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Management Side – JNC for Coroners
Ms J Kearsley
Officers’ Side Secretary
JNC for Coroners
6 June 2024
By email: [email protected]
Dear Joanne,
Thank you for your letter of 29 September 2023 which set out the officers’ side position for this pay round, specifically:
“a pay award of 10.44% for April 2024-March 2025. In reaching this figure we have taken into account the two following factors:
- The accumulated percentage variance between salary increases received by the judiciary and those received by coroners, which currently amounts to 5.44%.
- An anticipated realistic increase in salary for both Local Authority chief officers and the judiciary in April 2024, namely 5%.”
We agreed we would return to this matter as the broader considerations and context became clearer and have kept in touch during the intervening time.
The management side has convened to consider the officers’ claim.
The management side of the JNC wishes to offer a 2.50 per cent increase (with effect from 1 April 2024) on local salaries and day rates for individuals, derived from the JNC arrangements.
In making this offer, the management side wishes to draw your attention to the fact that Local Authority chief officers have been offered a full and final offer of 2.50%. In addition, we would ask you to note that the largest bargaining group of Local Government staff (LGS National Joint Council), or Green Book) have been offered a flat rate cash increase of £1290.
As you know, we did consult with Local Authorities to support the considerations of the management side during this process. That consultation gave us the following headline responses:
- We asked whether the JNC should agree or reject the claim from the Coroners’ Society (for a10.44% increase to salaries and day rates, backdated to the usual settlement date of 1 April (2024):
Agree the claim 11%
Reject the claim 89% - When we asked what expectations for the settlement would be, 65% of respondents were somewhere within the 2% - 4% range.
- Our survey didn’t identify any significant recruitment difficulties. For example, in relation to full time Senior Coroners 96.49% of respondents said they had no difficulty recruiting to posts in the previous year. For part time Senior Coroners, the “no difficulties” box was indicated by 84.21%, it was 85.96% for Area Coroners and 89.47% for Assistant Coroners.
- In relation to retention challenges, we asked if there were any difficulties in retaining Coroners over the past year, the answer “no” was given in relation to full time Senior Coroners by 96.49%, for part time Senior Coroners it was 87.72%, for Area Coroners it was 89.47% and for Assistant Coroners it was 84.21%.
Noting that UK inflation has now fallen to 2.3%, and that it is too early to know what will happen with the various Independent Pay Review bodies, the management side consider this offer to be fair. We hope it can form the basis of an agreement between us as soon as possible.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Kind regards
Sarah Ward
Management Side Secretary
JNC for Coroners