Disgruntled civil servants have taken to social media platform Reddit to condemn an agreement announced this morning to give mandarins a cost-of-living payment of £1,500.
The announcement came as an attempt to break a strike deadlock, with the Public and Commercial Services Union organising walkouts to secure a 10 percent pay rise for members.
Today, ministers unveiled an offer of a £1,500 one-off payment for civil servants “in recognition of the pressures” faced by staff over the last year.
The deal also includes a moratorium on any changes to the Civil Service Compensation Scheme until 2025 and a commitment to avoiding compulsory redundancies ‘wherever possible.’
Fellow civil servants’ union, the FDA, welcomed the deal, with General Secretary Dave Penman saying: “The decision to ballot for national industrial action over pay was taken by the FDA for the first time in 40 years.”
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“It was intended to send a clear message to the government that enough was enough, as they had failed to demonstrate that they valued the civil service equally with the rest of the public sector.”
Unfortunately for the Government, it appears the offer has gone down less favourably with civil servants.
Many took to the Civil Service forum on Reddit to slam it as too little, especially when tax payments and the amount taken by student loan repayments are taken into consideration.
One user sarcastically commented: “Taxed, non-pensionable and won’t count when next year’s pay review comes up. Quality.”
Another said: “Surely I’m not the only one staggeringly underwhelmed by this?”
“After tax, a one off payment of £1,500 is very little in the grand scheme of things, and in the wider context of both long-standing pay stagnation and double digit rates of inflation I am still significantly worse off than I used to be.”
The user moaned the offer being accepted will “almost certainly be weaponised to shut down negotiations over the next few years (‘we already gave you a generous deal in 2023, stop being greedy and take your 1.5 percent.’)”
A fellow Reddit-using member of the civil service replied: “It’s better than a slap in the face but yeah still s**t”.
User MFA_Nay described the offer as a “Temporary “f*** off” lump sum while keeping to +4.5percent which comes out if existing budgets.”
Another civil servant pointed out the “biggest kick” is the payment comes out of existing departmental budgets, so spending cuts will have to be found elsewhere to fund it.
One user asked: “Wtf are they playing at?”
One user said some of his fellow unionised civil servants “are getting so desperate the idea of a short-term cash injection will probably work”, though claimed the offer is “f***ing us over for the future.”
Ministers hoping for an end to strike action may be dismayed by user NoBeginning8, who added: “I certainly hope the PCS rejects this pathetic deal but it is heading into the right direction.”
The PCS is set to meet on Monday to discuss the offer and there’s no guarantee the Government will avoid further walkouts.
