FOI Request
Here's my latest FOI Request to South Lanarkshire Council - the job in question (BSO 1) is a Labourer's job an before the post was evaluated under the Council's 'in-house' job evaluation scheme - it was paid at Grade MW 1 which was the lowest grade under the old Manual Workers pay scales.
A Home Care worker was on MW 5, for example, so too was a Cook - so both female dominated posts were placed on a higher much MW grade to reflect the greater responsibility and skill levels required of their jobs - compared to the MW 1 job.
Yet under the Council's new 'in-house' job evaluation scheme this former MW 1 job fared very well - and was placed on a pay scale which went all the way up to SCP 27 or £9.04 an hour.
And as we now know - thanks to the UK Supreme Court - South Lanarkshire Council has been paying other traditional male jobs at well above the officially declared rate for the job.
So how far up the pay ladder does the BSO 1 job go? - that's what I've asked South Lanarkshire to explain in my FOI request.
Not because I've anything against hard working Council Labourers - but if these jobs are worth at least £9.04 an hour and perhaps a great deal more of course - then how is it possible for carers, cooks, cleaners, catering staff, classroom assistants and clerical workers - to be paid so very much less?
26 August 2013
Lyndsay Freeland
Chief Executive
South Lanarkshire Council
BY E-MAIL
Dear Mr Freeland
FOISA Request
I refer to the decision 056/2011 of the UK Supreme Court and would like to make the following request under the Freedom of Information Scotland Act 2002.
1 Please provide me with the total number of BSO 1 (Labourer) posts employed by South Lanarkshire Council as at 1 April 2013
2 Please provide me with the number of BSO 1 posts which were placed at the Spinal Column Points SCP 1 to SCP 27 – i.e. the officially declared pay band for these council jobs
3 Please provide me with the number of BSO 1 posts which were placed at each one of the twenty eight Spinal Column Points between SCP 28 and SCP 55
As you know, when the UK Supreme Court finally got to hear South Lanarkshire’s FOI appeal the five judges gave short shrift to the Council’s arguments and decided, unanimously, that such information should be made available to the public, as did Court of Session in Scotland and the Scottish Information Commissioner, of course.
So I hope that South Lanarkshire Council might on this occasion answer by return as the information I am requesting must be ready to hand since the Council has already released similar data relating to otherCouncil posts.
I look forward to your reply and would be grateful if you could respond to me by e-mail to: markirvine@compuserve.com
Kind regards
Mark Irvine
