Public and Commercial Services Union

HMRC Pay – campaign update

PCS continues to express, on behalf of members, its extreme disappointment about the delay to the 2008 pay negotiations announced by HMRC on 9 May. The PCS R&C Group Conference, held on 19-20 May 2008, adopted an Emergency Resolution on pay, the terms of which have been conveyed to the Department. The resolution:
 

• Notes the positive elements of the current 2005-07 pay settlement (including assimilation arrangements and guaranteed progression to pay scale maxima)
   
• Emphasises the negative impact of rising inflation, particularly for members on the maxima
   
• Reaffirms the union’s opposition to the Government’s policy of public sector pay restraint (including a 2% cap on basic pay increases)
   
• Endorses the PCS pay claim, including the demands for decent cost-of-living increases for all members and pay parity for members in the Valuation Office Agency (VOA)
   
• Condemns the delay to 2008 pay negotiations
   
• Called for consideration of a ballot of members in HMRC on industrial action, if a satisfactory pay offer is not made by 1 July – but this will need to be considered in relation to the developing PCS national pay campaign

Decisions were made at the PCS Main Conference, a few days after Group Conference, that an industrial action ballot of all civil service members will take place, if the Treasury fail to make key changes to the handling of pay e.g., awarding full inflation level (RPI) basic increases.

PCS is absolutely opposed to the Government’s continuing policy of public sector pay restraint, and rejects the argument that this is necessary to control inflation. Members are the victims of high inflation – not the cause of it!

An announcement, which was agreed with PCS, was made on the HMRC intranet on 27 May 2008 regarding a number of consequences arising from the delay in implementing a pay settlement in HMRC this year. These include further opportunities for members to opt-in to HMRC pay terms; implications for reserved rights on level transfer/ promotion; temporary promotion payments; and recovery of overpaid allowances. Further information is available from PCS branch secretaries.

Discussions continue with HMRC about its pay remit from the Treasury, the timetable for formal negotiations and the plans for the implementation of any settlement. Further updates will be issued as events unfold. In the meantime members are urged to continue to support the PCS national pay campaign.