Public Servants Serving Our Society: Ben Pye

Hi, my name’s Ben Pye and I work for the Animal and Plant Health Agency, part of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. I work within the Plant Health part of the agency preventing the entry and establishment in Britain of a range of non-indigenous pests and diseases that would badly impact horticulture, agriculture and the natural environment.

What I do day to day

A typical day for me would be inspections at the nursery of a major producer of plants, then visiting a garden centre that has received imported plants and finally going to a private house where they have reported a pest problem with a plant they’ve just bought on-line.

Another major part of our work concerns ports and airports where we have, until EU exit, mainly been looking at material coming into the country from countries outside the EU. This work has become more challenging in terms of staff resource since EU exit as we must now regularly inspect imports from the EU. The work we were starting to do at the Border Control Posts (BCPs) has previously been undertaken inland. The rationale behind inspections taking place at the BCPs is simple – if you find a pest or disease at the border you can prevent it moving inland. Once present inland eradicating the problem can be difficult and expensive. The new borders procedures to manage this risk were planned to start July 2022, but they have now been delayed until sometime next year.

Why being paid properly matters

We are facing a significant retention problem within the agency as private sector pay outstrips civil service pay. The cost-of-living crisis is going to amplify that problem as government continues to severely limit public sector pay increases. The retention problem is especially acute within the Animal Health side of the agency. If policing our borders and animal/plant biosecurity are as important as government states, why does it not offer suitable salaries that address the retention problems across our agency? The cost to UK plc of a major animal or plant disease epidemic (think of ‘foot and mouth’) will dwarf decent pay increases.

There will be major consequences if these inspections are not conducted adequately. One plant health example is the work we are doing concerning two diseases of potatoes that are established in parts of Europe, but that we don’t have in the UK. If these diseases become established in the UK they will decimate our potato industry. This would significantly impact our economy and necessitate the import of potatoes thus undermining Britain’s food security. That is why we are regularly inspecting imported potatoes, to make sure this does not happen. Similar major disease risks are present in the Animal Health part of the agency. We need well motivated experts in these inspection roles. We need to retain our experts by paying them a decent living wage.

The government’s intention to now reduce the civil service by 91,000 has exasperated the feeling of despair. Cuts of this magnitude mean cuts to delivery, and not carrying out operational tasks that we are currently undertaking. Our work is demand-led in terms of both industry and legislation which enables trade and protects Britain’s biosecurity. What do we stop doing? And who wants to join an employer who pays less than the private sector would and who will be actively shrinking its workforce over the next three years?

Why being in a union matters

I’m coming to the end of my career and looking towards retirement. Over the last ten-plus years of pay a freeze, my role as an Inspector has been devalued to the point where I no longer feel valued and by association the work that I deliver on behalf of government is no longer valued.

Consequently, the role that I will miss the most is my Prospect work as a trade union rep. I believe in fairness. When you see people in the workplace being treated badly, you want to make a difference. When you have a success as a rep, whether it is dealing with a personal case where a member has been treated badly by the employer, or success in negotiations with an employer, it’s such a buzz. The real tangible satisfaction of knowing we are valued by our members and we really do make a difference.

Find out about our Public Services pay campaign, Serving Our Society, and see how you can support public servants like Ben doing vital work today.