At NGN, we’re incredibly proud of our workforce and its dedication to keeping homes and businesses across our region safe, warm and connected to gas.

We’ve always strived to offer some of the best pay and conditions in the industry and remain committed to creating a positive working environment for all our colleagues.

Supporting Our Workforce

Our employees are at the heart of everything we do. We offer market-leading pay and competitive benefits, and in the past four years alone, we’ve awarded a total pay increase of almost 30% — well above inflation. Just last year, we introduced a 9% pay rise alongside a £1,000 cost-of-living payment, which reflects our dedication to supporting our team in a challenging economic climate.

We take the wellbeing of our colleagues incredibly seriously – with an industry-leading position on working time limits. Since 2020, we have successfully reduced overtime hours by around 20% and our engineers work less than 45 hours a week on average, including overtime.  This is in part due to our investment into and modernisation of the network, which has halved the number of gas escapes since 2010, leading to fewer incidents, less overtime and reduced hours.  This reduction is a reflection of our ongoing commitment to prioritising the wellbeing and work-life balance of our employees, ensuring they are rested and able to perform their duties safely and effectively.

We regularly engage with our workforce to hear their concerns and offer solutions, and employee turnover last year was just 5.2% – much lower than the industry average. The average tenure across our business of 10 years reflects the positive working environment we create.

The Current Dispute: Misalignment with GMB

Unfortunately, we find ourselves in a challenging situation with the GMB union. For the last few years, NGN has been in discussions with the GMB about the management of fatigue within our business, prompted by the upcoming 12-hour working time limits which are due to be introduced in the future by the Health and Safety Executive.

Throughout this process, we’ve been working hard to find a solution to ensure that we can continue to protect colleagues from the risks of fatigue associated with working longer hours and to prepare for the future HSE requirement.

Our final offer to the GMB included improvements to our already very good terms and conditions, including better working patterns, increased overtime pay, and a one-off £1,500 bonus. However, despite these substantial benefits, the GMB rejected our offer without presenting it to its members. Instead, they’ve made demands that would cost NGN approximately £28 million a year — without even addressing the root issue of fatigue. This is not only unsustainable as a 56% increase on our current paybill that would have to be passed on to customers, but also threatens the long-term job security of our employees.

In response, we implemented our new strategy in August, which will help us to get in the best shape to start to address the more stringent future 12 hour working time limits that we know will be required in future years.

The GMB held a strike ballot which began on Monday 2 September and closed on Monday 16 September. A total of 738 colleagues were eligible to vote in this ballot, with 402 deciding to do so. Of these members, 299 voted for industrial action. While this was a majority of those who turned out, in reality almost two-thirds (64%) of the colleagues eligible to vote chose to either not vote at all or voted against strike action.

Our Commitment to Customers: Safety is our priority

While we navigate this dispute, our top priority remains unchanged: delivering a safe and reliable gas supply to our customers. We’ve put robust plans in place to ensure that our customers continue to receive the gas they need, regardless of any industrial action. These measures include working with our existing third party contractors to handle key functions and reprioritising and redistributing work among our teams.

We urge our colleagues to reflect on the potential impact of this strike on the communities we serve. Our customers depend on us, and we have a responsibility to keep them safe and warm.

We’re committed to engaging in sensible discussions with the union and we urge them to work with us to do so.

Thank you for your continued dedication and we will continue to keep you updated on next steps.

Mark Horsley
CEO, Northern Gas Networks