Coroners circular no 71 - Coroners’ pay 2025/26

Joint Negotiating Committee for Coroners Management Side

Management Side Secretary, Sarah Ward
Local Government Association,
18 Smith Square,
London, SW1P 3HZ
[email protected]

To: Chief executives (London Boroughs, Metropolitan Districts, County Councils and Unitary Councils in England and Wales)

6 August 2025

Coroners’ pay circular No 71

Dear colleague

Coroners’ pay 2025/26

You will recall that the Coroners Society of England and Wales withdrew from national collective bargaining via the JNC earlier this year. In the absence of a national pay mechanism for determining coroners’ pay in England & Wales, the management side of the JNC conducted a consultation survey of local authorities who have an interest in coroners’ pay. Forty-four responses were received from a total of seventy-four LA contacts (once duplicates were removed) giving a response rate of 59 per cent.

We appreciate the tight timescale given to complete the survey and thank those who were able to respond so quickly. A small number of local authorities contacted us after the deadline with their responses, and these have been taken into consideration by the management side members too. 

The key findings from the survey results were as follows:

• If given the option, 95 per cent of respondents would prefer to settle coronial pay nationally via the JNC and 95 per cent would welcome the CSEW returning to national pay bargaining and the re-establishment of the JNC.
• In the absence of the JNC, 95 per cent of respondents would still welcome the management-side making a recommendation on coroners’ pay based on the usual considerations.
• Only 15 respondents (34 per cent) reported that they had received a pay claim thus far, and only two of those had made a pay offer, with another four (9 per cent) intending to do so shortly. Three respondents told us they had made a ‘one-off’ pay offer of 4.00 per cent in line with the judiciary.
• Sixty-eight per cent of respondents felt that coronial pay should match the award given to Chief Officers and Chief Executives (i.e. 3.20 per cent), with 20 per cent of respondents preferring to match the SSRB award of 4.00 per cent.
• Regardless of their thoughts on matching pay to other groups, the majority of respondents (84 per cent) chose the option indicating a pay offer should be between 3.00 and 3.99 per cent.
• Eighty-four per cent of respondents said they would welcome a view of the Korn Ferry Hay report, (to have another look at pay benchmarking) should CSEW return to the JNC.

In response to the survey results, the management side of the JNC recently met and agreed that if the JNC was still sitting, given that feedback, they would have set a remit at 3.20 per cent. 

Therefore, 3.20 per cent is the figure they would recommend local authorities give consideration to, for coroners’ pay for 2025/26.

As the JNC no longer exists, this is advice only, and we acknowledge that a minority of local authorities have already made a local offer to their coroners. If you are able to keep us informed of any local developments or progress made, please email us at [email protected]

In addition, the management side have written again to the Secretary of State for Justice to underline how difficult this situation is for local authorities, and to ask for a discussion on these issues, and/or support in seeking a resolution.

We have also written to the CSEW and encouraged them to return to the JNC, underlining that the management side remain, as always, open to discussing these matters with them. 

For those local authorities who wish to follow this advice, the table below illustrates a 3.20 per cent uplift in pay, for illustrative purposes: 

If you have any questions about this circular, please contact us at [email protected]

Yours faithfully

Sarah Ward
Management Side Secretary