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Pay progression for Senior Civil Servants is welcome, but remains ‘top pay priority’ 

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In response to announcements on civil service pay, the FDA welcomes progression for Senior Civil Servants, but introducing progression for other grades remains ‘top pay priority’ after ‘lack of meaningful change for two decades’.

The government has published its Civil Service Pay Remit Guidance 2026 to 2027 for grades below the Senior Civil Service, which allows departments to make average pay awards up to 3.5%.

In addition to the overall headline award, some reforms have been introduced to the delegated pay framework that ease pressure on departments in how they make decisions on pay, and frees up paybill spend for the main pay uplifts. The FDA has been pressing the government to address these issues, where civil service departments have been struggling due to the impact of National Living Wage implementation. The high level changes are:

  • Streamlining the process for pay flex business cases, which are either small in value or targeted at recruitment and retention of specialist skills;
  • Pay compression framework – departments can voluntarily adopt a framework to address compression between AA and EO grades which can be paid for outside the percentage headline figure – freeing up available cash for other pay priorities at delegated grades; and
  • Departments can submit a business case to move their pay settlement dates back to 1 April, with the aim of introducing more consistency across the system.

In response, FDA Assistant General Secretary Lauren Crowley said:

“We are pleased that the overall award of 3.5% compares favourably to the wider public sector and current inflation figures”.

Darren Jones, addressing Annual Delegate Conference in May 2026

Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Darren Jones has also published a Written Ministerial Statement confirming the government’s decision to partially accept the recommendations of the Senior Salaries Review Body (SSRB) for Senior Civil Service pay, awarding a 2.5% increase to base pay, a 1% pot for the introduction of pay progression and an increase of £5,000 to the pay band minima.

The combination of these component parts means that many SCS members will receive more than the 2.5% headline.

These changes will be implemented consistently across the entire SCS workforce and will drive faster movement in the pay ranges, ending the stagnation of SCS pay.

In addition to the news on progression and increase to pay band minima, it has also been confirmed that the cap for one-off bonuses will be increased from £5,000 to £10,000 for the highest performing members of the SCS. These will be at the discretion of the department.

As reported in Civil Service World, Crowley said:

“Pay systems across the civil service have been blighted by a lack of meaningful pay progression for almost two decades. The ability to move up a pay band based on delivery, skills and experience should be a feature of any well-functioning workplace. Its absence has had detrimental consequences on morale, delivery and both attracting and retaining talent.  

“The changes to Senior Civil Service pay announced today are finally beginning to address this and have been achieved through sustained work and negotiation. However, pay progression for the rest of the civil service — the majority of our membership — has not yet been secured.

“Delivering pay progression for a much larger and varied workforce is more complex, but it is the top pay priority for this union, and we will be pursuing it with the same approach that has produced results for the Senior Civil Service.”

Pay reform

In a message responding to this pay news, Crowley told members:

“Decades of decisions driven by political ideology have left the civil service trailing behind the rest of the public sector. Our years of working with the Senior Salaries Review Body have shown us that their pay recommendations are evidence-led, with consideration for recruitment and retention, skills and capability, and morale. Its role in this process – holding the government to account on its lack of progress on central reward strategy and keeping up pressure on delivery – has now been shown to bear fruit. The SSRB has been making consistent recommendations to the government over a number of years – calling on it to address the long term pay problems, including the lack of meaningful pay progression.

“It continues to be FDA policy – passed again by our Annual Delegate Conference last week – that a properly independent pay review body for the entire civil service, with strengthened bargaining rights for unions in the decision process, would deliver better outcomes for civil servants”.

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