The bank has confirmed its plans for base and variable pay for Cemap qualified
colleagues within Community Banks and Mortgage Telephony Sales (MTS) on
14th January 2014. This newsletter brings members up to date with the
discussions which Accord, as the largest union within the Mortgage Sales Force,
has been having with the LBG on your behalf.
In the middle of 2013, it became apparent to all in the mortgage industry that the
changes, brought about by the impending Mortgage Market Review in April 2014, was
driving increased demand for CeMap qualified workers and as a result, the rates of pay
employers were prepared to pay.
In October 2013 we said, “What will differentiate LBG from those doing a mediocre job,
is the way they treat their staff and in particular, the training and financial packages
they deliver. This is an opportunity for LBG to show it really is the leader in Mortgages,
not just in market share but also on how it treats its most valuable asset.”
The MAs in all Community Banks will be paid based on a new approach where their
base branch location (Cluster) will determine their mid-point salary. These are the
ranges they will receive:
MORTGAGE ADVISERS – 2014
Grade C
Market Primary
Market
Market Plus
Cluster
Mid-point
Min
Max
Min
Max
Min
Max
1
£25,700
£23,130
£24,414
£24,415
£26,985
£26,986
£30,840
2
£27,100
£24,390
£25,744
£25,745
£28,455
£28,456
£32,520
3
£28,400
£25,560
£26,979
£26,980
£29,820
£29,821
£34,080
4
£29,700
£26,730
£28,214
£28,215
£31,185
£31,186
£35,640
5
£32,500
£29,250
£30,874
£30,875
£34,125
£34,126
£39,000
Any Community Bank MA who is currently paid below the minimum of the Market
Primary scale (90% of midpoint) will receive an increase to this minimum figure from
1/1/14. However for anyone who is currently paid at or above their minimum Market
Primary figure, no pay increase will be made, irrespective of length of time in role and
competency. The benefit from this change for anyone not receiving a bring to
minimum increase is the possibility of a positive impact on future pay awards which are
partially based on where their existing pay is, relative to their new midpoint figure.
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Many MAs will still be some distance away from being paid the new rate of pay for
this role (Mid-point Salary) and that situation could continue for some time.
Senior Mortgage Advisors (SMA) in Halifax Community Bank, at grade D lower and
on a Midpoint Salary of £28200, have had no changes applied to their midpoint
salaries as part of this announcement. This creates a situation where in a Cluster 3
location, an MA would have a midpoint salary of £28400 whereas the SMA, one
grade higher, would be on £28200. This cannot be right. The bank has said that
they are intending to review the SMA role and their reward after the Mortgage
Market Review has embedded. Accord has asked for this to be reviewed sooner
and as part of the other issues we have with this change. We await the banks
response and will communicate further when more information is available.
For Telephony MAs, the bank is taking a position of paying everyone the equivalent
of Cluster 1 rates irrespective of where they are based. Telephony advisors based
in Sheffield, Belfast and Barnwood (Cluster 3 locations) are being valued at £2,700
less than their MA colleagues working in the same location within Community Bank.
Those advisors in Dunfermline, Livingston and Pendeford (Cluster 2) are
undervalued by £1,400.
These proposals do not have Accord’s full agreement but we believe the bank
should progress its plans for a number of reasons.

The changes will positively impact those members brought to minimum from
1/1/14 and pay increases will be received in Jan 2014 salaries.

Any pay increases as a result of Pay 2014, will be based on the new range and
the agreed approach may see a further increase in actual pay in April 2014 in
line with the Pay 2014 agreement (not yet communicated)

The bank has formally agreed to meet again with Accord.
We believe the bank should recognise those MAs who are deemed as competent in
role and whose performance is Good, Strong or Top in 2013, by progressing them to
the mid-point for the new range. In addition, we have called for the payment of
overtime to be reinstated to the terms and conditions of this workforce.
As part of its proposals, the bank has said it does not wish to review Variable Pay for
MAs until 2015. The current position is that in MTS, an MA can expect a 12% On
Target Incentive (OTI) payment whereas the position in Community bank is the
equivalent of approximately 16% for OTI. The bank has stated in their
communications, “It is acknowledged that a review of OTIs across the MA population
within Retail is required to ensure a consistent approach is applied. It is proposed
that this be undertaken for 2015 to allow time for MMR to embed, and an
understanding of its impact to be assessed before any changes are recommended.”
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The bank is facing both ways on this consistency issue. Publicly, it claims that
consistency of approach is important to it and has demonstrated this most visibly
with its proposal to effectively end the Final Salary Pension Scheme for longer
serving loyal colleagues to ensure that all colleagues are treated equally for pension
provision. Yet when it has the perfect opportunity to treat all MAs consistently on
both base and variable pay, it chooses to ignore equality of treatment for its own
ends.
So why are they treating MAs differently in Community Bank versus MTS?
We believe the primary issue is the bank’s view that the risk of people leaving the
MA ranks is greatest in Community Banks. As a result, they are choosing to spend
what money they have allocated to this review to defend the possible loss of
customer facing MAs to competitors rather than treating all colleagues fairly.
Our aim is to get LBG to a position where its workforce feel they are valued and
rewarded at an appropriate level and that its treatment of CeMap MAs is consistent
irrespective of the channel they work in. These proposals, whilst improving the
mid-point pay aspiration for all MAs, will not put money in everyone’s pocket and the
bank are forgetting that competitors will be willing to pay mid-point salaries of this
calibre immediately, just to attract valuable Halifax and Bank of Scotland Ma’s.
Accord has the biggest union membership in the combined Mortgage Sales Forces
and we want to present the largest possible mandate from our members in future
discussions with the bank. We would ask members reading this newsletter to do two
things:


Firstly, share a copy to any MA colleague who you know is not a member of a
union and ask them to join our campaign for fair treatment by joining Accord.
(Non-members - see details below).
Secondly, write to [email protected] giving us your views on these
changes and any other issues you feel we need to address with LBG.
We will keep all MA members updated with the progress we make in future
newsletters but in the meantime, thank you for your continued support and
Happy New Year!
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Joining is easy…

you can join online at www.accord-myunion.org

Give us a call on 01189 341 808 and join over the phone

Complete an application form and send it back to Accord HQ
- ask your local rep for a form.
Freepost (RG 2888), Simmons House,
46 Old Bath Road, Charvil, Reading, RG10 9BR
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