Despite Left Unity’s victory in the recent DWP elections, which closed on the 13th May, the Left Opposition won the floor at the PCS DWP Group Conference that took place 19th and 20th May 2025.
LU DWP group leadership gave up building any campaign on pay after the national campaign was abandoned in May 2023, whilst LU senior officers on the National Executive Committee (NEC) blocked any campaign on pay, pensions or conditions over the last 12 months through the use of Chair’s rulings, as this website has reported on.
BLN member Reece Lawton moved the only pay motion on the agenda – Motion A1, produced below. Despite opposition from the LU leadership, who asked for it to be remitted or opposed due to its criticism of the GEC for not building on anger around last year’s 5% pay remit, the motion passed through a hand vote. Motion A1 instructed the Group Executive Committee (GEC) to recognise the necessity of moving towards a strike ballot; to build the mood for a serious campaign for a 10% pay rise, for a £15-an-hour starting wage, and for a sliding scale of wages. A fighting strategy on the national campaign was also carried at ADC which further updates the PCS demands to £18ph.
Delegates have made it clear that low pay- which has left AA/AO grades on minimum wage for the third year in a row, with other grades sliding increasingly closer – must be seriously combatted.
Delegates also voted for to support Emergency Motion 3 on hybrid working, which laid out a timeline for moving towards industrial action over the recent announcement that DWP members who currently work hybrid will be required to attend the office at least 60% of the time from September, and criticised the GEC for engaging in embargoed talks which achieved little for members but allowed management to suggest PCS accepted the change. The instructions of the motion are below.
Conference instructs the GEC:
● To write to the Secretary of State and Permanent Secretary demanding the rescinding of the 60% office attendance mandate.
● Encourage all staff to raise a concern about the current office attendance mandate, providing a template concern that members can submit to their work line manager and providing guidance for manager members on how they should handle concerns in a way that supports the campaign.
● To provide a brief to branches to assist with members’ meetings by no later than 2nd June, in order for branches to hold members’ meetings throughout June, prior to peak school vacation and annual leave periods and provide feedback to the GEC.
● To assess the feedback from members’ meetings at a GEC meeting no later than July and set out a clear plan for building a campaign to reverse these attacks, including action short of strike and up to and including an all-out strike action, to a meeting of DWP Branch Secretaries, Chairs and Organisers by no later than 10 August 2025.
● Prepare to ballot members on strike action and action short of a strike – an example of which may be to instruct members to go into an office on the same day to delicately exceed the office capacity. The timeline for a ballot will need to take account of any national ballot (eg the National Campaign on pay, pensions and jobs) to ensure we deliver the turnout in this ballot.
The GEC is instructed to produce a Members Briefing by no later than 31 August 2025 to set out the campaign strategy and to provide a report on the campaign to branches by 31 December 2025.
Motion A4, which attempted to “relaunch” ED was opposed by conference. The passing of this motion would have watered down existing DWP Group policy from 2022, with still no serious attempt to negotiate improvements to the Collective Agreement. This means PCS in DWP is still committed to the ending of compulsory Saturday working, the reduction of operating hours to 5pm, the reduction of the working week to 35 hours and to secure funding to end the two-tier ED/non-ED pay system.
PCS Broad Left Network members will keep fighting for our DWP Group to adopt a fighting programme which is essential to stand up to the key attacks facing our membership.
Motion A1:
This conference notes nothing was done to build on the anger over pay shown in the members meetings organised on the pay offer at the end of 2024.
This conference recognises: −
- The key role our group should be playing in the PCS national campaign on pay given our size and low pay rates even further behind other groups and a significant proportion of DWP staff in the lower grades with huge numbers facing going back onto the minimum wage in April 25 or sliding closer to the minimum wage.
- The vast bulk of DWP staff are in the grades AA−EO with latest published figures showing
– AAs & AOs FTE 21457.34
EOs FTE 43928.47
Total DWP FTE 83,002
- Scandalously three quarters of DWP staff, all those in AA−EO grades would directly benefit from the PCS demand for starting pay of £15ph with additional money to sustain London weighting above this.
- A serious campaign on pay would help build the strength of the union and rebuild confidence in the Group that we can win on pay and all the other issues our members are facing and give a lead to branches which have been demoralised with the lack of support.
- The government floating pitiful 2.8% pay rises in 2025 for public sector workers.
This conference instructs the GEC to: −
- Recognise the necessity of building towards a successful strike ballot as an integral part of the pay campaign as it is clear the new Government will not deliver the pay rise that is needed without being forced.
- Work closely with branches and regions/nations to coordinate campaigning to meaningful national pay bargaining and sliding scale wage structure that would stop our wages falling below cost of living rises and keep our members’ pay above the minimum wage. As well as pay restoration to address the years our members’ pay has been driven down.
- Mobilise pressure on DWP senior management that we are not prepared to accept pathetic attempts to dress up the mandatory minimum wage rises and voucher schemes as something they are doing to address low pay and that they must act decisively to get the full funding to address the huge pay issues in the DWP.
- Recognise we need to unify all our membership to fight together for all members to have a pay rise, pay restoration and genuine pay progression to get the rate for job and involve our PMA members in drafting specific campaign material for our higher-grade members.
- Oppose any attempts by management to sacrifice jobs for pay
- Work with the national union and coordinate support to ensure that DWP members are fully involved in the national campaign but in the absence of a national strike ballot that our group popularise PCS demands amongst DWP members about the need to stand up and fight for 10% pay rise, £15ph starting pay, mobilises to ballot our members on pay.
PCS Broad Left Network 