E21 Pay for Home Civil Servants Below the SCS

Background

Responsibility for determining pay for UK Home Civil Servants below the Senior Civil Service (SCS) is delegated by the Treasury to departments. DFID agrees the financial envelope with the Treasury and Cabinet Office, usually on a multi-year basis. DFID also negotiates, through collective bargaining, with the departmental trade unions (Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) and First Division Association (FDA)) on the basis of resources agreed by the Centre. Pay negotiations include agreement on a non-consolidated performance pay element. Although Staff Appointed in Country (SAIC) have separate arrangements for determining their pay they share similar arrangements with HCS staff for the award of preformance related pay.

Compliance Tasks

1. DFID must comply with Treasury pay guidance and Cabinet Office (CO) requirements, operating within Government pay policy parameters and affordability constraints

Task assigned to: HRD

2. DFID designs and negotiates pay and conditions of services changes with the Trade Unions, at a single table

Task assigned to: HRD

3. DFID management seeks Treasury and Cabinet Office approval of proposed pay remit prior to final negotiations with the Trade Unions

Task assigned to: HRD

4. Assuming agreement with Trade Unions, union members are balloted on the DFID proposals

Task assigned to: HRD / TUS

5. HRD organises annual equality proofing of all performance related awards and periodic reviews of other wider pay equality issues. Results published on intranet (Insight).

Risks of non-compliance

• Loss of skilled staff if DFID pay does not keep pace with market salary trends.
• Failure to recruit the right staff.
• Low morale within workforce generally.
• Penalties imposed by Treasury for failure to follow delegated pay guidelines.
• Legal challenges if breaching relevant legislation e.g. the 1998 Human Rights Act (HRA)
• Reputational risks if any of the above arise.

Associated learning and skills

HR staff who administer pay and allowances on the PS Enterprise payroll and database must undertake mandatory training on the system before they are permitted to process pay, allowances or receive the system guidance manuals.