Civil service pay remit guidance - an update from the NEC

During the talks on the remit guidance, PCS was clear with the government that its stated intention to impose a figure of 2.8% was unacceptable. We were clear our members required an inflation-proofed pay rise; together with a degree of pay restoration for the erosion of living standards they had suffered over decades; and measures to deal with chronic low pay. 

We are pleased that the government has accepted some of our arguments. We have shifted them from 2.8% to 3.75%, which will be above inflation, provided it remains at its projected figure of 3.2% across the relevant period; and there is a specific allocation of money to deal with low pay. 

However, PCS does not consider that the overall remit figure is capable of meeting our members’ needs in this pay round.

Following the election of a new government last year, we wrote to the Cabinet Office setting out our bargaining objectives. These included inflation-proofed pay rises, pay restoration and coherence of pay across the civil service to deal with inequality. The government agreed to talks on a pay and reward strategy to address these matters.

The PCS National Executive Committee (NEC) met today to consider the position reached in talks, the remit figure and the policies decided by our annual delegate conference this month on our national campaign. In addition to the demands that we have previously tabled, conference agreed demands for an £18 an hour minimum wage, up from the previous demand of £15 an hour; and opposition to mutually agreed exits, seeking instead a proper job security agreement.   

Delegated talks

The NEC agreed that we would now engage in talks at delegated level to try to secure as much money in members' pockets as soon as possible. That said, our negotiators will be making clear that any offers around the headline pay remit figure will not be considered acceptable by the union.

The NEC also agreed that we would write to the Cabinet Office seeking an injection of pace into the talks on pay and jobs, with an agreed timetable, particularly in light of recent government announcements on restructuring and speculation in the press on job cuts in the civil service. 

In the meantime, the NEC agreed that we would develop our organising and campaigning work with members and branches across the union to get ballot ready. PCS is clear that, should further talks fail to deliver satisfactory progress, a campaign of industrial action will be required to shift the government's position. 

The NEC will meet again to consider the outcome of negotiations at delegated level; alongside the response from other unions across the public sector to their pay remits. Should industrial action prove necessary, we will seek to coordinate with others in order to maximise its impact. 

This Labour government was elected on a manifesto of delivering change and “Making Work Pay”. PCS intends to hold the government to account to ensure that it delivers on those promises.