Union pushes for national framework in civil service

PCS, the biggest civil service union, has launched a campaign for a national framework for civil service pay in a bid to secure fair pay for their members.

The framework is designed to guarantee minimum pay rates for each civil service grade and minimum conditions of service.

General secretary Mark Serwotka said "Civil servants who are sitting side-by-side doing exactly the same job can be paid vastly different amounts". This is because under so-called delegated bargaining each civil service department and agency set its own pay and conditions, and especially where re-organisations have occurred the result is a mass of anomalies.

The framework will form the basis of discussions with the Treasury and Cabinet Office over the future of civil service pay.

See Pay review p17 and Labour Research April 2003