PCS pay campaign
We continue to campaign on improved pay and pensions for all our members across the civil service and related areas, including outsourced workers who are employed on contracts in government departments.
Our successful campaign of industrial action in 2022/23 won an increased pay remit, £1500 cost-of-living payment and guarantees on redundancy terms. View our timeline of strike action.
Carrying this momentum forward, PCS general secretary Fran Heathcote wrote to the Cabinet Office early in 2024 to set out the national pay claim for 2024/25. Our pay demands to the UK government included:
- a cost-of-living rise, plus pay restoration for previous years
- pay equality across departments on the best possible terms,
- a living wage of £15 a hour,
- London weighting provision of a minimum £5,000 a year,
- 35 days annual leave minimum,
- a significant shortening of the working week with no loss of pay.
Between March and May 2024, members in 171 civil service and related areas (excluding the Scottish Government Sector where a two-year pay deal had been agreed last year) were balloted for strike action. We achieved over 50% turnout (the percentage required by law for strike action) in several employers, including DVSA, HM Land Registry, DEFRA, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) and Rural Payments Agency.
On 4 July 2024, Labour came to power following a landslide general election victory. Within a few weeks, the new government published the civil service pay remit guidance, allowing government departments to make average pay awards up to 5%.
PCS has since been involved in delegated pay talks with the various departments and ministries. We have formally rejected offers from many groups (including the Ministry of Defence, the Home Office, the DWP, Ministry of Justice, HMRC and the Department for Transport) as they fall short of our national campaign demands.
Key demands on which these offers fall short include a 10% pay rise and pay restoration, as well as a national living wage of £15 an hour. Despite being rejected by PCS, most departments are imposing their respective pay offers.
PCS negotiators will continue to update the national executive committee (NEC) on these pay offers as they come in. Once the NEC has received offers across all areas, it will consider the next steps in the pay campaign.
We took our case on pensions to the Court of Appeal in February 2024, which rejected our appeal.
Donate to our strike fund to support PCS members taking action.