Over 300 senior Sefton staff in line for 5% pay rise – thanks to Labour proposal

Over 300 senior Sefton staff in line for 5% pay rise – thanks to Labour proposal

Over 300 managers and senior staff at Sefton Council, on salaries of £38,000 a year upwards, will be getting a 5% pay rise next year thanks to a Labour motion being put forward at Thursday’s Council meeting in Bootle.

Senior Labour Cabinet Member Cllr Paulette Lappin is proposing that the council ”supports the NJC pay claim for 2018, submitted by UNISON, GMB and Unite” which calls for “a 5% increase on all pay points”.

Ironically, the news that this will benefit over 300 senior staff earning a minimum of £38,000 a year was revealed in answer to an FOI request lodged by UNISON itself in late 2015. UNISON submitted FOI requests to every council in the country asking for details of the number of staff employed at each of the points in the NJC pay spine, which runs from Point 6 to Point 49.

In Sefton’s case the surprising response was that, out of a total of 3100 NJC staff, no fewer than 276 managers and senior staff were employed on Points 43 to 49, which currently pay between £38,200 and £42,800.However there are also over 50 senior managers paid above the NJC scale on salaries in excess of £50,000 a year, taking the total number of high earners to over 300.

90% of Sefton’s staff earn less than £38,000 a year, but the cost to council tax payers of Labour’s proposed 5% pay increase is close to £1 million a year just for the highest earners. That has to mean either more cuts in services or even higher council tax bills.