British Library members asked to sacrifice terms and conditions for pay
On 12 December, management approached PCS with a revised pay offer which involved scrapping employees’ health cash plans to subsidise a 4.2% pay award.
As the majority of our members at the British Library are low-paid workers, they rely heavily on the health cash plan for routine health expenses such as eye tests, dental treatment, and prescriptions. As such, the revised offer was rejected by PCS on the basis that it would translate into a worse pay deal than any previous offers.
Since then, the British Library (BL) has returned to its offer of 3.8%, with a £2,000 uplift for employees on the Grade C minimum, and the promise of a review of the alternative working pattern (AWP) allowance for security officers.
The offer does not include restoration for last year’s shortfall when other public sector workers received 5% in line with the civil service pay remit but BL workers received only 3%. Almost half of Grade C staff would not be entitled to the £2,000 uplift, meaning the longest-serving members of staff would be earning the same as new starters. In addition, we are still awaiting a pay review that was promised three years ago.
In a letter to PCS on 18 December, the British Library stated, “We have worked in good faith to address valid concerns raised only to have further demands made and conditions for ending industrial action changed.”
This is incorrect. Our original pay claim in March contained seven asks, and we have since centred on three main demands in an attempt to settle the dispute:
- Inflation-proof pay with restoration
- Addressing grade compression for Grade Cs
- AWP allowance for security officers.
PCS met with the British Library on 15 December to discuss alternatives to resolve the dispute, including multi-year pay awards, pay modernisation, and a joint approach with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. Almost all proposals were rejected by the Library on the basis of affordability.
This latest refusal comes off the back of repeated insults from the British Library, such as advising workers to ‘skip’ Christmas presents for the year to help with the cost-of-living crisis. Meanwhile, we have heard that the British Library has promoted eight senior members of staff to interim director posts, without transparency or interviews.
The British Library has repeatedly claimed they are in dispute with a “minority of workers”. However PCS represents nearly 500 members across both British Library sites in St Pancras and Boston Spa, making us the largest trade union at the library.
In negotiations with management, PCS has repeatedly highlighted the results of an earlier survey of unionised staff which revealed that 71% found their salary insufficient to meet basic needs such as groceries, bills, and transport costs.
Testimonials collected from members last week paint a bleak picture:
“I have been refused three times to rent in different places because my salary was deemed too low for agencies and landlords, and because I'm on a fixed term contract.”
“My peers and friends in other professions and institutions are purchasing houses, getting married, having children. I cannot afford to do any of this on my current salary. I cannot afford to build a life with my partner or invest in our future.”
“As I am working two jobs, I am unable to give family time to my wife and children.”
“I am constantly so stressed out that my hair has started falling out…I'm feeling so physically and mentally sick with worry and I can't even take time off work because I have too much work and it needs to be done now - by me.”
As of 19 December, the British Library has said there will be no further increases to the pay award for 2025/26. Both parties have agreed to meet with ACAS in an attempt to resolve the dispute.