Wiltshire Council - standby, callout, and unsocial hours policies to be consulted on with union members

Wiltshire Council has confirmed that, following formal negotiations with the three recognised unions - UNISON, Unite the Union and GMB - there is a new set of proposals that will be taken forward relating to changes to the council's standby, callout, and unsocial hours policies.

The council has listened to staff and the unions throughout this process, and there have been a number of changes made to the previous proposals, including maintaining Sunday as an unsocial working day. In recognition of staff concerns, particularly in the current economic climate, the council has outlined a four-year pay protection arrangement to mitigate the impact for staff on their take-home pay as a result of the changes to the unsocial hours times and rates. Union members will be balloted on the proposals in September.

The council has also arranged a series of service-specific webinars for staff to find out all the information they need and answer any questions they may have.

Terence Herbert, Wiltshire Council Chief Executive, said: Following formal negotiations with the three recognised unions - Unite, GMB and Unison - we are pleased to now have a set of proposals that the unions can take to their members, and we are hopeful of a positive outcome.

We'll also be sharing the proposals with our staff over the coming weeks to ensure they clearly understand the details.

Our focus has been on finding a resolution to these issues through discussions and not industrial action, and the whole working group has actively helped to shape the proposals that are now being taken forward.

The proposed changes to out of hours payments will include arrangements to protect the pay of impacted staff for four years.

The proposed changes will help to ensure our policies are standardised, fit for purpose, financially viable and support delivery of our Business Plan, while ensuring our staff are fairly and appropriately rewarded.

We expect the results of the union ballots by early October.