‘Change’ was the slogan of the Labour Party election campaign. The Employment Rights Act – passed in December 2025 – represents a real sea-change for employment relations and rights. Within that Act, two comparatively small provisions denote a significant shift in how pay, terms and conditions will be set, by establishing the first statutory collective pay bargaining mechanisms in England since wage councils were abolished in the 1990s.
The Government aims to modernise the UK’s employment rights framework – to ‘rebalance’ the relationship between worker and employer. The introduction of two new sectoral bargaining bodies – for school support staff (SSS) and adult social care workers (ASC) – creates a new model of statutory collective bargaining. The Government has indicated that further sectoral bargaining could follow if the approach taken in ASC is successful.
A new model of collective bargaining
For the last century and more, collective bargaining has been the term applied to the mechanisms that involve unions and employers reaching agreements between themselves on pay, terms and conditions. These agreements – known as collective agreements – are then incorporated into individual employees’ employment contracts. We might call that ‘pure’ collective bargaining, and the new arrangements proposed for ASC workers and schools support staff qualify that approach in one significant respect.
This new form of collective bargaining in the new Adult Social Care Negotiating Body (ASCNB) and School Support Staff Negotiating Body (SSSNB) will still bring together the two sides, represented by trade unions and employer associations (like the LGA). However, a collective agreement will not be reached when the two sides agree, instead the agreements will require ratification by the relevant Secretary of State (for Health and Social Care or Education respectively) before becoming incorporated into the employment contracts of over one million workers who are covered by these bodies.
There will also be a government-appointed independent chair, and representatives of the relevant Secretary of State, in attendance when the Bodies meet. Critically, government will play a direct role by issuing a remit letter that sets the parameters for negotiations, contrasting with the ‘pure’ bargaining model where the trade unions’ issue a claim and the employers decide on their response. In the former model, the unions and employers set the parameters of any agreement, in this new model, the Government will do that.
Once the remit letter is issued, it will then be up to the two sides to negotiate and, hopefully, reach an agreement which will then go back to the Secretary of State for ratification. If ratified, this agreement – known as the Fair Pay Agreement (FPA) in the case of adult social care staff – will become statutory and provide new minimum rates of pay (or terms and conditions) for those workers within scope of the negotiation body.
Employers whose staff are in scope of the ASCNB and SSSNB are not able to opt-out of implementing agreements ratified by the Secretary of State although they can exceed the provisions agreed (just like employers can exceed provisions in the Local Government ‘Green Book’).
Adults social care ambition
It has long been understood, and is well documented, that the adult social care workforce faces multiple problems, not least among them is low pay. For many years the majority of adult social care workers have effectively had their wages determined by the national living wage.
Everyone wants to have skilled, motivated, well trained and fairly remunerated workers delivering care that enables people to live with dignity. However, the latest annual Skills for Care workforce report shows us that care worker pay is still amongst the lowest in the economy and there are over one million workers delivering adult social care so any moves to improve pay are going to come with a significant price tag.
There is an ambition, widely shared, that addressing the working conditions, including pay and training, of ASC workers is key to meeting the increasing challenges of social care provision. The first FPA will, in some form, affect these million-plus adult social care workers, many of whom have never previously had their pay determined through collective negotiation.
One key challenge for the Government as it works through the detailed implementation of this policy, is how the Care Act responsibilities and delivery commitments of local government can continue to be met. As presented, there is no place for local government’s role in ASC provision within the design of the negotiating body. It is also not clear how the Government will ensure that any FPA doesn’t frustrate local government’s social care responsibilities, or how it will ensure that the total cost of FPA implementation is within the funding envelope if local government doesn’t have an appropriate place in the process.
There’s a lot riding on the Adult Social Care Negotiating Body and fair pay agreement, not just as an individual policy but as a factor in Casey Commission reforms, the NHS 10 Year Plan and, fundamentally, local government’s ability to manage the provision of ASC.
A new approach for school support staff
There are over half a million school support staff working in maintained (local authority) and academy trust schools and most already have their pay awards set by collective bargaining through the National Joint Council (NJC) for Local Government Services (or ‘Green Book’) negotiations. Alongside councils’ use of job evaluation schemes, this system means that non-teaching school staff are paid in line with colleagues working for other parts of the council helping to ensure fairness and compliance with equal pay legislation.
The new SSSNB will take hundreds of thousands of support staff out of this existing form of national collective bargaining. They will then move into the new negotiating body that will be tasked with establishing fair rates of pay, national terms and conditions, training and career progression routes across the schools workforce, whether employed by local government or multi-academy trusts. The existing approach taken for teachers – collective bargaining for terms and conditions but with pay set through a Pay Review Body process – is not directly affected by the SSSNB re-introduction.
Making sectoral bargaining work
Hopes and expectations of both the ASCNB and the SSSNB are high. The scale of investment required – financial and skills – should not be underestimated. On both counts, and for both bodies, there are increasing concerns in the sector. If the correct provisions aren’t made for these bodies and preparation is inadequate, these approaches to sectoral bargaining could be seriously flawed.
As described above, both are dependent on a Secretary of State remit and, crucially, the funding envelope provided by the government. The initial figure of £500 million that has been announced for the first ASC fair pay agreement in 2028/29, may leave many disappointed as to the level and pace of change that can be achieved. Councils are understandably concerned that they will not be fully funded for all the costs of implementing the agreements reached by these two bodies, putting additional pressure on already fully stretched budgets.
The LGA believes that effective collective bargaining can really deliver – for workers, employers, councils, the local economy and the public. It can help to ensure transparency and trust in pay and reward; it frees up employers from engaging in time-consuming pay negotiations on a local basis. It can also be one of the elements in delivering equality and helping employers to recruit and retain their employees. When a deal is agreed through the recognised unions it enables employees, as well as employers, to have a voice in determining their pay.
Employers and unions, as well as the Government, are investing substantial time and effort in ensuing that these new sectoral bargaining bodies work. Delivering on this will require the funding and long-term support from the Government necessary to achieve real change. Only this will ensure that disappointment is avoided and that discontent doesn’t develop into costly workplace conflict.
It is to ensure that these new forms of bargaining get off to the best start, that the LGA continues to set out that local government’s role in these new bodies is critical to delivering and embedding these new ways of determining pay.
Naomi Cooke, Head of Workforce at the Local Government Association
June 2026