Treasury does not trust departments to manage their own resources, says FDA

21 Apr 2016 05:09 PM

FDA General Secretary Dave Penman, responded to the publication of the 2016-17 Treasury pay guidance for the civil service

"Making a virtue of poverty pay awards and the certainty of continued straitened times for civil servants is one thing, but the Treasury compounds the very real problems facing today's civil service by limiting any possible flexibility that departments might sensibly utilise.

"The endemic issues of unequal pay, rock bottom morale and ossified pay frameworks are impossible to address within a 1% cap, but an increased use of flexibilities and allowing departments to negotiate multi-year deals would at least start to modernise pay structures that are holding back both public services and public servants.

"At a time when the civil service is being asked to deliver ever more elaborate policies with ever fewer resources, civil servants are constantly being asked to work more flexibly; it's time the Chancellor lead by example and loosened the stranglehold on civil service employers."

Related information: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-pay-guidance-2016-to-2017

Notes for editors

1. The FDA is the trade union for the UK's senior public servants and professionals. FDA membership includes more than 18,000 senior civil servants, Government policy advisors, prosecutors, diplomats, tax professionals, economists, solicitors and other professionals working across Government and the NHS.

2. The FDA (formerly the First Division Association) should be referred to simply as "The FDA" and can be described as "the senior public servants' union". 

3. The FDA can be found on Twitter @FDA_union and at www.fda.org.uk.

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