UNISON members have "overwhelmingly rejected" this year's local government pay offer for staff in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The result from the country's largest union - which also is the one with the biggest social work membership - follows similar outcomes in ballots of the members of GMB and Unite, in relation to the offer from the employers' side of the National Joint Council for Local Government Services (NJC).
The 3.2% offer is below the rate of inflation in the year to May 2025 (3.4%), according to the government's preferred consumer prices index (CPI), as well as pay settlements or offers for most other public sector staff, including doctors, nurses, teachers and local government staff in Scotland.
However, the employers have said that the offer is "full and final", given the pressure they claim it will put on councils' finances.
Following the UNISON ballot result, its head of local government, Mike Short, said it had joined GMB and Unite in writing to the employers to urge them to come back with a "better and fairer proposal".
“Any new offer needs to reflect the vital work council and school support staff do. It must also be comparable with the pay settlements already awarded to other public sector workers," he added.
Unite has signalled its willingness to ballot members on industrial action over the offer.
However, in each of the past two years, unions have settled for employers’ initial pay offer – £1,290 or 2.5% in 2024-25 and £1,925 in 2025-26 – after several months of dispute that have involved ballots for strike action.
One key issue is the need for a majority of eligible members to vote in a ballot for a union to obtain a mandate to take industrial action in relation to a particular employer. Last year, UNISON declined to hold strikes after meeting the threshold in relation to 682 of the 4,093 employers for which ballots were run.
