Local Pay Agreement Reached
Local Pay Agreement 2022

Ards and North Down Borough Council and the three Trade Unions (GMB, NIPSA and UNITE) have entered into the following local pay agreement to assist employees in the current economic crisis:
- Pay grades will be lifted by one increment for all eligible grades. This will take effect as from 1 April 2022.
- The Council will make two hardship payments of £666 gross to eligible employees. The first payment is due to be made in October 2022 and the second payment around 1 April 2023.
The hardship payments will be funded from Council reserves and will therefore have no impact on the district rate increase in 2023-24.The costs will be in the region of £1.2M.
The additional increments will cost in the region of £650k to implement and will represent an increase of around 1.25% on the rates.
The Council and Unions are cognisant of the prevailing cost of living pressures for both employees and ratepayers and have worked in partnership to negotiate measures that are affordable and fair to both.
The Council and Unions will continue to negotiate on any remaining harmonisation elements and pay anomalies within the Council.