Update on negotiationsMoD management have failed to make any attempts to resolve our pay dispute and have not offered any meetings on this matter.
Members will be aware that we invited Susan Scholefield. Director of Civilian Personnel to meet with PCS members impacted by pay and pension cuts. She has however declined our offer and is not willing to talk to members. Instead she has suggested a meeting with the MoD pay team responsible for devising the cuts to members pay.
We are now writing to the Secretary of State for Defence with a request that he meet with members so that he can understand the impact on our lives of the imposed pay and pension cuts. We are also suggesting that he directly intervenes in this dispute and helps address the concerns of PCS members. We will report his reply back to members.
Pay Data
A number of members have asked that we point out the different pay rates that now exist in the Department. We are happy to do so and these are set out below:
Position
Maximum salary – the ‘rate for the job’
E2 Pay Band Maxima
£17,072 (cut from £19,315)
E1 Pay Band Maxima
£20,074 (cut from £23,534
MoD – SCS grade 1*
£116,000 (no cut proposed)
MoD – SCS grade 3*
£205,000 (no cut proposed)
Permanent Under Secretary*
£174,999 (no cut proposed)
Secretary of State for Defence*
£141, 866 (no cut proposed and does not include expenses etc)
*Figures from the Office of Manpower Economics website
Please note that:
!. The MoD management view of the above salaries is that those of staff working at E1 and E2 are ‘too high’ and therefore need to be cut.
2. These figures do not include bonus payments. This year MoD is proposing the following arrangements for the bonus (maximum payments achievable):
E2 staff - £360 before tax.
E1 staff - £390 before tax
MOD SCS grade 3 - £22,000 before tax
Permanent Under Secretary - can achieve a bonus of up to 20% (£34,000) of his basic salary, before tax.
PCS Legal Action
Our union is continuing to progress a major legal challenge to the imposed pay cuts for our members. All members impacted have been asked to complete a complaint letter and to complete an individual grievance and lodge this with the department. If you haven’t already done so, we would urge you to do this now.
We will notify member shortly of the arrangements for the grievance hearings and we hope that every member will attend the hearings.
12 Employment Tribunal claims are being lodged this month and we will notify members of the dates for the Department’s appearance in front of the Tribunal as soon as we can.
National Pay Campaign and Civil Service Compensation Scheme (CSCS)
PCS members in the MoD will continue to play a full role in the national PCS campaign that you will be consulted about during the next few months.
Members will be aware that PCS, with the other civil service unions, have been in negotiations with the Cabinet Office about this scheme since the autumn of last year. The published proposals have not been agreed with the unions.
The proposals are an outrageous attempt to cut people’s jobs on the cheap at a time when many are worried about job security. They amount to a cut in accrued and contractual rights to decent redundancy compensation at a time when we can clearly see that tens of thousands of jobs are at risk over the next few years.
They would mean a huge financial loss amounting to tens of thousands of pounds for the vast majority of existing staff, particularly those facing redundancy, whether that be compulsory or voluntary. The proposals will be considered at an emergency meeting of the PCS National Executive Committee (NEC) on 6th August. The NEC is determined to defend members' rights and will consider all options.
We will be seeking to meet Cabinet Office ministers and, considering the detailed and positive legal advice we have received, to determine whether we should seek a judicial review to halt this process.
PCS MoD Group will update members on the outcome of the NEC meeting and how this impacts our ballot for action in MoD over pay shortly.
Remember together we are stronger – ask your work friends to join our union now!
Yours sincerely
Paul Barnsley Chris Dando KC Jones
Group Secretary Group President Group Vice President
