SINGLE STATUS NEWSLETTER - June 2011

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Following consultation with the trade unions, Cabinet agreed in May 2011 to a final
set of Single Status proposals, which were subsequently presented to the Unions.
The detail of these proposals can be found in the ‘Draft Single Status Collective
Agreement’. This outlines the approach and process the Council will take across
the workforce, to introduce a fair and equal pay grading structure.

The draft single status collective agreement represents the culmination of a

significant period of work, including: job evaluation, pay modelling, financial
analysis, employee and member consultation and extensive consultation with the
Trade Unions. A summary of how the Council has amended the proposals in
response to the feedback from Trade Unions is contained in the May Newsletter.

What Next?

The Unions will now follow their own consultation arrangements, including
undertaking a ballot of their members, where appropriate, in order to decide
whether to accept or reject the Council’s proposals.

If you are a trade union member you may well be asked to participate in a ballot to
decide whether there should be a collective agreement for Single Status.

The outcomes of the trade union ballot will then be submitted to Full Council. If the
proposals are accepted, Single Status should be able to be implemented as soon as
possible. If the ballots reject the Single Status proposals, the timescale could be
considerably longer due to the additional member decisions, officer work and
process required.

How will Single Status Affect Me?

In the current difficult and very challenging economic climate, it is recognised that
some employees may be worried about how the changes affect them individually.
The information below should help most people to have a better idea of their
personal situation.

Job Evaluation Outcomes – all former manual worker roles, jobs on grades 1 to
grade 5, along with some other roles on other grades have been job evaluated as
part of single status. The Job Evaluation Outcomes (both non Schools and Schools)
shows the majority of these roles and the new grades that will apply following
Single Status implementation. Many of roles will either remain at the current salary
level or see an increase.

Key Points:

At this stage the majority of jobs in the Council, especially those above scale 5 are
mainly unaffected by the grading review element of Single Status.

It is not possible to list all of the jobs affected by Single Status but this is a selection of
those jobs that represent large groups of people. If your job is not on the list and you
expected to see it there, please speak to your manager in the first instance.

Salary Protection Arrangements – although most jobs are increasing or staying

the same, there are a small number of jobs where the pay grade has reduced as a
result of single status review. In these cases all employees in those jobs affected
will receive full pay protection not only from the effective date (1st April 2010) but
also for a further year as from the date that Single Status is implemented.

Enhancements & Allowances Changes – in these economically challenging times it

is important that the Council balances the cost of implementing Single Status
against the possible knock-on effects on services and jobs of such changes. A
number of the Council’s allowances and enhancements have been reviewed, with
some being changed or reduced, and others removed. The ‘Single Status: Overview
of Rates’ outlines the existing and proposed rates for the majority of the changes.

Key Points:

The payment basis of many of the allowances and enhancements is the employee’s
hourly rate. Although some of the allowances and enhancements rates have reduced,
many staff receiving these have gained through the grading review and will therefore
be paid at a higher hourly rate. So a reduction in the allowance and enhancement rate
doesn’t necessarily mean a reduction in what employees will be paid.

One-off payment in lieu of Enhancements & Allowances Changes – Following

consultation with Members and Trade Unions a one-off payment will be made
available to staff who will see a reduction in their overall take home pay due to the
changes in allowances and/or enhancements (excluding removal of bonus
payments). These payments will be a proportion of the loss encountered and will
be made available to those employees who will be most affected.