They also said that the pay award (or whatever they wanted to call it) was non contractual. I'm not sure what this really means. Is it ok to give staff non contractual awards when it suits? Does it matter that the guidance I quoted above doesn't mention non contractual payments? It all just seems a bit underhand.

Hi Thanks for reading and replying. The guidance I read comes from the Pay and Allowances Manual which forms part of my contract. It states "on return from an unpaid career break, unpaid special leave our unpaid extended sick leave your salary will be set at the level it would have reached had you received the annual pay award for each of the years you were absent." Their response to my enquiry was that this £500 was not a"pay award" but I am at a loss to think what else it could be considered as. Many thanks

Addition to above: I meant to say I am delighted that they have agreed to pay me the higher salary BUT I think it should be backdated. Just noticed it didn't read well.

Hope someone can give me some advice on this. I went on a career break from work for 2.5 years. I returned to work 3 years ago. When I took my career break I was aware (it was written in pay and allowances manual) that I would come back to work on the same pay that I would have been on had I been at work for the period. I should have had pay awards added to my salary for my return. however, after being back for a year I discovered that other staff had received £500 pay increase while I was off which I didn't get. I queried it and was told that I hadn't received it because it was non-consolidated and non-contractual. I argued my case at the time as the only guidance available to me was that I would receive any pay award due to me, with no mention of non-contractual. After several months of being told I wasn't eligible i gave up. That was in January 2015. This year in august that £500 was made contractual to those staff who received it i tried again to get it and took it as far as going to ACAS. They instigated early conciliation and I have been told today that I will get the pay increase backdated to this August. Now, I'm delighted about this I believe I should have the increase backdated to October 2013 when I came back from my career break. It seems they are admitting to being wrong so logically they have been wrong for 3 years. I am now wondering whether I should go to a tribunal and whether I have a good case. They have never been able to show me any written policy stating I am not entitled to the increase. Can anyone give me any advice?