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Statistics Office's minimum wage shame

29 September 2008

A leading civil service employer has had to take urgent action to prevent its lowest-paid employees from falling below the threshold of the National Minimum Wage when it increases on Wednesday. The Office for National Statistics (ONS), which has its headquarters in Newport and offices in London and Titchfield, Hampshire, has pre-empted negotiations with an emergency pay rise to avoid breaking the law with rock-bottom wage rates for some of its admin staff.

The Public & Commercial Services union (PCS), which represents ONS workers, hit out at the organisation’s shameful record on pay, pointing out that this is not the first time that salaries have dropped below the minimum wage level.

PCS General Secretary, Mark Serwotka, commented: "This latest turn of events at the ONS illustrates the pitiful pay levels that are resulting from the government’s public sector pay policy. It is utterly disgraceful for a government that claims to value its employees to allow pay rates to sink to the legal minimum level. Sadly, this is not the only organisation where this has happened, but in the ONS it is becoming a regular occurrence.

"The shamefully low salaries in the ONS show why low pay needs to tackled and why staff salaries need to keep pace with inflation at the very least. Yet the government’s imposition of a 2% pay cap at time when the retail price index is running at 5% is creating financial hardship for some of the lowest paid in the public sector."

"We are currently balloting 270,000 of our members for a programme of national industrial action across the civil service and its related bodies. The government need to recognise the anger that its below inflation pay policy is causing and review its approach to public sector pay to avoid potentially damaging industrial action."

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