OVER 1,500 employees have been told their pay will be cut by thousands of pounds just two weeks before Christmas.

Figures from Rochdale Borough Council reveal that 1,694 employees - 25 per cent of the workforce - will see their pay go down under the Pay and Grading Review.

Employees were due to be told about the changes today (Thursday), but the council admitted that 'a minority' of employees had been told a day early due to an administration error.

In one case, the Guardian understands one worker has seen their pay cut by £11,000, although the cuts have been wide ranging.

The review, which aims to harmonise terms and conditions across all jobs in the authority, is a result of national agreements made between councils and trade unions in 1997 and 2004. It applies to all local authorities in the country.

Under the settlement for Rochdale's, 2,133 employees will be paid at the same level as currently – 30.6% of the workforce while 3,088 employees would go up in pay.

This is 44.8% of the workforce.
Councillor Keith Swift, cabinet member for corporate management on Rochdale Borough Council, said: "We are carrying out this review because we have to – and our aim throughout has been to develop a pay structure which ensures that the different groups of staff that we employ are paid and rewarded in line with the demands of the Equal Pay Act and nationally made agreements with trade unions.

"Throughout this process the welfare of our staff has been a priority and we recently decided to produce a new grading model because the first one we had would have meant a lot more of our staff would lose money.

"We have worked hard to ensure that as a result of the review, the majority of council staff will either have no change in their current salary or will receive a rise in their salary appropriate to the evaluation of the role.

"Most of those whose salaries are expected to increase are among the council's lowest paid employees. In all of this, every effort has been made to minimise the impact of the review on both the staff affected directly by it and to council tax payers."

A consultation period will now be undertaken into the outcomes, while employees will also be able to appeal against their settlement.

How have you been affected by the Pay and Grading Review - call the newsdesk on 0161 643 3615 and let us know. For a full story don't forget to pick up next week's Middleton Guardian.