You will have heard in the media that the Pay Review Body for some public servants in Britain has recommended increases of 5% - 7% for groups of workers including teachers, junior doctors and senior civil servants (SCS).
The first thing to note is that the Pay Review Body does not cover civil servants, below SCS, and in Britain civil servants below SCS have been offered 4.5% - 5% for 2023/24, plus a compensatory lump sum payment of £1,500 for 2022/23.
In the absence of an Assembly, decisions on budgets here are being made by the Secretary of State. In the budget set out in April, he has determined that any additional funding provided by Treasury to departments in England and Wales will not come to Northern Ireland as part of the Barnett Consequential but will come off the so-called debt of £330million he declared in October.
As things stand, NICS Management is working with a budget that is close to £1billion short of what is needed to properly fund services and provide adequate pay awards for civil servants, teachers and health service workers here. I have written to the Permanent Secretary of the Department of Finance to seek a meeting and we continue to meet with all the NI political parties. I have also met with the Campaign Group of MPs in Parliament to apprise them of the position and to garner their support.
You will be aware that I have written on more than one occasion to the Secretary of State seeking a meeting. In response, Steve Baker MP, in the Northern Ireland Office, has stated that civil service pay is a matter for the devolved Assembly and a meeting has not been offered. There is no doubt that the current political situation has made progress difficult but despite that, we have continued to bring the issue to the Secretary of State’s attention, most recently at the pay day protest held at his office in Belfast on 28 June, to ensure that our members’ anger is heard loud and clear.
The Civil Service Executive Committee met on 26 June. The meeting agreed that we should begin preparations for an escalation of our campaign. There will be a meeting of ICTU affiliated unions in early August to discuss a coordinated campaign on pay across all the public services here and the Civil Service Executive Committee will meet later in August to discuss the NICS pay campaign.
I will keep you apprised of developments.