Renfrewshire Council

Payment will be made based on your pay frequency as follows:

• Weekly and Fortnightly on 17 November 2022
• Monthly on 24 November 2022
• Four Weekly on 7 December 2022.

Please note, for employees whose terms and conditions of service cover craft, we have just received notice of a similar agreement,  and payment will be made on 15 December 2022. We will contact you directly with more details shortly.

Key details of pay award

1. An increase in the Scottish Local Government Living Wage rate to £10.85 per hour.   
2. For those on Local Government Living wage and pay steps 19-24, a £2,000 uplift calculated on a nominal 36-hour full time working week.
3. A cap on the uplift for those earning £60,000 or more at a £3,000 uplift based on a 37-hour week.
4. All remaining pay steps will receive a 5% or a £1,925 uplift calculated on a nominal 36- hour full-time working week, whichever is larger.
5. 5% uplift in allowances, for example standby, disturbance, first aid etc.
6. Payment of SSSC fees for all relevant roles.  Further detail will be issued in due course about how payment will be made and how to claim for the reimbursement of fees incurred from 1 April 22.
7. An additional day of annual leave (pro-rated for part-time) to be added to the leave entitlement for all employees.  Further detail on how the extra day will be added to your leave entitlement will be issued in due course.

The agreement covers the period from 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023.  Backdating of the award will be from April 2022, and as with all pay it will be subject to NI, tax and pension deductions.

Please do not contact Payroll prior to your payslip being issued to ask for an estimate of the back pay that you will receive.  This can only be discussed when each pay run is finalised.  If you have a query upon receipt of your payslip, please contact payrollgeneral@renfrewshire.gov.uk.  Please note that we deal with a high volume of enquiries so would kindly ask for your patience till we respond.

Council's pay and grading pay steps

Please note that the revised pay steps are based on an hourly rate of pay, and therefore with rounding, there may be a slight difference in the amounts.  Also, the increase in pay for someone working a 35-hour per week contract will be different from those working a 37-hour week contract.

If you are on:

• pay steps 18, you will receive £10.85 which is the new Scottish Local Government Living wage
• pay steps 19-24, you will receive a £2,000 uplift (calculated on 36-hour full time working week)
• pay steps 26-71, you will receive a £1,925 uplift (calculated on 36-hour full time working week)
• pay steps 72-98, you will receive 5% uplift (calculated on 36-hour full time working week)
• pay steps 99-124, you will receive a cap of £3000 uplift (based on a 37-hour working week).

The link to the revised pay steps can be found at: www.renfrewshire.gov.uk/staff-salary-scales

Universal Credit

If you receive Universal Credit the amount you get changes if your take-home pay changes, which includes awards of backdated pay. If you get additional pay within a Universal Credit assessment period (month), your Universal Credit payment will either be less than you normally receive, or your income may be too high to qualify for a payment.

Universal Credit is calculated on your personal circumstances, because of this we, as your employer, do not know how, or if, you may be affected. You can access your UC Journal at www.gov.uk/sign-in-universal-credit.  An overview of Universal Credit can be found at  www.gov.uk/universal-credit

The 2022/23 Local Government pay settlement increase together with the backdated payment may mean you will either receive less Universal Credit than normal or you may even earn too much to qualify, and your Universal Credit claim will close. If your claim closes, you will see a message on your UC Journal telling you about this.

If Universal Credit payments stop because you have had additional pay, you must start up your claim again. You should do this as soon as you can to make sure you do not miss out. 

You can do this by logging into your UC journal and selecting the "Reclaim" tab. You will find this at the bottom of the screen. This will take you to a new screen where you will be asked to answer a few simple questions. If you have any problems doing this, contact your Work Coach or visit your local Jobcentre Plus.  

Financial advice and guidance

You can get advice from our Advice Works team here at the Council or go to the Renfrewshire Citizens Advice Bureau.  Details are below. 

Advice Works - Renfrewshire Website.  Telephone number 300 300 1238

Renfrewshire Citizens Advice Bureau | Free, impartial and confidential advice (renfrewshirecab.org.uk).  Telephone number 0141 889 2121.