Activate: The importance of our largest industrial action ballot in years
With unemployment and inflation on the rise, Fran writes, it is vital that DWP members win their ballot over low pay. She also discusses the current chaos in pensions administration.
Over the coming weeks, nearly 50,000 PCS members in DWP will be receiving strike ballots in their dispute over low pay. This is the largest industrial action ballot in the union for a couple of years.
There are 25,000 workers in the lowest three pay grades whose wages will all be at the National Living Wage as of 1 April 2026. DWP’s 2025/26 pay offer did not address this and was rejected by PCS.
Strike action is always the last resort. Our members are proud of the job they do in DWP because they know it’s of great value to society. But this level of poverty pay is not sustainable and has led to a recruitment and retention crisis in the department.
Members across the department have told us that they are struggling financially as debt spirals. And as workplace stress increases, people’s mental health further deteriorates.
The functioning of our social security system depends on our members’ hard work and goodwill, but that cannot be taken for granted.
Already this year we’ve seen new figures showing that unemployment is rising (up by over 100,000 in the last three months) – showing that a well-paid DWP workforce is more necessary than ever. Meanwhile, inflation has jumped to 3.4%, putting more pressure on people’s finances.
At the end of last year, DWP members voted over 80% in favour of strike action in an indicative ballot, with a turnout of just over 50%. Replicating this in a statutory ballot will be no simple task.
That’s why we’re asking all activists to get involved. If you would like to join us to help to win the ballot, please contact [email protected].
Pensions chaos
We know from correspondence we’re receiving that many current and retired members are facing considerable stress because of the chaos in pensions administration.
Many recently retired civil servants are suffering financial hardship after the non-payment of their pensions, following the transfer of pension scheme administration to Capita in December 2025.
There have been significant delays in the payment of lump sums and pension payments, after Capita inherited a backlog of about 90,000 cases from the previous contractor MyCSP – which was wholly owned by the financial services giant, Equiniti.
We have written to the Cabinet Office – that ultimately manages the scheme – to demand assurances that the new contractor will be making sufficient resources available to clear the backlog; and calling for details of precisely how long the Cabinet Office expects it to take for that huge backlog to be cleared.
We have further demanded that until this matter is sorted, the Cabinet Office set up a hardship fund for members awaiting their pension being paid.
Some pensioners have faced delays of more than nine months. This is unacceptable.
We have argued all along that this work should be run by the civil service, under ministerial control, so that it can be properly resourced and pensions paid on time. The government must deliver on its promise of ‘the biggest wave of insourcing in a generation’.
Please support our e-action on civil service pension administration.