Further public sector strikes announced as Government refuses to negotiate with its own staff

Prospect union has notified employers that it will be taking further strike action on 10 May and 7 June across its public service membership.

This follows the refusal of the government to enter negotiations to resolve the current pay and conditions dispute, having instead announced a pay control of 4.5% which will further erode living standards.

Prospect represents tens of thousands of specialist, technical, professional, managerial and scientific staff in the Civil Service. Members work at a wide range of employers, including the Met Office, Health and Safety Executive, Trinity House, Intellectual Property Office, Animal and Plant Health Agency, Natural England and UK Research and Innovation.

Prospect members in 40 employers across the public sector previously took strike action on 15 March in a dispute over pay, job numbers, and proposed cuts to redundancy terms. Members’ pay has declined by up to 26% since 2010. The pay control for 2023/24 of 4.5% compares to inflation running at 10.4%.

Members have also been undertaking action short of a strike – including working to contracted hours and an overtime ban – since 16 March. That action short of a strike will continue on days when strike action is not taking place.

Mike Clancy, General Secretary of Prospect, said:

“We have repeatedly offered to engage in pay talks aimed at resolving this dispute provided they followed a comparable approach to that employed elsewhere in the public service. By publishing the pay control, the government has abandoned its staff to further real terms cuts and to remain at the back of the public service pay queue.

“This industrial action was entirely avoidable, but the government’s failure to bring anything to the table has made it inevitable and it leaves hard working civil servants with no option but to protest over their treatment.

“Prospect members are the specialists upon whom all aspects of effective government depend. If the government doesn’t change its stance, then it will face a recruitment and retention crisis that degrades the Civil Service and the public services we all rely on.”