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Council worker pay freeze

1.6 million council workers across England, Wales and Northern Ireland will have their pay frozen for a third consecutive year.

The Local Government Association have said that no pay offer will be made to employees for 2012/13, in order to protect funding to frontline services, and reduce further job losses.

Sarah Messenger, LGA Head of Workforce, said: “This has been a very difficult decision to make but it is the right one for council tax payers and the workforce as a whole.

“A combination of rising costs and shrinking local government funding means councils were left with little choice. Increasing pay would mean more job losses and cuts to the services people need.

“Today’s announcement represents an unprecedented third consecutive year of pay freeze and we recognise the frustration which will be felt by the workforce.

“While the financial outlook for councils is bleak, we are keen to begin discussions with the unions on a package of reform of pay and conditions that may enable us to avoid a fourth year of pay freeze in 2013.”

Brian Stutton, GMB National Secretary for Public Services deemed it a “deliberate political choice” by local goverment politicians, who wish to win votes by freezing council tax.

He said: “Although we know that councils are strapped for cash it has come as a shock that they are saying no pay rise for the third year in a row.

“I don’t know any other workforce in the economy that has had to bear this and 150,000 job losses and cuts to terms and conditions.

“Council workers and their families are being forced to bear the greatest burden of an economic collapse that, as Mervyn King has said, was not of their making.

“Council leaders and chiefs who vote themselves ever higher allowances and salaries are a despicable bunch and rank as the very worst employers I’ve ever come across.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .