The members’ meetings on the DWP Pay offer are ongoing here is a questions and answers brief from PCS DWP Group:
Q: I am aware of the Pay Freeze, but how much is the real value of my pay falling?
A: A lot. The rate of inflation for May was 5.2% RPI (4.5% CPI). Set against this almost half of the DWP workforce get no increase and the rest an increase of less than 2.5%. Nobody gets any progression. This is also the fifth year of pay restraint in DWP. Had the EO maximum not been held down since 2007 and then frozen for two years it would be worth over £2,500 more now.
Q: What about the government’s pension changes?
Q: What about the government’s pension changes?
A: In addition to the rapidly rising cost of living members will need to consider the increase in employee pension contribution of at least 3% which the government intends to introduce from April 2012. This will reduce your take home pay by roughly the equivalent of losing a day’s pay every month. For a personal illustration of how this could affect you - use the pension calculator on the PCS website.
Q: Is it true that the non-consolidated end of year bonus now costs more than the pay increase?
A: Yes. The pay offer is worth £30 million and the end of year bonus is worth £52 million. The money is used to allow non-consolidated and non-pensionable payments to be made to staff earning above £21,000 full-time equivalent, but the employer insists it must be performance related. Despite the opposition of the unions it is distributed on the basis of a 2 to 1 share to staff in receipt of “consistently good” and “wholly exceptional” markings. This means the small number receiving the top box marking get twice as much as those whose performance is rated as “consistently good”. This represents a huge increase in the proportion of pay costs that are performance related and sets a very undesirable precedent.
Q: What is the union’s attitude to performance related pay?
A: It is wrong in principle to claim to reward high performance when the money comes out of the pockets of those whose performance is consistently good. Improved performance is only really possible when everyone contributes. A carrot on a stick may be ok for donkeys but not civil servants. In practice performance related pay can be shown to discriminate against staff for other reasons. Full diversity and equality data is not yet available but on the emerging figures seen by pay negotiators there has been little or no improvement in the outcomes which made part-time staff, ethnic minority staff, and staff with a disability less likely to be awarded the top marking last year.
Q: Do all staff with the qualifying box marks get an end of year bonus payment?
A: No. Staff must also be in post on 1st July 2011. This year, significant numbers of staff who can claim to have earned a bonus through their People performance marking are excluded, such as those taking an exit package whose last day of service is 30th June, and anyone terminating at the end of an FTA before 1st July 2011. PCS negotiators have made this point to management repeatedly but to no avail.
Q: Do unsatisfactory performers get a pay award?
A: No. As in previous years in addition to exclusion from the end of year bonus staff marked as unsatisfactory in the 2010/11 People Performance report will not receive any consolidated increase. This applies even if their pay falls below the range minimum. There is provision for the award to be paid if performance improves.
