Unions secure ground-breaking pay offer for BBC staff
BBC Broadcasting House
Bectu successfully negotiated a new set of terms and conditions, including a three-year pay deal, following negotiations between the BBC, fellow unions NUJ and Unite.
The new terms and conditions include a three year pay deal, simplification of BBC contractual arrangements and recognises weekend working.
Highlights of the agreement:
- Introduction of a simpler pay and grading structure with increased transparency and governance
- New BBC minimum salary of £20,000 from 1 August 2018
- Increased sick pay and well-being arrangements
Three year pay-deal
The BBC and union members had identified complexities and inconsistencies in the current pay structure. After a forensic examination of existing roles and how they are paid compared to market rates a new grading structure was proposed.
The changes mean that for the first two years of the deal all staff who are low in their pay range will get incremental increases of 1.5% to progress their pay within the band their role is in.
After the two years have passed the BBC and unions will start new negotiations on how a ringfenced pool of funding, which matches the increments paid out, will be used to progress salaries.
As well as the grades restructure a three-year pay deal backdated to 2017 is being proposed. A pay award of 2% in 2017/18, 2% in 2018/19, and 2.5% (or the licence fee settlement if higher) in 2019/20 was agreed.
Bectu national secretary Sarah Ward said: “This pay offer secures our members future pay award at a time when the BBC financing situation is very delicate.”
The BBC also committed to raising its minimum salary from £15,687 to £20,000.
Deal for parents
Parents will be in a better position as a result of the deal. A progressive offer has been put in place for shared parental leave, which will see pay enhanced. Legally, mothers and fathers are able to share statutory maternity leave entitlement. This is called shared parental leave.
The statutory maternity entitlement can be transferred to a father, but they are often not entitled to the pay that the mother maybe entitled to from her work place.
As part of this deal the BBC has offered 18 weeks of full pay per child when shared parental leave is used and will also be enhancing paternity pay to two weeks full pay.
Sick pay
There has also been an improvement on the terms of how sick pay is offered to staff. Contractual sick pay has been increased to a maximum of 18 weeks full pay followed by 9 weeks half pay in any 12 month rolling period.
The previous entitlement meant that staff were entitled to 26 weeks over a two-year period, which had in some instances led to people returning to work from illness earlier than they were ready to.
Death in service
5,000 BBC employees who are not members of the defined benefit pension schemes currently receive a death in service benefit of two times their salary while those in the defined benefit pension scheme receive four times their final salary. In the new deal the BBC have agreed to harmonise this benefit at four times.
Bectu national secretary Noel McClean said:
“There were a number of big and significant issues that needed to be addressed in this deal. Our members engaged with us on an unprecedented level to make sure that we were negotiating the best possible deal for them. Without that level of engagement we would not have been able to get this result.”
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