Spot Salary

vicki84

Hi 

could someone advise me if I was moved onto a spot salary should my employer have informed me beforehand?

Any advice is appreciated thank you.

DullGreyGuy

So has your rate of pay actually changed? If so up or down?
What does your contract state about pay reviews?

Assuming your pay hasn't changed and there is no contractual basis for pay increases based on personal performance I don't see why they'd need to inform you that they are harmonising pay rates. 

vicki84

My pay went up it’s complicated because I was tuped over from a council contract. I was due back pay (from April) in my December pay but did not receive it.

I was tuped over in May 22 they said I was moved to a spot salary then was never told or informed. Received my back pay in December 22 as usual.

General_Grant

So you were paid regularly from May 2022.  Presumably you received pay slips.  So your spot salary would have been advised on your payslips - annual spot salary equal to, for example, twelve times monthly salary.

DullGreyGuy

General_Grant said:

So you were paid regularly from May 2022.  Presumably you received pay slips.  So your spot salary would have been advised on your payslips - annual spot salary equal to, for example, twelve times monthly salary.

Sounds like you have a different interpretation of "spot salary" to me @general_grant so maybe the OP needs to clarify what they mean?

When I've dealt with it as a topic it was that everyone doing the same job got the same pay rather than pay being individually negotiated and based on experience, qualifications etc. It wouldn't necessarily appear on your payslip that fact that everyone in a  CS G1 role earned the same money or not. 

General_Grant

I had not come across the term before and had to check.  The explanation I found was that it was an individual salary - a one off - that only one person would be doing the job and therefore it was a single instance rather than being on a scale.
So, just as salary increases can be notified by way of their being shown on a payslip, the spot salary in this case would be whatever was shown on the payslip being multiplied by twelve (assuming monthly paid).

And, re-reading the OP, the question was whether they should have been advised of the spot salary beforehand.  I would say that if the pay was less than before, then they should have been told before they in effect began working for that rate of pay.  If it were the same or higher than their original pay then  the payslip route would be acceptable.

amanda1024

I understand spot salary to mean that rather than a pay range for a particular grade, everybody at that grade has the same pay. Unless the contract or Ts&Cs stipulated that there’d be automatic progression up a pay band, or the spot pay was lower than what was being paid previously, I don’t think this would necessarily *have* to be communicated- but it might be good practice.

Not being paid back pay sounds like a different issue. What’s the back pay based on? 

If it were me I’d talk to my union (who’d probably be the first people to tell me about any change anyway).

EnPointe

amanda1024 said:

I understand spot salary to mean that rather than a pay range for a particular grade, everybody at that grade has the same pay. Unless the contract or Ts&Cs stipulated that there’d be automatic progression up a pay band, or the spot pay was lower than what was being paid previously, I don’t think this would necessarily *have* to be communicated- but it might be good practice.

Not being paid back pay sounds like a different issue. What’s the back pay based on? 

If it were me I’d talk to my union (who’d probably be the first people to tell me about any change anyway).

yep that makes sense  

also  'spot salaries' are common in the  private sector   and even where   salary banding is in place   there are often now  fewer  increments than they may have been in the past  ( see the AfC 'refresh' in the NHS)

General_Grant

For those interested in a definition, my answer was based on,
"SPOT SALARIES:. This is where there is no scale, just a single salary point or spot salary. These are common in the private sector where the rate for the job is fixed from day one. In the public sector, they can happen where someone is doing a unique post, sometimes also called a “Singleton Role”. Senior staff can also often have spot salaries. Spot salaries do not progress as there is no pay range and negotiation involves renegotiating the level of the spot salary. Employers often argue that spot salaries are more transparent as they are simpler, but very often those with spot salaries also receive bonus payments, allowances, etc which are more complicated and opaque."
from Understanding Pay v2 sept18 (002).pdf (napo.org.uk)