NJC Pay Scales 2026/27: The Green Book Spine and Take-Home Pay
The NJC pay spine councils pay on now: SCP 3 to 43, hourly rates, LGPS and take-home, after the 3.3% award backdated to April 2026.
Where the 2026/27 award stands
Council and school support staff pay is negotiated rather than set by a review body, and the 2026/27 round took five months from offer to acceptance. It is agreed at 3.3%, backdated to 1 April 2026, and the NJC published the uplifted spine in its signed agreement circular of 24 August 2026. The points on this page are those rates. Anyone whose council has not yet implemented them is owed arrears back to April, including anyone who has since left.
- 3.3% offered on 24 March 2026, presented by the national employers as a full and final offer and circulated to chief executives on 26 March 2026. That is what the bottom of the spine now pays: £13.28 an hour, 57p clear of the National Living Wage.
- Rejected by all three unions. Unite responded on 25 March 2026; GMB members voted it down on 28 May 2026 and asked the employers to reopen negotiations; the employers declined on 9 June 2026.
- The claim was much larger - the greater of £3,000 or 10 per cent on all spinal column points, a £15 minimum hourly rate, a 2-hour cut in the working week and 1 extra day of annual leave.
- Ballots. UNISON balloted about 200,000 members in target employers in England and Wales from 9 July 2026 to 6 August 2026. Unite's ballot ran from 16 July to 17 August 2026 for most workplaces.
- Accepted in August, reluctantly. UNISON's industrial action ballot missed the 50% turnout threshold in enough large employers, and UNISON and GMB both accepted, as GMB's noticeboard recorded on 21 August 2026. A joint union position needs at least two of the three unions. The same post says Unite had not announced a final position, and the agreement circular is signed for the union side by the GMB and UNISON secretaries.
- Published on 24 August 2026. Annex 1 to the agreement circular carries the 2026/27 points and Annex 2 the uprated allowances, so nothing on this page is our own arithmetic on the 3.3%. Between April and August, while the offer was disputed and no uplifted spine existed, this page deliberately showed the 1 April 2025 points instead.
- The spine itself is under review. The NJC agreed terms of reference for a full review on 18 May 2026.
Councils' own documents show what the delay looked like on the ground, and are worth reading with their dates in mind. Plymouth's 2026/27 pay policy statement describes its lowest pay scale as £12.85 an hour at spine point 3 - the 1 April 2025 rate - and adds 60p an hour on top "until the 2026 national pay award is known" so that it keeps Real Living Wage status. Calderdale's April 2026 salary scales carry a plainer note: the scales had not changed from 2025/26, because an award was pending. Both predate the 24 August 2026 circular. Watch for that kind of local top-up, and for scales not yet restated, before comparing a published council rate with the national spine.
The spine, point by point
Annex 1 of the NJC circular dated 24 August 2026, which raised every point by 3.3% from 1 April 2026. Take-home assumes England, the 2026/27 tax rules, full-time hours and LGPS membership in the main section. The staff column is the number of full-time equivalent employees on each point on the 2025/26 spine, from the employers' own pay-round briefing; no 2026/27 count has been published. Those counts add up to about 484,000 FTE across points 3 to 43, with 30,323 on SCP 6 alone. They predate the deletion of SCP 2, so the 11,984 FTE then on that point are not in the SCP 3 figure. That is staff sitting on a spine point, not the size of the Green Book workforce, which is larger once locally determined posts above the spine are counted.
| SCP | Annual | Hourly | LGPS | Take-home / year | Per month | Staff (FTE, 2025/26) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | £25,614 | £13.28 | 5.8% | £20,773 | £1,731 | 10,724 |
| 4 | £26,016 | £13.48 | 5.8% | £21,044 | £1,754 | 14,638 |
| 5 | £26,427 | £13.70 | 5.8% | £21,321 | £1,777 | 12,884 |
| 6 | £26,847 | £13.92 | 5.8% | £21,604 | £1,800 | 30,323 |
| 7 | £27,274 | £14.14 | 5.8% | £21,891 | £1,824 | 15,092 |
| 8 | £27,709 | £14.36 | 5.8% | £22,184 | £1,849 | 13,706 |
| 9 | £28,153 | £14.59 | 5.8% | £22,483 | £1,874 | 13,251 |
| 10 | £28,608 | £14.83 | 5.8% | £22,790 | £1,899 | 6,974 |
| 11 | £29,071 | £15.07 | 6.5% | £22,939 | £1,912 | 22,677 |
| 12 | £29,542 | £15.31 | 6.5% | £23,254 | £1,938 | 12,484 |
| 13 | £30,023 | £15.56 | 6.5% | £23,575 | £1,965 | 6,867 |
| 14 | £30,515 | £15.82 | 6.5% | £23,904 | £1,992 | 13,713 |
| 15 | £31,015 | £16.08 | 6.5% | £24,238 | £2,020 | 11,327 |
| 16 | £31,525 | £16.34 | 6.5% | £24,578 | £2,048 | 5,552 |
| 17 | £32,046 | £16.61 | 6.5% | £24,926 | £2,077 | 19,400 |
| 18 | £32,578 | £16.89 | 6.5% | £25,282 | £2,107 | 4,499 |
| 19 | £33,119 | £17.17 | 6.5% | £25,643 | £2,137 | 15,731 |
| 20 | £33,673 | £17.45 | 6.5% | £26,013 | £2,168 | 12,423 |
| 21 | £34,237 | £17.75 | 6.5% | £26,390 | £2,199 | 6,204 |
| 22 | £34,811 | £18.04 | 6.5% | £26,773 | £2,231 | 16,788 |
| 23 | £35,570 | £18.44 | 6.5% | £27,280 | £2,273 | 15,279 |
| 24 | £36,581 | £18.96 | 6.5% | £27,956 | £2,330 | 13,507 |
| 25 | £37,563 | £19.47 | 6.5% | £28,612 | £2,384 | 18,737 |
| 26 | £38,510 | £19.96 | 6.5% | £29,244 | £2,437 | 10,451 |
| 27 | £39,481 | £20.46 | 6.5% | £29,893 | £2,491 | 12,046 |
| 28 | £40,444 | £20.96 | 6.5% | £30,536 | £2,545 | 18,506 |
| 29 | £41,177 | £21.34 | 6.5% | £31,026 | £2,585 | 9,266 |
| 30 | £42,123 | £21.83 | 6.5% | £31,658 | £2,638 | 13,768 |
| 31 | £43,149 | £22.37 | 6.5% | £32,343 | £2,695 | 13,397 |
| 32 | £44,253 | £22.94 | 6.5% | £33,081 | £2,757 | 12,388 |
| 33 | £45,529 | £23.60 | 6.5% | £33,933 | £2,828 | 9,317 |
| 34 | £46,579 | £24.14 | 6.5% | £34,634 | £2,886 | 9,126 |
| 35 | £47,665 | £24.71 | 6.8% | £35,245 | £2,937 | 12,611 |
| 36 | £48,738 | £25.26 | 6.8% | £35,960 | £2,997 | 8,626 |
| 37 | £49,817 | £25.82 | 6.8% | £36,678 | £3,056 | 5,602 |
| 38 | £50,908 | £26.39 | 6.8% | £37,442 | £3,120 | 7,417 |
| 39 | £51,928 | £26.92 | 6.8% | £38,182 | £3,182 | 6,494 |
| 40 | £53,051 | £27.50 | 6.8% | £38,997 | £3,250 | 8,598 |
| 41 | £54,143 | £28.06 | 6.8% | £39,751 | £3,313 | 4,852 |
| 42 | £55,224 | £28.62 | 6.8% | £40,334 | £3,361 | 3,277 |
| 43 | £56,293 | £29.18 | 6.8% | £40,911 | £3,409 | 5,725 |
Basic pay only. Excludes London and fringe allowances, sleeping-in payments, standby sessions, overtime, and student loan repayments. Staff resident in Scotland pay Scottish Income Tax on the same gross.
Why SCP 2 disappeared
The 2025 agreement did two things: it raised every point by 3.2%, and it deleted SCP 2 from the spine permanently on 1 April 2026. SCP 1 went the same way in April 2023. Both deletions have the same cause: the National Living Wage rises faster than the spine, so the bottom points keep colliding with it and get removed rather than uprated separately.
In practice anyone who was on SCP 2 (£24,413, £12.65 an hour as at 1 April 2025) moved to SCP 3, which is £25,614 and £13.28 an hour today. Two separate things produced that gap and it is worth keeping them apart: the deletion itself was worth £383, moving them onto the 1 April 2025 value of SCP 3, and the 3.3% award added the other £818 on the same day. It is worth knowing because any pay table published before April 2026 still shows SCP 2, so a table that includes it is not necessarily wrong - it is just describing the spine as it was.
How councils actually use the spine
The NJC sets what each spine point is worth. It does not say which job sits on which point. Every council runs its own job evaluation and maps its own grades onto the spine, which is why a "Grade 5" in one authority and a "Grade 5" next door can be different money, and why there is no national answer to "what does a Band C pay".
Tameside Council's March 2026 report to full council is a good worked example. It runs Grades A to N, and the deletion of SCP 2 forced it to move Grade A onto SCP 3 as a spot point and start Grade B at SCP 4 instead of SCP 3. Two details there generalise: the council's full-time week is 36 hours rather than the national 37, so its hourly rates are higher than the national column for the same annual salary, and it applies a Foundation Living Wage supplement on top where the spine falls short.
So use the spine for what it is: the national value of a point, and the thing your council's grade structure is built from. For your own pay, the grade boundaries come from your employer's published pay structure.
We hold those structures for Birmingham , Cardiff , Durham , Manchester , Tameside , each with take-home worked out grade by grade, and the full list is on the council pay scales hub.
Not every council is on this spine at all. Some negotiate locally and set their own grades and money, which also means their pay year can settle on its own timetable, as several did while this one was still in dispute - Kent is the clearest example.
What the spine pays by role
The spine says what a point is worth, not what a job pays. For that we use the ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, which measures what people in each occupation are actually paid, and show which spine point the median lands nearest. Take-home on each page runs through the LGPS band.
| Role | ASHE median | Nearest point |
|---|---|---|
| Teaching Assistant (TA) | £21,239 | SCP 3 |
| Early Years Practitioner (Nursery) | £23,717 | SCP 3 |
| Cleaner | £24,130 | SCP 3 |
| Refuse Collector (Loader / Driver) | £27,857 | SCP 8 |
| Caretaker (School / Council) | £28,950 | SCP 11 |
| Local Government Officer | £30,886 | SCP 15 |
| Youth and Community Worker | £32,654 | SCP 18 |
| Housing Officer | £34,688 | SCP 22 |
| Planning Officer | £36,457 | SCP 24 |
| Librarian | £38,068 | SCP 26 |
| Environmental Health Officer | £41,725 | SCP 30 |
| Social Worker (Local Authority) | £44,550 | SCP 32 |
Medians are ONS ASHE 2025 provisional, full-time, by SOC 2020 unit group. They are a measure of the occupation, not of the grade: a council can and does place the same job at a different point from its neighbour.
LGPS contributions from April 2026
England and Wales bands, on actual pensionable pay rather than full-time equivalent pay. The 50/50 section rate is exactly half the main rate. The take-home column further up uses these bands, so it applies to staff in England and Wales: Northern Ireland council staff, who are inside the NJC for pay, are in a separate pension scheme, NILGOSC, whose main-section rates run from 5.5% to 10.5% from April 2026.
| Actual pensionable pay | Main section | 50/50 section |
|---|---|---|
| Up to £18,400 | 5.5% | 2.75% |
| £18,401 to £29,000 | 5.8% | 2.90% |
| £29,001 to £47,300 | 6.5% | 3.25% |
| £47,301 to £59,800 | 6.8% | 3.40% |
| £59,801 to £84,000 | 8.5% | 4.25% |
| £84,001 to £119,100 | 9.9% | 4.95% |
| £119,101 to £140,400 | 10.5% | 5.25% |
| £140,401 to £210,700 | 11.4% | 5.70% |
| £210,701 or more | 12.5% | 6.25% |
The contribution comes out of pay before Income Tax, so relief is automatic at your marginal rate and there is nothing to claim. National Insurance is a different matter: HMRC's National Insurance Manual is explicit that contributions deducted from earnings get no NI relief, so NI is charged on your full gross. That is the difference between a net pay arrangement and salary sacrifice, and it is why the take-home column above is lower than a generic salary calculator with a pension percentage typed in.
What the spine does not cover
- Pay above the top point. Posts paid above SCP 43 but graded below deputy chief officer are still inside the NJC. Their rates are set locally, then moved by whatever the NJC agrees - Green Book Part 2 paragraph 5.4.
- Chief officers. Senior council pay is a separate negotiating group with its own agreement.
- Scotland. Negotiated by the Scottish Joint Council with COSLA, on its own spine - and settled well before the NJC: a two-year deal gives 3.5% from 1 April 2026, which UNISON members accepted on 8 July 2025.
- Teachers. Teaching staff in maintained schools are on the STPCD, not the Green Book - only support staff are on the spine. See our teacher pay scales.
- Allowances. Annex 2 sets national rates for a handful: sleeping-in duty at £44.54 a night, the inner fringe allowance at £1,079 a year and outer fringe at £753, and the social worker standby session at £35.86. Those are the rates in force. The 3.3% applies to allowances as well as to pay points, so arrears are owed on these too. London weighting proper is set locally.
For a sense of scale on take-home: SCP 3 nets about £20,773 a year (£1,731 a month), SCP 20 about £26,013, and the top of the spine about £40,911. Put your own figure through the salary calculator if you have allowances or a student loan on top.
Frequently asked questions
What is the NJC pay rise for 2026/27?
3.3%, backdated to 1 April 2026, but it took until August to get there. The national employers made the offer on 24 March 2026, described as full and final, and all three unions rejected it - GMB members on 28 May 2026. The employers declined to reopen negotiations on 9 June 2026, and UNISON balloted for industrial action instead. When that ballot missed the turnout threshold UNISON accepted, and GMB's noticeboard recorded both its own and UNISON's acceptance on 21 August 2026. The signed agreement circular of 24 August 2026 published the uplifted spine, and the points on this page are those 1 April 2026 rates.
What is the bottom of the NJC pay spine?
SCP 3, £25,614 a year or £13.28 an hour for a 37-hour week. It became the bottom point on 1 April 2026, when SCP 2 was permanently deleted under the 2025 agreement. Any site still showing SCP 2 at £24,413 as a current rate is out of date.
How is the NJC hourly rate worked out?
The circular sets the rule: divide the annual salary by 52.143 weeks, which is 365 days divided by 7, then by 37 hours, the standard working week. Some councils use a shorter full-time week - Tameside uses 36 hours - which produces a higher hourly rate for the same annual salary.
How much do council staff pay into the LGPS?
In England and Wales, between 5.5% and 12.5% of actual pensionable pay, banded. Across the whole NJC spine that means 5.8%, 6.5% or 6.8%. Bands are assessed on what you actually earn, not the full-time equivalent, so part-time staff usually pay a lower rate than a full-timer on the same grade. Northern Ireland council staff are in a separate scheme, NILGOSC, where the top rate is 10.5%, and Scotland has its own LGPS with its own rates.
Does the LGPS contribution cut your National Insurance?
No. The LGPS is a net pay arrangement, so the contribution comes out before Income Tax and gets relief at your marginal rate, but National Insurance is charged on your full gross pay. A generic calculator that treats a pension percentage as salary sacrifice will overstate your take-home.
Does the NJC spine cover Scotland?
No. The NJC circular is addressed to chief executives in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Scottish council pay is negotiated separately by the Scottish Joint Council with COSLA, on a different spine. Staff in Scotland also pay Scottish Income Tax rates, so the take-home figures on this page do not apply there.
What grade am I on if I know my spine point?
That depends on your employer. The NJC sets the value of each spine point nationally; every council runs its own job evaluation and maps its own grades onto the spine. So SCP 20 is the same salary everywhere, but the grade attached to it, and the roles inside that grade, are local decisions.