Freedom of Information question

Southpaw

Hi

Can anyone help with my thought?

I work for local government. And feel (as many do) that I am underpaid. There are other members of staff doing identical jobs and are paid more.

My job position has a minimum and a maximum salary scale. I have done my job for many years and am only £200 above the min. Others are £1,000s.

Anyway my question is could I ask to know what others are paid.

I don't need to know what Mr Madeup earns or Mrs Thinkofaname earns but I would like to know what specific salaries are paid to employees . In other words I want to know what salaries are paid without knowing names.

I thought of this recently as the MPs decided not to be part of the Freedom of Info (obviously they have things to hide)

LittleVoice

Given that you say you already know that "others are £1,000s" over the minimum, what do you want to do with the information you are thinking of requesting?

Your Union could seek the information quite easily I would think.

Southpaw

LittleVoice wrote: »

Given that you say you already know that "others are £1,000s" over the minimum, what do you want to do with the information you are thinking of requesting?

Your Union could seek the information quite easily I would think.

I now what some others are on however I would like to know what others in a different office are in as I know there are some who started after me and it has been suggested that they may possibly be on slightly more.

I have asked the union in the past however nothing was done. Unless there is a strike and a photo opportunity the union seem to be a waste of both time and money.

I would like the information as management tell me that it is out of their hands and that others are not on more however my friends have confirmed this is untrue by actually showing me their payslips.

I just wondered whether getting this info would be availiable through FOI.

Southpaw

albertross wrote: »

If you have a pay scale, presumably it is based on either time served or performance? Why aren't you climbing the ladder?

I'm told that I am climbing the ladder but I am not. Each year EVERYBODY has a payrise so each year my salary has increased by about £500 a year. But as my pay goes up so does everyone's else.

BUT the other probably is the minimum salary for the scale increases more than the payrise. Since last year it has increased by £700. So the minimum is catching me!

brazilianwax

I used to handle FoI for a central Government Department.

Under FoI, you are not allowed to invent information - it is about information already held. So, if you ask for the information for a certain office, and the information isn't held in that format then they don't have to provide it to you.

They aren't allowed to provide anyone's personal information, so you wont get info with any identifying information (ie job title, name, length of service).

I agree that they probably do have information about how many staff they have at each grade in the organisation and what the average/actual salaries are. They may have this at departmental level. But I'd be surprised if they have information about specific offices or teams. I'd be amazed if they would release that, as it may be possible to identify who earns what by the size of the report.

elite_2

I would think they could tell you what scale different positions are at (not what point on the scale) - this is pretty much public domain anyway as it will be published with job adverts...

Typically in local govenment you would get a cost of living allowance plus an increment on your scale every year

Is there any chance of your pay being reviewed? Have you taken on any additional responsibility or has the role changed at all?

When determining a new member of staff's starting position on a scale, we look at their experience etc.. (obviously someone new to the job would start at the bottom, somone who has experience would start higher up...)

aMIGA_dUDE

There are 2 laws here,
Freedom of Information Act
Data Protection Act

So to get information you require might mean you have play things wisely. If ask question wrong they will not be able to answer as comes under DPA. But you could ask questions like

In X department how many people are in that department.
(You might get different answer from what think is)

How many people within that department are Y pay scale, as a running total.


If want to know more about FoI just do search on youtube or google video for "FoI 07".

angelavdavis

Southpaw wrote: »

I now what some others are on however I would like to know what others in a different office are in as I know there are some who started after me and it has been suggested that they may possibly be on slightly more.

I have asked the union in the past however nothing was done. Unless there is a strike and a photo opportunity the union seem to be a waste of both time and money.

I would like the information as management tell me that it is out of their hands and that others are not on more however my friends have confirmed this is untrue by actually showing me their payslips.

I just wondered whether getting this info would be availiable through FOI.

I have not long left a local authority (thank goodness!) and agree about the unions. I would however, escalate to a regional level if you are not getting any luck from the local rep.

Re: FOI, I think you can ask for a salary split by grade (ie how many in each department by grade) but I am not sure you can ask for more specific than this.

From memory, I did think that salary increments were usually at least £50 per year so I am surprised your salary isn't increasing by this. As elite says, you should also get a cost of living increase which is usually at least 1.5%.

Have you actually queried your grade with HR?