Children’s social care workers at Bath and North East Somerset Council are preparing to strike following contentious pay changes that have left morale severely damaged.
This week, team managers and deputy managers in the department received strike ballot papers to decide whether to proceed with industrial action. The dispute stems from their pay grades being aligned with some of the staff they manage, triggering widespread dissatisfaction. A prior indicative ballot saw a unanimous 100% vote in favor of striking, with full participation.
UNISON branch chair Amy Rushton criticized the council’s approach: “B&NES is underpaying children’s social care managers compared to other local authorities, creating an unprecedented bottleneck where frontline staff are on the same grade as their supervisors. The council has got this wrong and refuses to fix it. Continuing like this will drive away more staff.”
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UNISON branch secretary Toni Mayo echoed concerns about the crisis: “Staff are leaving en masse, workloads are unsafe, and the situation is chaotic. Members are outraged not only by the council’s actions but also by the lack of transparency and poor communication.”
The ballot closes on February 4, with results expected shortly thereafter. Early returns suggest a quick announcement may be possible.
The pay dispute ties back to 2025’s “Being Our Best” (BOB) program, which regraded numerous council roles. Mayo said the program was imposed unilaterally despite opposition in a consultative ballot and lacked meaningful worker input on revised job profiles. Communication during implementation was poor, with many appeals upheld—three-quarters at least partially, and two-thirds fully.
Morale remains critically low, with managers told to await resolution for nearly another year. The exodus of staff and unsafe workloads are prompting urgent calls for change.
A council spokesperson stated: “Pay structure changes are complex, involving many factors. We engaged with unions and staff over an extended period before implementing changes last year. All staff are valued, and we are actively working with UNISON and ACAS to resolve these issues.”
On January 14, over 40 supporters including UNISON members gathered for a “practice picket” outside Keynsham Civic Centre as ballots were issued.
Social worker and team manager Claire Luxton, with 15 years’ experience, said: “We go above and beyond because we care deeply about this work, but the council isn’t supporting us.” David Wells, another manager, added: “It’s disheartening that the council fails to support its social work managers. Our goodwill is running out.”
Labour councillors Martin Burton, Chris Davis, Deb Cooper, and Bath & North East Somerset representative Dave Biddleston attended the picket. Biddleston emphasized: “Social work demands specialized skill, responsibility, and experience, and fair pay is essential. Misaligned pay structures hurt morale, retention, and ultimately service quality. Councils cannot afford such errors.”
Although the BOB program increased pay for most, 106 roles experienced pay reductions. Pay protection has frozen salaries for those roles for three years post-national award increases, but concerns over real-term losses remain. Additionally, the BOB acronym faced criticism for its demeaning tone.