Civil Service pay rises

OrbitHeadache

So because the Civil service are technically not public sector workers our pay increase remit per department is 4.5% and an extra 0.5% for the lowest paid.

Now my understanding is the strike action was collective strike action so all departments get the same pay.

So my question is 2 fold;

1) Why are individual departments agreeing separate deals? ( Example: The Home office)

2) The Home Office pay rises ( see below) are well above 4.5% for all grades, how can this be possible when  the pay remit was 4.5%? Should other departments expect the same above average pay offers?

• AA (administrative assistant) £2,680, equivalent to a pay rise of up to 13.1%
• AO (administrative officer) £2,400, equivalent to a 9.1% pay rise for AOs in London, or up to 10.7% for AOs in the rest of the country.

Other grades follow a more complex process, but the headline increases are:

• EO (Executive Officer) pay rise of up to 9.3%
• HEO (Higher Executive Officer) pay rise of up to 7.9%
• SEO (Senior Executive Officer) pay rise of up to 7.2%
• G7 (Grade 7) pay rise of up to 6.9%
• G6 (Grade 6) pay rise of up to 6.2%.

Andy_L

You initial premise is wrong. CS are Public Sector Workers

Different departments have had different pay scales & other T&Cs for about 30 years

The pay remit is up to an average of 4.5%

Departments are free to pay more if they can justify it & it is cost neutral to the exchequer

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-pay-remit-guidance-2023-to-2024/civil-service-pay-remit-guidance-2023-to-2024#pay-flexibility

Tommo2448

Just beaten to the punch by the previous poster, but yes that seems to be the answer...although the industrial action is still live, I think - the PCS union is balloting shortly on some aspects, see here - https://www.civilserviceworld.com/news/article/civil-service-union-consults-members-on-ending-strike-action

When I transferred from one department to another in the early structures were notably different.   I am 20 years out of the date of the detail now, but many departments will still be working with T&C's negotiated years ago.     Some departments may also have differing T&Cs for specialist grades like scientists, but you'll know that !

Not sure if the money figures quoted include (a) the government's offer of the one off £1,500 for 2022/2023 and/or (b) the "London weighting" (if it is still called that ? - and is it still a single rate or does it vary between departments ?).

The other point is that (if I recall correctly) staff up to SEO in the list above will be negotiated for by the PCS union, while Grade 7 and above are FDA (First Division Association) as they are the so-called "Senior Civil Service", and settlements may vary in the small print.

OrbitHeadache

The recent public sector pay rises including for  the likes of police officers and teachers only included senior civil servants which I have taken as the rest of us don't fit the definition of public sector workers when it comes to pay.

However I do take the point that 4.5% is just an average so hopefully my department can justify pay rises like those agreed at the Home office.

Andy_L

AIUI those groups have independent(ish) pay review bodies. While (non-SCS) civil servants don't. 

lincroft1710

Andy_L said:

Different departments have had different pay scales & other T&Cs for about 30 years

Actually over 50 yrs

strawb_shortcake

Up to is a key point to the pay rises, in my department last year pay increases varied between 1.25% and a reported 18%. This year similar has happened with increases between 1.5 and 10%. 

Some AA's and AO's pay rise is more reflective of the increase to NMW, in some cases both grades have been on NMW since April 

TELLIT01

Different parts of the Civil Service use totally different grading structures and terminology so it's impossible to do direct comparisons between departments.  If the Government has said that there is 5% more money available for CS pay, that doesn't automatically mean that everybody will get 5%.

Andy_L

TELLIT01 said:

Different parts of the Civil Service use totally different grading structures and terminology so it's impossible to do direct comparisons between departments.  If the Government has said that there is 5% more money available for CS pay, that doesn't automatically mean that everybody will get 5%.

and quite often that 5% extra on the paybill isn't being fully funded by the treasury so departments will have to cut elsewhere to fund them

OrbitHeadache

Thanks for the information.

It does seem the Home office have managed to put forward a proposal to award above average pay rises due to presenting a business case to the treasury which is cost neutral to the tax payer. 

I do hope my department can secure a similar deal, my department had a similar deal before so one can hope.

It's hard to decide whether strike action should continue without knowing what the pay proposal is actually gonna be.

antonic

The average pay rise for all grades AA to G6 is 4.5% + 0.5% for the lowest paid.
However for those on the lowest payscale (like me) you could end up with a raise higher than 5% , but this is negotiated by each Government Department.