them the full percentage pay rise for their acting up role, and for substantive SP workers HR agreed that they would allow local management discretion to move them up an increment on the old scale points. In all cases we are aware of, local management did move members up one scale point. These were both backdated to 1 April. If this did not happen to you please contact John Shepherd (x 3972/John.Shepherd at camden.gov.uk).