Finance deals address competence, progression and recruitment

Negotiators have gone beyond basic salaries to address a range of issues in finance sector settlements effective from January.

A competency-based increment of £500 for 50% of clerical staff, and £1,000 for 10% of clerical staff, was paid in addition to the 1.5% across the board rise at Northern Rock. With further increases for management staff linked to the introduction of a new grading and job evaluation system, the total value of the deal was 5.1% of pay bill.

Britannia's pay review was based on a 3.3% pay 'pot' and provided 2.5% for general distribution according to performance (with individual rises of up to 5%), and a further 0.8% to cover recruitment and retention 'hot spots', predominantly in London and the South East. Basic scales were left unaltered.

A 1.5% increase in salary ranges at Yorkshire Bank/NAG was applied prior to the application of 2003 pay rises, and ranges subsequently moved by a further 0.6%. An overall increase of 4% in total pay was distributed through the pay 'matrix' reflecting individuals' performance rating and position in the range. The highest rises were for those at the bottom of the range with the top performance rating, whose pay could go up by up to 9%.

Bank employees at the midpoint with a performance rating of Box 3 received rises of 3.2% under the settlement, and there were specific provisions for those with a lower rating (box 4) and those below or just over the range maximum.