Council calls on government to fund staff pay rises

The government has accepted pay recommendations from independent pay review bodies, who have recommended a rise for public sector workers of around five per cent.

The move comes after years of public sector pay freezes, which means local authority workers are now paid less than they were ten years ago in real terms, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

But Shropshire Council leader Councillor Lezley Picton says central government must provide financial help to struggling local authorities to meet the cost of any rise in salaries across the council’s workforce.

“There’s a movement amongst councils across the country that if the government are going to be offering above inflation payrises then it has to be funded, it can’t just be put back at local government’s door to fund it,” she said.

“Despite the fact our staff should not be left out of the pay rises that are going on, they’re simply not affordable.”

In its medium term financial forecast, Shropshire Council includes a provision for a 2.5 per cent increase for staff, leading to a question from Liberal Democrat opposition leader Roger Evans at this week’s Cabinet session about whether the council’s forward planning was accurate.

“Included in the assumptions in this report is that the pay inflation figure at 2.5 per cent. Informed observers expect this to be higher,” he said.

“I understand a one per cent increase in wages is expected to increase our cost by around £1m. Is this increase being included in these reports?”

However council finance portfolio holder Councillor Gwilym Butler said the council’s redundancy programme meant there would be less staff to pay, reducing the council’s vulnerability to increases, but repeated the leader’s calls for more help from central government when it makes its autumn budget statement at the end of this month.

“We’re still talking to all the government bodies etc of what they’re expecting to pay but we’re now taking the assumption that when we come to the next financial year we will have less staff to pay anyway, so the actual increase of 2.5 per cent that is in the figures may cover three or 3.5 per cent for the staff left if that makes sense, but it’s constantly under review.

“Talking to officers and the LGA there are 19 councils in greater financial difficulty, and this is becoming a much more national problem,” he said.

“I’m really interested to see what the new chancellor of the exchequer Rachel Reeves is going to do to stop austerity, because it doesn’t feel like it at the moment.

“I cannot see what she can bring on the 30th of October that will solve our financial pressures in this financial year. Might be something for next year, but I don’t know what it’s going to bring for this year.”