After negotiations between your GMB Representatives and VIVID Homes this is the statement your employer has made:

'You will all know that we have been tracking what’s going on in the economy with regards to inflation and the very real impact that is having on everyday lives. After lots of careful consideration VIVID has concluded that again the right thing to do is to bring forward the pay review from April 2023 to October 2022.

From 1 October we propose to increase salaries by 4% but a £1000 ‘underpin’ – that means if the 4% increase was less than £1000, you will get a £1000 increase.

In addition to this, you’ll know that VIVID is a Real Living Wage (RLW) Employer. That means that we don’t pay any roles less than the RLW (except apprentices who are paid at the National Living Wage). The increase to RLW was announced last Thursday with guidance that it should be implemented before May 2023. VIVID has decided to increase RLW salaries on 1 October also.

Additionally, the roles of caretaker are currently being reviewed and the pay rate will be externally benchmarked. A further meeting on this will be held with GMB and VIVID at end October.

This is set against some uncertainty within the sector. The government is currently consulting on a rent cap for the Sector which would severely reduce the increase in our rental income, costs across VIVID for materials and other items is increasing dramatically and although the housing market is proving resilient, it’s not impossible to imagine a downturn there and the impact that would have on us.'

To summarise:

• VIVID is a RLW employer so all roles are paid a minimum of this amount which is moving to £10.90 per hour. Due to this being a RLW increase, members from these job roles will not be balloted: caretakers, domestic assistants and labourers.
• All roles paid above this amount will receive a 4% increase with an ‘underpin’ of £1000.

Please complete the online ballot below, and make sure that any colleagues not already in GMB join at www.gmb.org.uk/join in order that they can also have a vote on the offer.

We are asking for your membership number to check your GMB membership, to ensure only eligible members vote and to ensure that nobody voted more than once.  We will not be checking how each member has voted, or retaining this information for any longer than it takes us to complete the ballot.  We will not count any voted that do not include a valid GMB membership number, so contact your rep or local GMB office if you do not know yours.