CLERKS' SALARIES

SALARY SCALES

In 2005 NALC and the SLCC jointly created a comprehensive terms and conditions agreement for the local government sector which gave councils and clerks some certainty on fair salaries and provided a means of evaluating roles. The scheme that was established then is still more or less in operation today being only varied by annual up ratings of the pay scale and a spinal column point rationalisation in April 2019. The scheme provides a clear guide for councils and is widely adopted, although it remains advisory and not mandatory.
The National Joint Council (NJC) for Local Government Services reached agreement in July 2025 on the pay scales for 2025-2026 (shown below) to be backdated to 1 April 2025.
The new pay rates each increased by 3.2 per cent per annum.
The new spinal column points and their previous equivalents are also shown.
For more detailed information on clerks’ salaries search for Salaries of Local Council Clerks on www.clerksandcouncilsdirect.co.uk

The main provisions of the agreement are as follows.

SALARIES

The salary ranges are based on evaluated benchmark posts.
The salary bands are established in four main overlapping scales starting at SCP 5/15 as set out in the National Agreement.

Scale      Points below         Substantive           Points above
              substantive range benchmark range substantive range
LC1         5-6/15-17              7-12/18-22            13-17/23-25
LC2         18-23/26-29          24-28/30-34          29-32/35-38
LC3         33-36/39-42          37-41/43-47          42-45/48-51
LC4         46-49/52-55          50-54/56-60          55-62/61-68

Councils will identify the appropriate salary range for a particular post by reference to the benchmark profiles of posts, which are published with the agreement. These benchmark profiles describe a range of typical posts within the sector. If the post exactly matches the profile, the substantive salary range above should be applied. If there is not a direct match, the applicable salary range will be from the ‘points below’ and ‘points above’ columns in the above chart.
Salaries will be either an incremental scale or a ‘spot salary’, within the appropriate salary range.
There are also provisions for dealing with exceptional positions, which have responsibilities substantially greater than the LC4 benchmark range.

SALARY SCALES (FULL-TIME) FROM 1 APRIL 2025

Scale
Points below substantive range ( c )	Substantive benchmark range (b)	Points above substantive range (a)
LC1
(5–6)	(7–12)	(13–17)
5 £25,583 6 £25,989	7 £26,403 8 £26,824 9 £27,254 10 £27,694 11 £28,142 12 £28,598	13 £29,064 14 £29,540 15 £30,024 16 £30,518 17 £31,022
LC2
(18–23)	(24–28)	(29–32)
13 £29,064 14 £29,540 15 £30,024 16 £30,518 17 £31,022	24 £35,412 25 £36,363 26 £37,280 27 £38,220 28 £39,152	29 £39,862 30 £40,777 31 £41,771 32 £42,839
LC3
(33–36)	(37–41)	(42–45)
33 £44,075 34 £45,091 35 £46,142 36 £47,181	37 £48,226 38 £49,282 39 £50,269 40 £51,356 41 £52,413	42 £53,460 43 £54,495 44 £55,801 45 £57,139
LC4
(46–49)	(50–54)	(55–62)
46 £58,523 47 £59,922 48 £61,198 49 £62,852	50 £64,373 51 £65,925 52 £68,053 53 £70,176 54 £72,307	55 £74,454 56 £76,572 57 £78,718 58 £80,821 59 £82,815 60 £84,852 61 £86,939 62 £89,081

SALARY SCALES (PART-TIME) from1 April 2025

Salary scales and hourly pay rates for ALL part-time clerks are calculated by pro-rata reference to the standard NJC working week for all local government staff of 37 hours. To calculate the hourly pay rate for part-time clerks paid between LC1 and LC4, divide the full-time annual salary by 52.143 weeks and then by 37 hours rounded to the third decimal place.
For part-time clerks in LC1 and part LC2, for example, the hourly rates, payable from 1 April 2025 are:

Pay scales (part-time) from 1 April 2025

Scale LC1 and LC2

SCP 5   £13.26
SCP 6   £13.47
SCP 7   £13.69
SCP 8   £13.90
SCP 9   £14.13
SCP 10   £14.35
SCP 11   £14.59
SCP 12   £14.82
SCP 13   £15.06
SCP 14   £15.31
SCP 15   £15.56
SCP 16   £15.82
SCP 17   £16.08
SCP 18   £16.35
SCP 19   £16.62
SCP 20   £16.90
SCP 21   £17.18
SCP 22   £17.47
SCP 23   £17.85

CAR ALLOWANCES FOR LOCAL COUNCIL CLERKS

The increase on all allowances payable from 1 April 2024 is 2.5%.

Essential Users
	451-999cc	1000-1199cc	1200-1450cc
Lump sum per annum	£867.15	£987.08	£1,269.98
per mile first 8,500	37.8p	41.9	51.8p
per mile after 8,500	14.7p	14.8p	16.8p
Petrol element	9.411p	10.625p	11.57p
Amount of VAT per mile in petrol element at 20%	1.928p	2.124p	2.313p
Casual Users
per mile first 8,500	48.1p	53.58p	66.22p
per mile after 8,500	14.0p	14.76p	16.8p
Petrol element	9.641p	10.625p	11.570p
Amount of VAT per mile	1.928p	2.125p	2.313p

Note: The rates applicable to engine sizes 1200-1450cc are also the maximum rates payable.

HMRC’S tax-free mileage rates
	First 10,000 miles	Above 10,000 miles
Cars and vans	45p	25p
Motorcycles	24p	24p
Bicycles	20p	20p