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)
___________________________________________________________________
25 March 2026
Dear colleague,
Update on Coroners’ pay bargaining situation
1. We wanted to provide an update on the situation with the Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC) Coroners, which as you will recall the Coroners Society of England and Wales (CSEW) withdrew from in April 2025.
2. In the last update issued in January we informed you that we received a reply to our letter to the Secretary of State for Justice and that we had therefore written to the CSEW stating “it is genuinely the wish of our side of the committee, that we put this back together, and find a way of moving forward collegiately, into 2026”.
3. Since then we have engaged both the Ministry for Justice and the CSEW in order to try and resolve the question of national pay bargaining, given that our overwhelming feedback from local authorities is that this remains their preferred way of dealing with Coroners pay. This circular provides an update on those discussions.
Questions posed by the CSEW
4. Earlier this year, the CSEW posed a number of questions to us about the judiciary, we understand these are being posed directly to local authorities now too. Therefore, we thought it might be helpful to share both our response, and that of the MOJ, whom we asked to comment.
5. For absolute clarity, in considering the questions, the management side reply to the CSEW contained the following paragraph:
“You asked a number of questions within your letter in an attempt to narrow the debate, we appreciate this, but it should be noted, the focus on our side is entirely the matter at hand, which is to settle the pay negotiations in any given year. Our view is that the Joint Negotiating Committee exists simply for one purpose, to establish the relevant pay review for Coroners salaries for 1 April in each year.”
6. Via email, the MOJ confirmed to both parties their view in relation to these questions, and with permission I am sharing their response:
“MoJ’s position in relation to the questions posed:
- Do you accept that coroners are judges?
Yes
-
Do you accept the doctrine of the separation of powers?
Under s3 of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 there is a statutory duty that the Lord Chancellor, other Ministers of the Crown and all with responsibility for matters relating to the judiciary or otherwise to the administration of justice must uphold the continued independence of the judiciary, including the need for the Lord Chancellor to defend that independence and for the judiciary to have the support necessary to exercise their functions (s3(6)).
-
Do you accept that a judicial salary must be set independently?
Under the Basic Principles on the Independence of the Judiciary, it is stated that “the terms of office of judges […] and adequate remuneration […] shall be adequately secured by law.” . The principles do not require that judicial pay must be set independently; rather, they require that remuneration is protected in law in a way that safeguards judicial independence.
Under the Coroners and Justice Act 2009, Parliament has established a clear statutory framework for determining coroner salaries. Section 23 and Schedule 3, paragraph 15 set out a robust process which, where necessary, provides for an independent review by the Lord Chancellor.
This sits alongside the Lord Chancellor statutory duty to uphold and defend judicial independence. This duty underpins the entire remuneration setting process: it ensures that remuneration for judicial office holders, including coroners, is determined in a way that protects the integrity of their role and maintains public confidence in the justice system.
Many other judicial salaries and fees in England and Wales are set by the Lord Chancellor (and Secretary of State for Justice) following independent recommendations from the Senior Salaries Review Body (SSRB).
However, the SSRB does not set salaries; it provides advice and recommendations, and the final decision rests with the Lord Chancellor. In recent years, there have been instances such as in 2022 and 2025 where the Lord Chancellor has awarded increases lower than those recommended by the SSRB due to budgetary pressures and other considerations.
There are also judges in certain other jurisdictions, including some tribunals, whose remuneration does not fall directly within the independent pay review process.
- Do you accept that it is not appropriate for a judicial salary to be set by comparison to that of a local authority employee?
And -
Do you accept that a judicial salary should only be set by comparing the role in question to that of other judicial roles on the judicial pay scale?
Parliament has determined that the salary of a senior or area coroner is whatever is, from time to time, agreed between the senior coroner and the relevant local authority. The same approach applies to assistant coroner fees, which are set through agreement between the assistant coroner and the relevant authority for the area.
Judicial independence does not require that different categories of judges receive identical or equivalent levels of remuneration. Rather, independence is safeguarded by ensuring that judicial pay is protected in law and is not linked—explicitly or implicitly—to the decisions judges make. The principle is about shielding the judiciary from pressure or influence, not about maintaining parity between different judicial office holders.”
7 .We are grateful to the MOJ team for granting permission for us to share those thoughts and hope that local authorities might also find that exchange helpful and of interest.
8. The key point for the management side is that these broader questions can be debated at length, but they are not the focus for the LGA (cross party) members who were nominated to the management side of the JNC. The key issue is what, if any, pay increase should be applied to the existing Coroners pay salaries and framework. There is also a separate and additional issue (as colleagues know) about whether the existing framework should be reviewed. That structure and subsequent pay benchmarking work was originally done with Korn Ferry Hay just under a decade ago, and the management side of the JNC have reiterated their offer to revisit that report.
Meeting between the management side and the CSEW
9 On Thursday 19th March (last week) the management side met with Richard Travers and David Riddle from CSEW. The discussion was frank and constructive. The management side acknowledged a number of points made, and the frustrations of the CSEW which led to their withdrawal from the JNC. In order to try and encourage them to return to the JNC the management side has made an offer and have requested that that offer be shared with their members. A copy of the letter sent as a result of that meeting is attached to this circular (appendix A) and we invite you to read it.
10. You will note that one of the suggestions from the management side was to move the pay award date from 1st April to later in the year so that proper consideration of the recommendations of the Senior Salaries Review Body (SSRB) may be taken into account, while reiterating that pay would still need to be a negotiation between both sides.
11. It is our sincere hope that the CSEW will choose to return to collective bargaining through the JNC, which as you will see from our letter we believe is better for both sides, we await their response.
12. Finally, we continue to receive questions from local authorities on the matter of pay for 2025. Our advice remains unchanged, as detailed in the Coroners’ pay circular No 71.
13 .We obviously await next steps from the CSEW, but may well start the process of consulting local authorities in respect of the pay review due 1 April 2026 in due course, regardless of whether the national machinery is re-established.
14. In the meantime, if you have any questions or wish to discuss these issues please do contact us via [email protected] . We will continue to issue updates as often as possible.
Best wishes,
Sarah Ward
Local Government / Management Side Secretary
JNC for Coroners