The Civil Service Pay Remit – explainer
Find out how the remit is applied and about the pay negotiations that take place.
The Civil Service Pay Remit Guidance for 2025/26, which was published on 22 May, tells civil service departments, agencies and related arms-length bodies how much they can spend this year on a pay award for their staff.
This year’s remit allows them to offer a general increase worth 3.25% of their pay bill, plus up to another 0.5% to be used for certain specific purposes, such as addressing the problem of low pay.
It does not, however, guarantee a pay award for any given member of staff at the level of those headline figures – or, indeed, at any particular level. The individual employers covered by the remit have delegated authority to set their own pay, as long as they remain within the constraints set by the remit guidance.
Each employer will now have to begin pay negotiations with their recognised trade unions, to deal with the question of how much the employer is willing to offer, within the remit figure, and how it should be divided up. Some pay negotiations involve other trade unions alongside PCS, such as Prospect and the FDA.
These negotiations will take place over differing timescales in the months ahead; some have already begun.
PCS has authorised our negotiators to take part in pay talks with the aim of getting employers to offer the maximum amount possible, and to prioritise the needs of the lower-paid. We do not believe, however, that pay awards that remain within this year’s pay remit figures will be enough to protect our members’ living standards from the impact of inflation and compensate them for the decline in the value of their pay over several years.
Employers can seek permission to go beyond the remit figures where their proposed award is linked to other changes that could deliver efficiencies over time; our negotiators are encouraged to explore any such options with them. Otherwise, it is likely that only national talks with the government will unlock enough money to deliver an acceptable increase for all our members. We are pursuing this approach, alongside delegated talks.
For updates on pay negotiations covering your own employer, please contact your branch reps. You can find their details on PCS Digital.