Officials insist proposal for three per cent pay increase for council officers is a 'reasonable' balance
Officials have insisted that they’re trying to find a ‘reasonable’ balance by putting forward a proposal for council officers’ pay to increase by three per cent.
Members of East Lindsey District Council’s overview committee heard that the South and East Lincolnshire Councils Partnership – which covers East Lindsey, South Holland and Boston – has assumed a pay increase of three per cent for council officers when calculating its budgets for the coming year.
The pay awards for council officers are generally based on nationally-negotiated settlements between the Local Government Association, which represents employers and trade unions, and the Joint Council for Local Government Services.
But at a meeting on Tuesday, January 20, Coun Travis Hesketh (Independent – Withern and Theddlethorpe) questioned the proposed pay award for council officers and asked why it couldn’t be lower.
He said: “I think there’s some challenge about whether we should be looking at three per cent or whether we should be challenging ourselves.
“Overall, the wage bill should be within a constraint of two per cent.”
But Russell Stone, director of finance at the South and East Lincolnshire Councils Partnership, said that the assumed pay increase is based on nationally-set recommendations.
He said: “In reality, it’s an estimate and we need to pick something that’s going to be reasonable.
“Like you say, we could have gone at two per cent, equally we might go at the union request, which I think when I last looked, was around 10 per cent.
“So I think it’s just sort of weighing up those relative issues. Obviously, we are part of the national bargaining as well, so to an extent it’s outside of our hands.
“If we go low in terms of our estimate and then the rate comes in higher then obviously we’ve got an issue which needs to be managed.
“The flip side of that is if it comes in below that, then we get a bit of a saving which we can then use.”
Mr Stone went on to acknowledge that many council officers are worried about losing their jobs after local government reorganisation and said that the assumed pay increase was aimed at retaining existing staff.
The government is considering proposals to merge together the district councils and Lincolnshire County Council into larger unitary authorities as part of the biggest shake-up to local government in a generation, with a decision on this due later this year.
Mr Stone added: “My expectation is that whilst it will likely impact senior officers, the majority of our colleagues will be required in any new organisation, but what it does do is create a degree of uncertainty and where people might feel unsettled.
“There is a risk that people will leave. We need to replace them. I think if the pay budgets are too tight, it potentially might start impacting services.
“So it’s just trying to find that sort of reasonable point in the middle somewhere.”
East Lindsey District Council is currently in the process of putting together a budget for the 2026/27 financial year and is considering whether it increases its share of council tax as well as council officer pay awards.