Civil Service Pay - A National Framework Agreement

EDM number 1013 in 2001-02, proposed by Rudi Vis on 18/03/2002.

That this House supports the Public and Commercial Services Union's campaign for a return to a national dimension in Civil Service pay; believes it is a necessity following the Conservative Government's withdrawal from the Civil Service National Pay Agreement in 1996 whereby responsibility for pay in the Civil Service and related areas was delegated to individual government departments resulting in division, unfairness, inequality, discrimination, low morale and inefficiency; recognises that there are now over 170 pay deals covering civil servants and those working in related areas, meaning 170 different pay scales, minimums, maximums and vastly differing terms and conditions and that this has resulted in a massive duplication of work, effort and time; notes that the distribution of pay between men and women doing work of equal value gives rise to concerns under equal pay legislation; acknowledges that it has led to disparities in pay with workers doing the same job but receiving differences in pay of up to ú10,000; notes that this discourages transfer and mobility and hampers changes to the machinery of government; further acknowledges that the time needed to achieve the maximum pay for a grade varies widely and notes that many independent surveys that have found a significant tendency within performance-related pay for groups, such as the lower paid, ethnic minorities, part-time staff and the disabled to receive lower appraisal marks; and urges the Government to rectify these many problems by introducing a national framework agreement, setting out minimum standards on Civil Service pay.

This motion has been signed by a total of 33 MPs.