NJC local government services · 2026-27
When will your employer pay it?
The 3.3% award applies from 1 April 2026 for everyone. When it reaches your payslip is decided by your own employer’s payroll, and most have not said yet. This tracks who has — and, just as importantly, who has not.
1 employer has a month recorded
0 recorded as not yet stated
7 September 2026 last updated
| Employer | New rate first appears | Arrears | On whose word | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| West Sussex County Council | September 2026 work out my figure | same payslip | Expected, not confirmed UNISON West Sussex |
What the sources actually say
In West Sussex, this is highly likely to mean the award will be applied from September 2026 and backpay (for the 5 months from April to August) will also be paid in the September payroll.
If your employer is not listed
Most are not. Three places usually have the answer before we do:
- Your staff intranet or payroll bulletin — this is the employer’s own word, and it governs.
- Your union branch — often first to hear, but note whether they are reporting a decision or expecting one.
- Your payroll or HR team directly.
If you find something, please send us the link: hello@workterms.co.uk. A link to the employer’s own notice is worth more than a dozen second-hand reports, and it is what lets us record the month as confirmed rather than expected.
What is typical
Nothing here is a substitute for your employer’s own statement, but for context: UNISON’s East Sussex branch notes that in previous rounds backpay for Single Status staff has typically been processed around October or November, with some groups later. Treat that as a pattern, not a prediction about you — an employer that pays in September and one that pays in January are both entirely normal, and the arrears are owed either way.
How a pay award reaches your payslip
Knowing the sequence tells you roughly where you are in it, which is more useful than a date nobody has published yet.
- The NJC agrees the award and issues a circular. This year that was 24 August 2026 — for an award applying from 1 April 2026, several months earlier. Nothing can be paid before this point.
- Each employer decides when to implement. Some are ready within a cycle; others need a committee decision first. This is where two neighbouring councils diverge by months.
- Payroll reruns. Where the circular lands relative to the monthly cut-off — usually somewhere between the 10th and the 20th — decides whether it makes that month or the next.
- The new rate and the arrears appear. Usually in the same payslip, sometimes in separate runs. Arrears cover every month back to April, whatever month they land in.
How to read what you are told
The distinction that matters, and the one this table records: who said it, and how firmly.
An employer statement governs. A payroll bulletin, an intranet notice or a letter from HR is the employer committing to a month. That is the only thing that settles it.
A union report may be reporting either. Branches are often first to hear, and they are usually careful about the difference — but “we expect September” and “the council has confirmed September” are different claims, and only the second is a date. We record the wording, not our reading of it, and we never upgrade an expectation into a fact.
A date with no source behind it is worth nothing, however confidently it is repeated. Most of what circulates in the weeks after a circular is someone’s guess that has been passed on twice.
If it is late
Late is normal and does not put the money at risk: the award applies from 1 April 2026 whether your employer implements in September or in February, and the arrears are owed either way. What changes is when you get it, not whether.
If your employer has passed a month it stated publicly, that is worth raising — with payroll first, and your union branch if that goes nowhere. If you have left, you are still owed the months you worked: what former staff are owed sets out how they are counted.
Why this page is mostly empty
The circular was signed on 24 August 2026. Employers then have to take it through payroll, and most publish nothing until they have a firm date. We would rather show an honest gap than fill it with a plausible-looking month — a wrong date here sends someone to query a payslip that was correct all along.
Every row above records who said it and how firmly. “Expected” means the source itself hedged; we do not upgrade that to a fact. See the methodology and the source register.