NJC Pay Award 2026/27: New Pay Rates, Back Pay and What Workers Will Receive

The NJC pay award 2026/27 has now been agreed at 3.3%, bringing an end to months of negotiations over pay for council employees, school support staff and other workers covered by the National Joint Council for Local Government Services.

The agreement applies retrospectively from 1 April 2026 and covers the period through to 31 March 2027. It means eligible workers will receive a permanent 3.3% increase to their basic NJC salary, along with increases to relevant nationally agreed allowances.

The Local Government Association confirmed that agreement was reached on 24 August 2026. The NJC framework determines pay and conditions for more than 1.4 million local government services workers across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

How Much Are The New NJC Pay Rates For 2026/27?

With the 3.3% increase, the bottom of the national NJC pay spine has moved from £24,796 at SCP3 in 2025/26 to approximately £25,614 a year in 2026/27.

At the upper end of the national spine, SCP43 rises from £54,495 to approximately £56,293.

Examples of the new rates include:

NJC Pay Point	2025/26 Salary	2026/27 Salary	Annual Increase
SCP3	£24,796	£25,614	£818
SCP10	£27,694	£28,608	£914
SCP20	£32,597	£33,673	£1,076
SCP30	£40,777	£42,123	£1,346
SCP43	£54,495	£56,293	£1,798

On a standard 37-hour working week, SCP3 is worth around £13.28 per hour.

These are gross national salary figures.

The amount an employee actually receives will depend on their contracted hours, local grading arrangements and deductions including Income Tax, National Insurance, Local Government Pension Scheme contributions, student loan repayments and salary sacrifice arrangements.

London workers should also be careful when comparing their salary directly with the national table.

Individual London boroughs can operate local grading structures and additional arrangements, meaning the amount on a worker’s contract may differ from the basic national NJC spine.

Who Gets The NJC Pay Award And When Will Back Pay Arrive?

The NJC settlement covers a wide range of employees whose contracts follow Green Book terms and conditions.

That can include:

• Council Administrative Staff
• Teaching Assistants And School Support Staff
• Social Care Employees
• Housing Officers
• Waste And Recycling Workers
• Library Staff
• Catering And Cleaning Employees
• Planning And Environmental Services Staff
• Other Local Government Employees Covered By NJC Terms

Academy employees should check their own contracts because individual academy trusts do not all follow NJC arrangements in exactly the same way.

The award is backdated to 1 April 2026. This means workers who continued to be paid at their old rate after April should receive arrears once their employer processes the award.

The exact payment date is determined locally. For example, some employers have arranged to make the updated salary and arrears in September or October 2026, while others may operate different payroll schedules.

Devon County Council said qualifying staff using its payroll arrangements would receive the increase and April back pay in September. Bradford indicated that its relevant payroll clients would receive the pay award in October, with allowances following in November.

Workers who have left an eligible job since 1 April may also have money outstanding. National guidance recommends that employers pay former employees the amount owed between 1 April 2026 and their final day of employment when requested.

Employees should therefore check their payslip, employer payroll notice and current spinal column point rather than assuming every council will make the payment during the same month.

Why Did Unions Initially Reject The 3.3% NJC Pay Offer?

The final 3.3% award is considerably lower than the original trade union claim.

UNISON, GMB and Unite submitted a joint claim seeking at least £3,000 or 10%, whichever was greater, across NJC spinal column points.

The unions also sought wider changes including a two-hour reduction in the working week, an additional day of annual leave and measures affecting school support staff. Their proposals included movement towards a £15 minimum hourly rate.

The National Employers instead made what they described as a full and final one-year offer of 3.3% in March 2026.

The offer was initially rejected by the unions.

UNISON later held targeted industrial action ballots involving council and school workers.

According to the union, a large majority of participating members voted in favour of strike action, but the statutory 50% turnout threshold was not achieved across enough large employers to create the level of industrial action sought.

The joint unions subsequently moved to settle the claim, and the employer offer was formally accepted on 24 August 2026.

The result means the 3.3% figure is no longer simply an employer proposal. It is now the confirmed NJC pay award for 2026/27.

Does The NJC Award Cover Every Council Worker?

Not everyone working in local government receives the same NJC award.

The 3.3% Green Book settlement primarily applies to local government services employees covered by NJC arrangements across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Local authority chief officers and chief executives have separate negotiating arrangements, although national agreements for those groups also resulted in a 3.3% increase from April 2026.

Fire and rescue employees are covered separately under their own NJC arrangements. The National Joint Council for Local Authority Fire and Rescue Services agreed a 3.8% pay increase from 1 July 2026, rather than the 3.3% Green Book award.

Teachers also have separate national pay arrangements.

Scotland is not covered by this particular Green Book settlement because Scottish local government pay is negotiated separately.

This distinction is particularly important when workers see headlines referring simply to an “NJC pay award”. There are several negotiating bodies using the NJC name, so employees should confirm which agreement covers their job before comparing percentage increases.

What Happens To NJC Pay After The 2026/27 Award?

Although the annual pay dispute has now been settled, the structure of local government pay remains under review.

The NJC has already agreed terms of reference for a review of the national pay spine.

One of the biggest long-term pressures is compression at the lower end of the scale. When statutory minimum wage rates rise, the gap between the lowest NJC points can become increasingly narrow.

The permanent deletion of SCP2 from April 2026 is part of that changing structure, with SCP3 now forming the bottom of the national spine.

Attention is also beginning to move towards the 2027/28 pay round. GMB has said work on the next pay claim should begin early following the conclusion of the current dispute.

For employees, the immediate priority is more practical.

Anyone covered by the award should check whether their employer has implemented the new 3.3% rate, whether their salary has been placed on the correct 2026/27 point and whether all back pay from 1 April 2026 has been included.

For London council and school support workers in particular, checking the employer’s own pay scale remains important because borough grading structures and local additions can produce salaries that differ from the headline national figures.