Extra 4% pay boost for Santander members

Santander

All Santander workers earning below £35k full time equivalent will receive an extra lift to their pay this summer as an exceptional award to help with the increased cost of living. This is on top of a £1k increase in March and a £250 one off payment in February equalling a total pay increase of around 10 per cent for most employees…

“Around 60 per cent of the Santander workforce, that’s around 11,000 staff will benefit from this extra money – which is fully consolidated, pensionable and bonusable,” reports CWU national officer Sally Bridge, who is the officer responsible for Santander and points out that “over 2022 as a whole, many of our lower-paid members will have seen their pay rise by the equivalent of 10 per cent.”

In cash terms, the adjustment is worth approximately an extra £740 – £1,400 a year before tax and comes on top of a £1,000 pay increase in March and £250 in February, she explains, adding that the £35k threshold “is based on a slighter higher figure than the 2021 UK median household income and is targeted towards the lower paid. For example, some 99 per cent of our S1 grades members will receive this increase and 43 per cent of S2 grades.”

The extra pay, which is effective from 1st August, will apply to overtime rates and there is no performance criteria applied. Agreement has also been reached to increase the entry-level minimum pay rate to £19,500pa, which means that over 500 employees will receive a further increase on top of the 4 per cent summer uplift.

Sally continues: “We wrote out to all our Santander members recently, asking them to complete a survey on how the cost-of-living crisis is impacting them and the responses were overwhelming and, undoubtedly, assisted the CWU Santander national team in our representations to the bank.

“Along with improvements to the new Financial Health Policy and support with mental wellbeing available on the Welbeing Hub which is available 24/7, access to discounts and cashback through hundreds of retailers via MyReward benefits, the CWU believes this package will considerably assist our members during these unprecedented and worrying times.”

“This outcome also demonstrates the importance of active engagement of the union with our members and that it very much is worthwhile to respond to CWU surveys – the employer here has seriously listened to the union and we welcome this agreement which reflects the hard work undertaken by all involved.