lastest communication on pay in Capita

Pay 2016 and Price Increases

A key part of the work your union does in preparing our claim for the annual increase we negotiate with Capita is the economy.

Our objective, each year, is to ensure that union members’ standard of living is protected and improved if possible.

In order to do this, we need to look at how prices have increased over the previous year (the rate of inflation).

Measures of Inflation

There are two commonly used measures of inflation - Retail Price Index (RPI) and Consumer Price Index (CPI). Unite believes RPI is a more accurate measure of price increases, and we generally use this value as a starting point for our claim.  Please contact us if you would like details of the differences between RPI and CPI.

The most recent RPI, for the year to January 2016, was 1.3%. So, the government statisticians tell us that the cost of living in January 2016 was 1.3% more than in January 2015.

Real Price Increases

However, the RPI is a measure of a selection of prices across the whole UK. It doesn’t include, for example, childcare costs. We know that the real price increases people are facing in their daily lives are much higher than this figure would suggest. To demonstrate this, we’ve tried to look at price increases union members are dealing with across the sites we represent.

For example:

• Childcare costs, already averaging £6,000 per year across the UK, are increasing faster than inflation - 2.5% in Craigforth and Belfast;

• House prices have increased by 3% in Stirling, 4.7% in Glasgow, 6% in Manchester, 7% in Belfast, 9% in Bristol and Bournemouth, 17% in Reading;

• Rent increases are Belfast: 5%, Bristol: 18%, Glasgow: 9%,Manchester: 5% and Reading: 12%;

• Council tax bills have gone up by 2% in Bristol, almost 4% in Bournemouth & Reading and 4% in Manchester, In Belfast rates are going up by nearly 1.5%;

• Public transport costs have gone up by at least 4% in Belfast.

So, while RPI might be 1.3%, this will vary regionally and people will have a range of different circumstances. However, it is clear that the price increases people are experiencing are higher than those the rate of inflation would suggest.

In addition, the UK Government’s decision (in the Pensions Act 2014) to abolish National Insurance contracting out will come into effect in April 2016. For employees in Defined Benefit pension schemes, this will result in an increase in their NI contributions – particularly for those who do not pay higher rate tax.

Given all of these factors, we feel that our claim of 3% for all employees is fair and reasonable.

If you have any questions on this or any other matter, please contact your local union reps or our central e-mail at uniteincapita@capita.co.uk.