Dave Semple, PCS vice president
Rachel Reeves has announced that the civil service pay remit for UK government awards for 2024-25 would be set at 5%. The government, petrified of further industrial unrest, is attempting to buy us off at a discount rate.
PCS union negotiators, led by general secretary Fran Heathcote and president Martin Cavanagh, met with the Cabinet Office for a series of meetings up until 29 July.
The general secretary and president are part of the so-called Left Unity grouping, which, until May, had an overwhelming majority on the union’s NEC. In the May elections, the Left Unity group lost its NEC majority to a coalition for change, including the PCS Broad Left Network (BLN), in which the Socialist Party participates.
No progress was made in these discussions and it is not even clear if the union’s demand for a 10% rise was put. Each employer will now seek to negotiate the specifics with PCS and the other civil service trade unions within the 5% overall remit.
Inflation in 2022 and 2023 was in double digits. Civil service pay ‘rises’ did not keep up, with a 2% average rise in 2022, and a 4.5% average rise in 2023. The 2023 award sat alongside a non-consolidated, one-time payment of £1,500, which was pro-rata for part-time staff. Both were a real-terms pay cut. Lowest paid grades had to receive a further pay rise on April 1 2024, because their pay had once again fallen below the national minimum wage!
BLN NEC members believe the 5% offer from the government is not good enough, and that the NEC must consult with activists across the PCS in considering how to proceed.
The remit informs departments and other employer bodies that they “must ensure that pay awards are affordable within their current spending settlements”, i.e. there is no new money.
There is, therefore, a threat to jobs. Already across multiple civil service departments, swingeing staffing cuts have been announced. Transport and Education are early victims.
The announcement does not mean that all members will get 5%. This is the increase permitted to the overall pay bill for each civil service employer. Each employer then seeks talks – ‘delegated pay bargaining’ – leading to different percentages for different groups of workers.
Invitations from UK government employers to begin delegated pay talks have already been issued in some areas. Engaging in these would ordinarily mean accepting the 5% remit.
An instruction from the general secretary’s office has already gone out (without NEC discussion, but in our view correctly) telling negotiators not to go into talks till the NEC meets.
Rushing straight in to delegated pay talks would send a signal to the employer that we are prepared to settle for the 5%. Instead, PCS should be clear that 5% is not enough, and we need guarantees on jobs and conditions too.
The NEC meets on 12 August.
We believe we must discuss our approach with senior lay reps and pay teams. A significant number of reps are fed up with the endlessly referred-to “national campaign”, which in reality was abandoned by the now-defeated NEC in 2023.
The new NEC majority has not given up. At the special NEC on 10 July, and at the full NEC on 17 and 18 July, we outlined the potential to use the mandate won by 20,000 members over jobs, pay and pensions, as part of moving towards a reballot in those areas where 100,000+ members did not reach 50% turnout threshold.
The general secretary has taken weeks to carry out basic instructions. At time of writing, on 6 August, the NEC remains in the dark about whether our national demands have even been tabled to the Cabinet Office.
We know what the demands are: they were passed at Annual Delegate Conference in May 2024 as motion A315. They include a 10% pay rise and a £15-an-hour minimum wage, and include demands on jobs, workload, office closures, pensions and more.
Our first step should be to write to the Cabinet Office and reject the 5%, demand more, demand that it be funded, and then – if we have not already – place all of the demands agreed at conference.
Second, we must turn outwards towards the reps and members, with members’ meetings. This may involve explaining the continuation of the strike levy. The NEC has agreed a review of current arrangements, but the union machine is yet to act on this.
As part of consulting on the widest possible basis and to maximise engagement on our strategy, we think a Special Delegate Conference will be needed. Preparation for this would require extraordinary general meetings in every branch. This would draw in the members and reps into a serious discussion and minimise the opportunities for the president to veto what the elected NEC puts forward.
If you are interested in building a fighting, democratic union with socialist policies, join the Broad Left Network and get involved with us at every level of the union.
