United Kingdom union leader, Dave Penman has claimed a one-off cost-of-living payment for 2022-23 was on the table in negotiations with the Government only to be withdrawn 24 hours before new pay guidance was publically announced.
Instead, the Cabinet Office announced a pay award for Public Servants of 4.5-to-five per cent for 2023-24, but unlike offers to health and teacher unions, did not include a backdated one-off cost-of-living payment for last year.
Minister for the Cabinet Office, Oliver Dowden told Parliament in January that the Government would not renegotiate the 2022-23 pay award to Public Servants, but Mr Penman, who heads the FDA union, said the Government had given an indication a one-off payment was on offer which then “fell apart”.
“They know and we know that it was potentially on the table, even though it hadn’t been formally put to us. They withdrew it,” Ms Penman (pictured) said.
“It’s what we were talking about and what we were expecting and we were given an indication about it,” he said.
“We were promised enhanced dialogue and within 24 hours it all fell apart. We know it was taken off the table.”
In response to this the FDA, which represents senior Public Servants, announced it would ballot its members on taking industrial action over pay for the first time in more than 40 years.
Mr Penman said he had pleaded with Minister for the Cabinet Office, Jeremy Quin not to treat Public Servants differently to other public sector workers.
“I said, ‘there’s no reason to do this. I don’t know why you’re doing it’, and he couldn’t explain why they’re doing it,” he said.
However, Mr Penman said Mr Quin earned a lot of respect for having the moral fibre to tell the unions in person about the pay decision rather than leaving it to officials.
“He knew he was disappointing us,” Mr Penman said.
“He knew he had promised us something different, and he knew that was a difficult task to have to relay that message and he was prepared to do it himself.”
London, 15 May 2023
