WIREDGOV

PCS has accused the government and the Conservatives of playing political football with civil and public servants' lives in a bid to outmanoeuvre one another on public sector pay and job cuts.

Responding to the government’s and Conservative’s announcements to cap pay increases and freeze the pay of civil and public servants the union warned that the two parties were damaging the morale of hard working staff at a time when people needed public services the most.

With 40% of people working for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) getting no pay rise last year and half the civil service earning less than £20,000, the union went on to say that low paid workers should not be penalised for the failures of the City.

Pay in the civil service is different from other parts of the public sector where progression up the pay scale is separated out from cost of living increases.

In the civil service, progression up the pay scale for length of service and performance is included with cost of living increases, meaning that civil servants are doubly disadvantaged when compared to other parts of the public sector.

IDS, the independent pay monitoring body, is predicating pay rises of 2-3% next year for the private sector leading the union to warn that the gap between the civil service and private sector will continue to grow.

The union also went on to criticise the Conservatives for engaging with the government in a Dutch auction over who can cut the most jobs, saying that the delivery of frontline public services would be put at risk by savage cuts.

Mark Serwotka, PCS general secretary, said: “This is a scandalous attempt by both the Conservatives and the government to outmanoeuvre one another on public sector pay and job cuts. It is playing politics with people’s lives and the services we all rely on.

Civil and public servants who do everything from helping people back into work, to collecting the taxes to pay for schools and hospitals, are doubly disadvantaged

 

“Civil and public servants who do everything from helping people back into work, to collecting the taxes to pay for schools and hospitals, are doubly disadvantaged because their pay rises have to include cost of living increases as well as pay progression for length of service and performance.

"Rather than playing the disgraceful political game of who can be the toughest, the government and the Conservatives should be dealing with the gross unfairness and inequality of pay in the civil service and its related bodies.

"Spending cuts are not inevitable. If those in the City and boardrooms who caused the financial crisis paid the £100 billion in tax which they currently avoid, the need for cuts would disappear.”