Brighton and Hove City Council has agreed to increase the pay of its lowest-paid staff by over 9% to help address financial pressures and concerns about the cost of living crisis.
A report presented to the council’s policy and resources committee on 7 July outlined the proposals to increase the minimum hourly rate paid by the council from £9.90 to £10.60. The proposal was agreed unanimously and will increase the pay of 3,800 council staff by between 2% and 9.2%.
The report said: “These proposals achieve a balance between improving the pay of a substantial number of council staff employed on the bottom grades, many of whom are frontline staff including in schools, and with cost/affordability.”
Since an agreement in October 2021 to abolish the lowest two pay grades, the council said it had taken part in further discussions with the GMB and Unison trade unions to see what more could be done to increase the salaries of the lowest-paid staff.
In a joint letter to all council staff, chief executive Geoff Raw and leader of the council Phélim Mac Cafferty, said: “The council has a long-standing commitment to ensure that its pay and benefits are competitive and demonstrate how staff are valued and supported to serve the city.
“In the context of the current cost of living crisis, the national pay negotiations for 2022-2023 and the challenging financial context, the council has been working to develop proposals to improve pay for our lowest-paid staff that go further than the decision to remove our bottom grades.”
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