Councils face ‘dire’ cash crisis totalling more than £3.5bn

Huge funding gaps mean job and service cuts are inevitable

Local councils have a hole in their finances exceeding £3.5bn collectively for the coming financial year, making it extremely likely they will have to make huge cuts in essential services and jobs, says a report published today (Friday) by UNISON.

The latest iteration of our council cuts website was launched in late September. This coincided with the publication of our latest research showing that councils across England, Scotland and Cymru/Wales are facing a collective funding gap of over £3.5bn for the next financial year.

A key part of the council cuts website allows for people email to their MP/MSP/MS to call for more funding for council services via the email action tool.

To date, only around 1,500 emails have been sent calling for more council funding. Given the dire state of local council funding we urgently need to encourage more members to use the website and send off emails.

Updating your UNISON membership details

If you have never updated your details from joining UNISON.

If you have -
moved
changed your name
changed your job
work for a new employer
changed your phone number

then no one else will have changed your details.
Members are responsible for updating the information that a branch holds for them.

UPDATE REGARDING PAY

As you know, UNISON has been working on securing a fair pay increase for council and school workers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland since the start of this year. The local government employers submitted a final pay offer of £1,925 on all NJC pay points (pro rata’d for part-time and term time only staff). The three NJC trade unions (UNISON, GMB and Unite) met on Wednesday (1st Nov) and have agreed to accept the pay offer for 2023.

The pay award will be backdated to 1 April 2023. If you have moved employers since that date, you can contact your old employer directly to enquire about receiving back pay, however please bear in mind that this will be determined at the employers’ discretion.

We want to thank you for your patience while we have worked to resolve this year’s pay dispute. We appreciate that the wait has been difficult and while this year’s pay award is not as high as we would like, it is our immediate priority to get money into the pockets of our hardworking members as soon as possible. With the cost-of-living crisis continuing to affect us all, every penny counts – especially at this time of year.

The local government employers have been informed and are now working to get this pay award implemented as quickly as possible - the exact timing will depend on your local employers’ payroll deadline dates.