Pay and Conditions of Service Claim 2014

SOULBURY OFFICERS’ SIDE

PAY AND CONDITIONS OF SERVICE CLAIM 2014

This pay and conditions of service claim has been submitted by the Officers’ Side of the Soulbury Committee national negotiating body, comprising the following trade unions and professional associations: AEP, Aspect Group of Prospect, NAYCEO and NUT.

This claim on behalf of the four constituent unions and associationswhich comprise the Officers’ Side of the Soulbury Committee - covering educational improvement professionals, educational psychologists, and young people’s/community service managers - reiterates our view that officers employed in Soulbury services remain a key resource for local authorities, helping them to maintain their stake in the public education service, discharge their statutory responsibilities and provide effective support to schools, children and young people.

The key points of the submission are:

Soulbury officers have, like other public sector workers, suffered substantial real terms cuts in the value of their pay through the pay freezes and pay limits since 2009, as well as pension contribution increases far higher than for the majority of local government employees.
They have also suffered from significant changes in conditions of service entitlements in many places, again disadvantaging them to a greater extent than other local government workers.
The greatest problem facing our members, of course, has been the massive scale of loss of employment confirmed by the recent Soulbury Workforce Survey. For those Soulbury services that remain, however, the recruitment, retention and fair treatment of staff must be a priority especially within a context of ever increasing workloads.
A substantial increase in pay is therefore needed following the multi-year pay freeze and below inflation increases of recent years.

The Officers’ Side seeks:

On pay, a substantial increase on all Soulbury pay scale points and all pay-related and London allowances from 1 September 2014.
On conditions of service, a specific car user allowance scheme within the Soulbury agreement which reflects the real costs of vehicle usage.
On job evaluation, discussions on specific guidance to employers on job evaluation of Soulbury roles.

THE SOULBURY SERVICES

This section of the claim reaffirms the central role of Soulbury-paid professionals in ensuring that local authorities engage successfully with a wide range of Government initiatives and programmes.

Soulbury officers work as part of a national education service delivered locally. The Soulbury agreement should therefore provide a competitive and credible employment proposition within a national framework of pay and conditions in order to help recruit and retain staff with the required skills and experience to provide quality services.

Although the context of local authority services is changing – and the number of Soulbury paid officers employed directly by local authorities is drastically reduced - local authorities still maintain a significant strategic role in education and services for young people. Long-standing statutory and non-statutory obligations in this area have been supplemented by new responsibilities introduced by the Children and Families Act (2014) and by changes to Public Health legislation. Highly skilled, specialist professional officers become more important as the range of issues on which specialist advice and guidance is needed becomes increasingly diverse. Beginning the process of redressing the uncompetitive position of Soulbury staff relative to other comparable groups of professionals in terms of pay and career prospects and progression is therefore essential. Without this being resolved, local authorities are likely to find that securing the employment of a skilled workforce is more difficult and that they are required to procure this support and advice from more costly private sector sources.

RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION

This section looks at the following recruitment and retention issues in particular at workforce size; vacancy levels and recruitment problems; and age imbalances within Soulbury.

Workforce Size

As the Officers’ Side has consistently pointed out, Soulbury staff are an important group for local authorities educational and social provision. Yet, despite growing evidence of increasing workloads there has been a marked reduction in the number of staff providing Soulbury services employed by LAs over the last few years. That has mainly occurred as a result of Government spending cuts, outsourcing, and has also been exacerbated by the Government’s academies programme which at the time of writing had reached 3,850 academies open with more due to open. That has reduced the extent to which local authorities have been able to maintain the services provided by Soulbury staff - although it has by no means reduced the need for such support.

Recent reports attest to the extent of this decline. The latest Soulbury workforce survey 2013[1](the results of which became available in April 2014) suggests that the overall number of Soulbury staff has decreased by half (51 per cent) since the last survey was conducted in 2011. The number of young people’s/community service managers has fallen by two thirds (67 per cent) while education improvement professionals have decreased in number by 55 per cent. The reduction among educational psychologists was 14 per cent, and the number other staff paid on Soulbury pay rates dropped by three-quarters (74 per cent). That has been reflected in vacancy rates across the three services which were generally higher than those recorded in the 2002 Soulbury workforce survey (see below).

This more than confirmed the fears created by the DfE Statistical First Release School Workforce in England: November 2013[2], published earlier in April 2014. That showed that there were fewer centrally employed teachers (some of whom would be Soulbury paid) as more schools converted to academy status and the support required from LAs diminished. Those changes had resulted in a 19.4% reduction in the number of FTE teachers directly employed by LAs; from 9,300 in November 2012 to 7,500 in November 2013.

The DfE is currently undertaking a consultation, Savings to the Education Services Grant for 2015-16[3], on how local authorities and academies could achieve savings to the Education Services Grant (ESG) for 2015-16. The consultation paper seeks views on how local authorities and academies use ESG, how they could make savings to the services funded by the grant and how the DfE could help local authorities and academies to make savings.

In respect of school improvement services, the DfE has said:

Median spend on school improvement is £31 per pupil and the top quartile (i.e. the lowest spending 25% of local authorities) is £19; with the range across all local authorities between £0 and £239 per pupil.
The DfE believes that while local authorities have a duty to promote educational standards, they need to do so in the context of school-to-school support and the direct accountability of academies and free schools to the Secretary of State.
The DfE believes that a local authority’s statutory functions “do not require a highly resource intensive school improvement service” but that some local authorities remain “uncertain about their role”.
The DfE also maintains there is no evidence of a relationship between “sustained planned expenditure” by local authorities in school improvement and improvement in school performance and concludes there is “significant scope for many local authorities” to make savings in this area.
The DfE also said that in the context of a devolved schooling system “there is a limited role for local authorities in providing these services” believing that authorities should focus on commissioning services for schools and charging for these where appropriate.

The Soulbury associations fundamentally reject many of the views and conclusions put forward by the DfE in this consultation. We will make this clear to the DfE in our own responses. We hope that the LGA and its constituents will respond to the consultation by making a robust defence of their role in securing school improvement and the need for proper funding for that role.

The DfE report, for example, does not adequately reflect the additional responsibilities being given to local authorities from the Children and Families Act, for young people with SEND up to 25 years of age, young people within secure accommodation and other vulnerable groups of children and young people who are not always educated within schools. Soulbury officers will have additional new roles supporting local authorities to fulfil their new duties in these areas and the current workforce will almost certainly need to increase to meet the demands.

Recruitment DifficultiesandVacancy Levels

The latest 2013 Soulbury workforce survey (published in April 2014) has also showna continuing situation ofrecruitment difficulties in many areas despite the overall marked fall in Soulbury employment

Table 1 - Soulbury Recruitment 2013
Recruitment difficulties / Percentage %
Experienced recruitment difficulties over previous 12 months / 22
Experienced problems recruiting into posts on main Educational Psychologist grade / 67
Experienced problems recruiting into posts on main EIPs grade / 25
Most commonly cited reasons / Percentage %
Poor quality of applicants / 53
Inadequate pay / 33
(LGA, Soulbury Pay and Workforce Survey 2013).

The vacancy rates for Soulbury educational improvement professionals and educational psychologists are higher than those for LA maintained primary and secondary school teachers.

For example, during the period January to June 2013, 114 educational psychology posts were advertised within LAs (when there were 120 new entrants to the profession) and during the same period in 2014, 178 posts were advertised (with the same number of new entrants). The April 2014 teacher DfE School Workforce in England: November 2013 reported that in November 2013, the vacancy rate for full-time permanent teachers in state-funded schools was 0.2%.

In our view the apparent low vacancy rates for youth service managers is explained by the fact that in many parts of the country, local authority youth services have collapsed; posts have been deleted and there is no attempt to recruit.

Table2 - Soulbury Vacancy Rates 2013

Educational Improvement Professionals

Main 8.0%Senior 10.0%Leading 6.0%All 7.0%

Educational psychologists

Main 5.0%Senior 2.0%Principal 5.0%All 5.0%

Trainee 27.0%

Young People’s/Community Service Managers

Main 0.0%Senior 3.0%Principal 0.0%All 7.0%

Other Soulbury StaffAll 11.0%

(LGA, Soulbury Pay and Workforce Survey 2013).

Age Imbalances

The age profile of a service is important for long-term planning. The 2013 Soulbury workforce survey showed that all three traditional Soulbury groups continue to be made up largely of workers later in their careers.

Table3 - Soulbury Age Profile 2013

Educational Improvement Professionals

45-54 36.0%55 and over38.0%

Educational Psychologists

45-5425.0%55 and over24.0%

Young People’s/Community Service Managers

45-5454.0%55 and over16.0%

Other

45-5431.0%55 and over33.0%

(LGA, Soulbury Pay and Workforce Survey 2013 - tables 6, 11, 16 and 21).

By contrast, the April 2014 teacher DfE School Workforce in England: November 2013 mentioned earlier showed that in primary schools, 18.6% of teachers were aged 50 and over, with 19.5% in secondary schools.

A significant proportion of the Soulbury workforce will be lost to retirement over the next 10 to 15 years, if not sooner. Appropriate pay levels are needed in order to help authorities attract new entrants into their Soulbury services and avoid a shift towards employment in the private sector.

SOULBURY PAY LEVELS

This section of the claim examines trends in pay comparability between Soulbury staff and other workers, in particular the key comparator group of school leaders, and the impact of pay freezes and below inflation pay increases. It also looks at the impact of the current Structured Professional Assessment scheme.

Pay Settlements and Average Earnings

The pay of Soulbury officers - like that of other local government workers - has been suppressed for several years. Average earnings growth and pay settlements across the whole economy, however, have increased over that period, albeit at a lower rate than inflation. In a recent report[4], IDS said that the latest report from the Bank of England had highlighted concerns about pay pressures, with many of their business contacts reporting having to pay more than expected in order to attract new recruits.

Another report from IDS[5] said that pay settlement levels have tended in 2014 to be broadly in line with inflation. IDS said “Some 60 per cent of recent pay settlements were awarded at between 2 and 2.99 per cent and over a fifth in total are at exactly the median level of 2.5 per cent. The number of pay freezes and lower awards below 2 per cent remains small (accounting for just over 10 per cent of all reviews) while pay awards at or above 3 per cent make up almost a third of settlements.”

Table 4 - Current Trends in Pay & Earnings

Pay settlements - LRD 3-monthly median figures (to May 2014)

All agreements:2.6%

Average earnings - ONS regular payexc. bonuses (12 months to April 2014)

Whole economy:0.9%

Private sector:1.0%

Public sector: 1.4%

Average earnings – HM Treasury median of forecasts (June 2014)

2014 (whole year):2.1%

2015 (whole year):2.9%

The relative decline in Soulbury pay in recent years has, as we noted earlier, been exacerbated by changes a number of local authorities have made to working practices. The 2013 Soulbury workforce survey showed that 44 per cent of LAs who responded said they had or intended to review the terms and conditions of Soulbury staff, with just over one fifth (22 per cent) saying that were proposing to or even had introduce an incremental pay freeze.

After capping pay in 2013, the Government is capping public sector pay again in 2014 and again in 2015. Although the cap applies directly only to the Civil Service and those workforces with Pay Review Bodies, the Officers Side fears that once again the Local Government Association will seek to refer to it as they have done with the pay offer in the NJC for Local Government Services.

Inflation

Soulbury officers have had only one pay increase since 2009, a 1% rise in 2013. Inflation has galloped ahead over that period. As measured by the Retail Prices Index, inflation was 4.6% in September 2010, 5.6% in September 2011, 2.6% in September 2012 and 3.2% in 2013. According to the latest fourth quarter (Q4) forecasts for this year from HM Treasury[6], RPI inflation is projected to be 2.8% (RPI).[7]

The Government said in last year’s Budget that public sector pay should again be limited to 1% in 2015. That is below both the 2015 fourth quarter (Q4) RPI and CPI inflation rates which HM Treasury forecasts to be 3.3% (RPI) and 2.1% (CPI).

Although CPI inflation is usually lower than RPI, it too has remained high across this period. CPI inflation was 3.1% in September 2010, 5.2% in September2011, 2.2% in September 2012 and 2.7% in September 2013. HM Treasury forecasts that it will be 1.9% in Q4 of 2014.

Cumulatively, over the period since 2010, RPI inflation has gone up by almost 17% and CPI inflation has gone up by 13.8%.

A report by IDS[8] said that forecasts from City economists showed that while RPI inflation was likely to remain largely flat for the rest of 2014, it would rise gradually from the start of 2015. IDS said: “Inflation is, however, projected to rise above 3 per cent from the start of 2015, driven in part by rising house prices.”

Table 5 – Pay & Inflation / 2007 / 2008 / 2009 / 2010 / 2011 / 2012 / 2013 / 2014
Soulbury Pay Rises / % / 2.475 / 2.75 / 1 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 1
RPI / % / 3.9 / 5 / -1.4 / 4.6 / 5.6 / 2.6 / 3.2 / 2.9*
CPI / % / 1.8 / 5.2 / 1.1 / 3.1 / 5.2 / 2.2 / 2.7 / 2.0*
*HM Treasury forecasts Q4

The above graph shows how Soulbury pay (in green) compares to CPI and RPI.

If Soulbury pay had risen from September 2010 to September 2013 in line with the rate of RPI inflation, Soulbury pay rates would have been significantly higher than those as of September 2013. The shortfalls in pay at particular points of the Soulbury pay scales are set out below.

Table 6 - Shortfalls in Soulbury Pay

EIPs – Pay loss

£5,486 (Educational Improvement Consultants at point 1, the bottom of the EIP pay scale)

£6,815 (EIP at point 8, minimum point for EIPs)

£7,826 (EIP at point 13, minimum point for Senior EIPs)

£9,081 (EIP at point 20, minimum point for Lead EIPs)

EPs – Pay loss

£5,754 (EPs on point 1 of Scale A)

£7,763 (EPs on point 8 of Scale A)

£7,763(EPs on point 3 of Scale B, minimum point for Principal EPs)

£8,802 (EPs on point 8 of Scale B)

£3,697 (trainee EPs on point 1 of their scale)

YPCSMs – Pay loss

£5,690 (YPCSMs on point 1)

£6,252 (YPCSMs on point 4, minimum point for Senior YPCSMs)

£6,826 (YPCSMs on point 7, minimum point for Principal YPCSMs)

In addition to the real terms cut in pay, Soulbury officers also face higher than average tiered increases in their LGPS pension contributions as a result of the revised LGPS implemented from April 2014. The increased pension contributions for most officers will lead to actual cuts in take home pay, not just cuts in the real value of pay. The pay losses above do not take into account these higher pension contributions.

Pay Comparability with Head Teachers

Historically, recruitment to Soulbury has to a significant degree been dependent on the ability to recruit from among senior members of the teaching profession. For that reason, the Officers Side will continue to draw attention to pay comparisons with that group. Although teachers, including school leaders, have also been hit hard by below inflation pay rises, pay freezes and proposed pay caps, even their pay has risen relative to that of Soulbury officers over the past 3 years. The more significant problem, however, continues to be the gap which has developed over the longer term between Soulbury officers and school leaders as set out below.

The pay gap between Soulbury officers to that of senior members of the teaching profession is growing. It will seriously damage recruitment into the Soulbury services from that group if not addressed.

Pay and Conditions of Service Claim 2014

Soulbury Senior EIPs

Minimum entry point £46,152point 13

Head teachers Group 5