Pay & pensions
The Association believes our members are entitled to: * good working conditions and manageable workloads that enable them to work effectively and safely * effective pay structures that reward them fairly * look forward to, and enjoy, their retirement without undue stress and anxiety.
As a result, the Association actively lobbies Government and campaigns locally to protect these key rights at a time when they are all under threat.
We do this in three ways:
- The Association also has the largest representation of any professional body on the Soulbury Committee, which negotiates salaries and conditions of service for local authority educational advisory and other specific professional staffs.
- We work locally to protect and improve pay terms and conditions
- We lobby and campaign nationally, alongside other trade unions, to protect public services, and public service employment, in the face of threatened cuts to jobs services, pensions and contracts
You can find a complete set of national Soulbury agreements here which particularly cover pay and increments.
The Local Government Green Book contains the bulk of national local government agreements, several of which directly affect all Aspect members. You can access the Green Book here by registering, whilst the useful FAQs are open access here.
If local employers seek to change national agreements you should contact your regional official at once.
SPA points are a common source of disagreement and a copy of the agreement and advice on them can be found HERE.
Job evaluation linked to the single pay spine in local government has become an issue in a small number of authorities. Most of those directly involved with the delivery of school-based education and related services, but employed centrally by local authorities, are covered by the Soulbury Pay Agreement, which provides for national pay spines with rules as to how jobs of particular levels (for example, advisers, senior advisers, principal advisers, or educational psychologists) should be allocated to spine points, but allowing considerable flexibility to the employer.
A small number are graded via the Local Government Services NJC 'single status' agreement, which allows local authorities to develop their own grading and pay structures for this group of employees, following a grading review. Some may be on individual contracts. Those graded by the NJS single status agreement are primarily graded through the NJC job evaluation scheme or via Hay.
Both schemes present significant problems for the fair and equitable grading of professionals who work autonomously, such as school improvement and related staff, within local government. This briefing note from Aspect (LINK) explains our concerns and may be confidently drawn to the attention of managers considering using such schemes."
Car user agreements are another current target for employers. You can read a briefing produced in one council Car Allowances which you can adapt for use in your own employer.
Pensions are a major concern for members. Aspect provides advice on Pensions and joins with other unions in campaigning to protect public sector.
Health and safety, including issues such as stress and bullying, is a major concern for Aspect members. Links to helpful advice can be found HERE.
Equality is central to our professional work. It is also an indispensable element of our work representing members. Our equality pages are currently being completely overhauled. In the meantime useful advice can be found here on the TUC web site and on the Equality and Human Rights Commission website.
Continuous service for contractual purposes
When staff are employed by a local authority or another employer covered by the Modification Order then under paragraph 14 of Part 2 of the Green Book governing terms and conditions for local authority staff , continuous service with any body on the Modification Order counts for the purposes of annual leave, the occupational sickness scheme and the occupational maternity scheme. Other schemes of conditions of service contain similar provisions.
Where an employee is transferred under TUPE and returns voluntarily to local government within five years, continuity of service for contractual purposes is preserved. For further information on this provision see NJC Circular 1/03 for Local Government Services Staff.
This provision applies to Aspect members, whether they are employed under the Green Book or Soulbury.
The Local Government Employers web site http://www.lge.gov.uk/lge/core/page.do?pageId=119733#contents-1 gives helpful guidance on other aspects of the Modification Order, especially its relevance in redundancies
