New terms and conditions for staff

The new terms and conditions for 6,500 Shropshire Council staff came into effect from 1 October 2011.

As has been widely reported, these new terms and conditions include changes to sick pay, mileage allowances, and a pay reduction of 2.7% as of 1 October 2011.

However, the second pay reduction is currently being negotiated between Shropshire Council and all three recognised trade unions and areas will be looked at to potentially offset the 2.7% salary reduction planned for next year.  There is also a commitment from these parties to continue with talks to try and find other ways of reducing this further, where possible.

Over the past few months, staff have been given the option of voluntarily accepting the change to their terms and conditions, or moving to the new terms and conditions by technically being dismissed from their old contracts and immediately re-employed on a new contract.

The outcome of this legal process is that all staff affected by these changes (not including those directly employed by schools) are employed under the new terms and conditions from 1 October 2011.

Council leader, Keith Barrow, said:

“I know this has been an extremely difficult time for our staff, and I hope we can now put this behind us and move forward.  I think the people of Shropshire do appreciate the dedicated workforce we have here at Shropshire Council and I am pleased to report that it will be business as usual from 1 October.

“I can assure people that there will be no disruption to services, and the public will notice no difference to the high level of commitment they are used to from their council workers.  We are having really positive talks with the trade unions about how we can work to avoid imposing the full 2.7% pay reduction next year.

“It should not be forgotten that the council has to save £76 million over the coming years, due to unprecedented funding cuts imposed by the Government.  These changes will save around £7 million of that, as well as saving about 400 jobs.”

Further notes for the media

The council will not be releasing any further details regarding members of staff and their contracts of employment.