Use of NJC scales
Submitted by Nicholas Maude on Wed, 02/06/2010 - 15:52
I'm very interested in whether anyone still uses the NJC scales. Their
website says:-
"The pay and terms of conditions of employment for many local
government services' workers is determined by the National Joint
Council (NJC) for Local Government Services. More details from the
Local Government Employers. These NJC salary scales are also widely
used in the voluntary sector"
We still use them - but I'm not aware of anyone else who does. Do I
have any colleagues out there?
Nicholas
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Nicholas Maude, Interim Deputy Chief Executive
Homeless Link is a charitable company limited by guarantee. Registered
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Hi Nicholas,
We use the NJC scales. We find them useful in that (a) a cost of living increase is negotiated each year and (b) we can progresss staff a point up the scale each year. I would imagine that if we didn't use a scale similar this, salary negotiations could get complex and time-consuming (we only have 13 staff and don't therefore have a HR person). When we're designing a new post (or if an existing staff member's job description changes radically) we benchmark it against similar posts being advertised in our specific sector at the time and then place it on a five point scale on the NJC scales, using the nearest points. We don't compare to local government or other voluntary sector posts that use the scale. I did see that the London Voluntary Service Council has produced something using the NJC scale in the voluntary sector (http://www.lvsc.org.uk/Templates/information.asp?NodeID=90191) but I haven't used this tool.
I'd be interested to hear if/how others use the scales.
Kim
We use the NJC pay award at RNIB
We use the NJC scales at Halton Voluntary Action. We have 18 staff with no HR person so I agree that it is useful. I know a couple of local organisations use it to as they always ask me for a copy as soon as they are available.
Debbie
Stafford District Voluntary Services (now with 23 staff):
we 'use' the NJC scales in that our Statement of Main Terms of Employment says that pay scales are "as per the NJC". This gives us the flexibility to describe scale point (i.e. SCP 30 = £25,472) when advertising, but move staff off scale once appointed, if appropriate and using job evaluation processes.
We don't give scale progression each year due to lack of funding (and make that clear when we advertise), but we usually reflect the %age cost of living. I've talked about using performance-related pay especially for senior posts, but for the moment, that's too hard/too big to manage, although I've worked with that in the Voluntary Sector before and it can work!
However, Trustees agreed that if/when our finances allow, we both move staff off scale and give bigger costs of living (and that might be relevant if NJC is 0% due to public sector restraint).
We prefer NJC scales to describe posts for equivalence and for recruitment, but we're not constrained by that... sorry, that probably doesn't help :-(
Mike Allen, Chief Officer
Stafford District Voluntary Services
We use the NJC scales at the The Refugee Council (300+ staff) for both incremental pay increases and COL awards. We use a grading system for all jobs (except Senior Management) which is based on the scales (e.g. grade 5 = scp 27 to SCP 31) so that each job has a minimum and maximum SCP.
Janine Bourne, HR Manager (Resourcing)
The Refugee Council
We use the NJC scales at the National Council for Voluntary Youth Services for the annual pay increases and grading system for jobs as above. Nichola Brown, Workforce Development Officer, NCVYS.
A It is very common for smaller Charities to use NJC scales among the charities those mainly operates in the Uk and receive statutory fundings. The following are key advantages;
Three charities where I am a trustee or have been a trustee are using NJC and it is operating well. A large number fo UK based charities are also using NJC these whom we support. However, none of the international charity I am involved has used NJC.
Golam Morshed
Charity Accounting Services