BBC staff are being offered a brand-new set of terms and conditions, including a three-year pay deal, following negotiations between the BBC and BECTU, the NUJ and Unite.
The offer covers pay, parental leave, sick pay, contracts of employment and working policies on weekend pay and night working.
The three year pay-deal comes after the BBC recognised that some roles were being paid below the market rate. The changes mean that for the first two years of the deal all staff who are low in their pay range would 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 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 has been agreed.
The BBC has also committed that its minimum salary would rise from £15,687 to £20,000.
A new deal for parental leave means the BBC is offering 18 weeks of full pay per child when shared parental leave is used and also enhancing paternity pay to two weeks full pay.
Also, for staff who work at weekends, a joint-working group made up of business representative and unions will be established. It will investigate how weekend working should be recognised. It will be run by an independent mediator and will report back on whether that should be extra pay or time off.
BECTU assistant national officer Noel McClean said: “The union is very proud that we have got the BBC to recognise that weekend working is special and deserves recognition. For many years we have had complaints from staff that once they are employed little salary improvement and we have managed to introduce an increment which goes against the trend.”
Head of BECTU Gerry Morrissey said: “This new deal, which is still subject to a ballot of the members, demonstrates how important it is that unions and management work collaboratively with employers. The BBC recognised that its staff terms and conditions needed updating and the unions were able to negotiate what we know about staff experiences from members.
“This deal is a comprehensive examination of the terms and conditions and ensures that the BBC is best placed to retain and develop the workforce to keep it competitive in an increasingly fragmented market, while ensuring staff have decent terms and conditions.”
Jon Creamer
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