Email your MP to stop in-work hardship

On 1 November 2023, outsourced facilities staff at 10 Downing Street, the Cabinet Office and the Canary Wharf civil service hub had their employment transferred from Mitie to ISS.

The transferring staff have a contractual right to be paid monthly, like their directly employed civil service colleagues. Although the law should protect an employee’s contract of employment when they transfer to a new employer, ISS have unilaterally changed the contractual pay frequency of cleaners and caterers from monthly to fortnightly.

ISS have made the change despite the strong arguments made by PCS reps. This included the results of a PCS survey, where 99% of respondents said they would face severe hardship by moving to fortnightly pay, including disrupting payments to members who receive in-work benefits.

One PCS member said “This unagreed change to my contract will cause me severe financial hardship. All my financial arrangements are set for the same day, every month. I can't split my mortgage payments to fortnightly”.

Use our e-action to ask your MP to sign Early Day Motion #164/23 in support of the PCS campaign against these unagreed pay changes. Early Day Motions (EDMs) are signed by supportive MPs and demonstrate the level of parliamentary support for a particular cause or point of view.

Early Day Motion #164/23 asks the Government Property Agency, the department responsible for the ISS contract, to intervene to ensure that ISS treat all staff equally by aligning pay arrangements for caterers and cleaners with those of their monthly, salaried colleagues.

Political support for the campaign is growing and 12 MPs have already signed the EDM since it was tabled in late December.

John McDonnell MP, chair of the PCS parliamentary group, said: “the Government Property Agency appears to be discriminating against low paid members of staff, cleaners and caterers who are more likely to be women and from black and minority ethnic communities……the shift to bi-weekly payments could have serious detrimental consequences for this group of workers, many of whom will face the prospect of income fluctuations and deductions from their Universal Credit payments. We need an end to outsourcing of these services, but at the very least the government needs to make sure workers are treated fairly when work contracts are retendered.”

Please complete our e-action today.

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