Domestic abuse advocacy workers have been left “terrified” after finding out their salary will drop by more than £10,000.
After Glasgow City Council’s new pay and grading structure was approved last month, advocacy workers who have been with ASSIST for more than four years and are at the top of their pay grade will see their salaries drop by £11,500 from April 2028.
ASSIST advocacy workers provide direct support to victims going through the court system in relation to domestic abuse offences.
It’s understood salaries will plummet from around £47,000 to £35,500 for some workers, with a source telling the Glasgow Times the impact on staff has been “catastrophic”.
They said: “We’re faced with losing staff.
“Staff are terrified about the financial impact on them; 23% is huge.
“Some people will not be able to pay their mortgage because it’s based on a certain income.”
They continued: “It’s a difficult job at the best of times and this is making the staff feel really undervalued and in some ways it perhaps diminishes victim advocacy as a whole.
“The morale is really low.
“People are worried they’re not providing the best possible support because they’re distracted, so then they’re feeling guilty.”
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The Glasgow Times previously reported that more than 2000 council staff are expected to face a drop in wages under the new system, with ASSIST advocacy workers now revealed to be those receiving the biggest losses.
Some staff who spoke to the Strathclyde Pension Fund have been told they could lose as much as £40,000 from their pension pot.
The source says that when the news broke, a “significant number of staff” went off sick due to the stress, with concerns raised about the effect it would have on both staff and victims.
However, they commented: “By the next day, almost 100% of staff were back because everyone was like ‘I can’t do that to my victims’.”
ASSIST is funded by the Scottish Government, but staff are employed by Glasgow City Council, with advocacy workers based across 14 local authorities in the west of Scotland.
The source said, as a result, they did not initially expect to be as affected by the pay and grading change.
The news comes at the same time as the Glasgow Times has launched the Action Not Words - Time for a Safer Glasgow for Women campaign calling on the whole city to step up and make the city safer for women and girls, with the latest statistics showing incidents of sexual and domestic violence in the city are rising.
ASSIST advocacy workers are vetted to the same level as police officers, are based in police stations, and go through the 12-week Independent Domestic Abuse Advocacy (IDAA) training.
Their role includes helping victims with safety planning to ensure safe access to court, acting as a gateway to agencies, and explaining the court process to victims, with each victim being assigned an individual advocacy worker who provides “very personal” care.
The decision to cut pay took place just days after First Minister John Swinney met with violence against women and girls' services, including ASSIST, and expressed concern about the rise in domestic abuse and recent deaths, and committed to ensuring services were sufficiently funded.
The source said: “That’s one of the things that’s hit the staff the hardest.
“He has said publicly he wants to end violence against women but in the same vein, you have the SNP-led council voting to introduce the new pay-and-grading scheme.
"This goes against what the Scottish Government says it is doing and there’s been silence in terms of anyone recognising the effect on staff.”
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The source said there are also concerns about the transparency of the process, which “has been dragging on since 2019”, with people not being given their evaluation scores, which determined changes to their pay.
They said: “They took a selection of people from each role across the council and interviewed them about their job and based on that they were given scores.
“That is standard, but the job has changed significantly in seven years.
“There’s been changes in legislation, processes and procedure, funding, our referral numbers are up, and caseload sizes are significantly bigger than they used to be.”
They continued: “The council has and continues to refuse to provide the job evaluation scores to people so they could accurately consider whether they had been graded fairly based on the requirements of their role, despite staff and the union asking for these.
"This seems to directly contradict principle seven of the job evaluation guidance which states there should be transparency in its application.”
Chris Sermanni, UNISON Glasgow City branch secretary, says the council has not recognised the “human cost” of the pay cuts.
He said: "Thousands of workers are facing significant financial losses as a result of these damaging proposals by Glasgow City Council.
"A reduction of around £11,500 for some workers is not a minor adjustment to salary; it has a devastating impact on their ability to pay the bills.
"The council doesn’t seem to recognise the real human cost of these proposals, both for its workforce and for the people who depend on these vital services."
A Glasgow City Council spokesperson said: "Glasgow City Council’s current pay and grading scheme is discriminatory – it does not always reward equal work with equal pay.
"We need to replace it with a new scheme and last month we agreed we would do so in April 2027.
"When we do so, over 85% of our employees whose posts have been evaluated will see their pay increase.
"Although a minority of around 11% will face a loss, we recognise the impact that will have and have committed to protecting their pay until April 2028.
“The new scheme follows eight years of negotiations with trade unions and is part of the council's efforts to resolve an equal pay dispute that has cost around £770 million in compensation, mostly to women in lower-paid roles.
“The council is committed to exploring every possible mitigation where staff face a reduction in earnings, including through service reform.”
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