Hourly pay rate frozen since 2006

[dotnet]

I work very few hours a week, at £7.12 an hour, in a backup role - ie I cover holidays, sickness, meetings, any times when the job has no cover.

Every year since 2006 I have had a letter at pay uprating time stating that my £7.12 an hour is more than is paid to other people doing similar work to mine, therefore my hourly rate will remain 'as is'.

As some kind of sop each year (except for this year) an amount of around £22 has been added to my April pay, as supposed 'compensation' for my hourly rate not going up.

Does anyone know whether I can do anything about my pay rate having been frozen for the last seven (it might even be eight) years?

I did pay union dues, to Unison, but haven't paid for a couple of years. It the lapse in paying) wasn't chased up, so I don't know if Unison would be interested in getting involved with my problem. I suspect they might not be; I'm only one person, and my working hours are very few. My P60 shows I earn just under £2,000 a year.

Any ideas? Thanks.

I don't think a compnay can be made to give you a pay rise unfortunately. So they're probably not doing anything wrong. No pay rise for 6 years is shit though.

Have you looked to see what pay similar jobs in your area are getting? If its more then you could get some evidence together and show your boss.

Your other option is to look for work elsewhere/threaten to leave. If they thought you were job hunting then they might realise they don't want to lose you and go through the hassle of recruitment and expense.

I would definitely having a look around to see what hourly rates are being offered. I had a quick look on the website of the temp agency I used many years ago now and admin roles (assuming that is roughly what you provide) are generally higher than than your rate, albeit not massively so.

However, is there a trade-off, i.e. does it suit you only to be doing ad hoc hours every now and again? If so there are benefits on both sides: they get highly reliable cover from someone who knows all the ropes - much easier than using a temp agency where each time the temp would need to be brought up to speed. And you get a contract that only wants a few hours, which would be hard to source elsewhere.

Personally I think they have more to lose than you do - but you need to start from hard facts about local rates of pay.

Btw, although I work in the public sector (and I assume from the mention of Unison the job is in the public sector?) everything I know about temping comes from the private sector. For the public sector I would have expected a cost of living rise unless your pay is already above top of band, and thus frozen for that reason.

OP Is it actually true that your £7.12 is more than others? And how has their pay changed since 2006?

tribpot - public sector cost of living rise? Ha ha. I wish!!! Though a lot of parts of the public sector do have it - not everywhere though.

Duke - we used to have a cost of living rise (NHS), which coming from the private sector where my pay had been frozen for a number of years this was a bit of a shock! But times have changed, so you can at least continue to progress to top of band but the value of each pay point has been frozen.

Tbh OP - irritating as it might be, you still have a job, and you haven't had a pay cut - as many of us have!

Got a nasty feeling we might be waiting for a long time for the good times again.

trib - had the opposite: good rises in private sector, then moved to public sector (civil service) where there are no increments, plus the pay freeze. So for us pay freeze means pay freeze, while politicians stand up in Parliament and say that of course public sector workers get cost of living increases.

Have all staff been on a pay freeze in any recent years? For although they have churned out the same letter to you time and time again, if everyone is on a pay freeze (and some organisations have had this in force for 2-3 years now) then your freeze mirrors theirs. Despite laziness in drafting the letter, you would find it very hard to make a case for a rise when others are not getting one.

Exactly how is the £22 described on formal paperwork?

Duke - agreed, I also had both pay rises and the ability to move firms to negotiate a higher salary, so I certainly don't think it's "private sector bad, public sector good" where pay is concerned! But don't forget that we're all in this together, with our political masters sharing in the pain of pay freezes to show solidarity

ajandjj - I think you're right in the sense that the OP needs to consider if there would be likely to be competition for the role if she left it or tried to negotiate the salary upwards. But I suspect it is a reasonably good deal on both sides, provided the OP is genuinely looking to work only a few hours a month.

Public sector pay freeze here as well. And, because we are LA rather than civil servants, we didn't even get the £250 flat rate that was announced in the budget the other years - that went only to Civil Servants earning below a certain amount. I suspect that part of the reason for that was that if the LAs had all had to pay it, it would have cost them far more than a regular pay rise, since there are so many of us earning below the cut off amount that applied for that particular rise. This is my third year with no pay rise. Mind, DH works in the private sector and has had no pay rise since 2006 and what with the fact that there are no longer any bonuses for exceeding targets, or profit sharing payments to branch staff, his pay has actually gone down in that time.

OP, I would certainly check the statement that the rate of pay you get is still higher than others doing the same job, I would challenge them on that, but otherwise, no, they have no obligation to give you any sort of rise, cost of living or otherwise, unless you are actually on minimum wage which of course, does rise occasionally.

Thanks peeps, I must admit I kind of knew I have no real negotiating power. The point about threatening to look for a job elsewhere is a good one, and I suppose my employers would have a bit of a headache if I left - but I really couldn't afford to lose the small wage I get, and they'd most likely just call my bluff, and I'd have to back down (embarrassing!)
Incidentally, I think my wage has been held down even longer than I said - since 2005. But yes, I do believe I'm still earning fractionally more than other people doing similar jobs for the same company. I must have been offered a better rate than average when I took the job on. No fault of my own, though, and in spending power terms, the money I'm paid is worth a quarter less, now, than it was when I took on the job.
I'm really disillusioned with my employers - they are a massive organisation, and I'm expected to work a couple of evening hours twice a week at what I think is a pitiful rate for unsocial hours. So no, it doesn't suit me that well, and I'd really like to earn more money and feel appreciated, which I'm certainly not.

Still, good to get your feedback, you are a nice lot. Thanks.

Hmm, I wouldn't say no negotiating power - you didn't mention unsociable hours before (I don't think) and I still get the impression that you're filling in solely at their convenience. Is it all evening work?

If it doesn't actually suit you, why would you stay? I'd be having a look around to see what else there is.

"But yes, I do believe I'm still earning fractionally more than other people doing similar jobs for the same company. I"

There is your answer.

Hi tribpot -No, it's not all evening work, that's only a bit of it, but I think there may be nothing in law which says people have to be paid more if they work evenings or weekends - ? I do know, at one time, Sundays, at least, used to be treated as 'exceptional' days. Years ago, working for a local council, I worked Sundays and got double time for it. But that was ages ago.

I just feel really miffed that I took a job at an OK rate of pay a long time ago, and then, when I was about three years into the job, the goalposts were moved, and a freeze was put in place for me so that now, by the time I finally do get an hourly rate increase, the job will be as near as dammit on minimum wage.

Nothing you can do , and you only get paid extra for weekends/sundays if that's in your contract - nothing in law to support you.

The company will also have it's hands tied if others are paid less - they have to 'synchronise' pay over time if people are performing same service at same rate, otherwise they are open to claims made by the lower paid staff.