FDA National Officer Allan Sampson, who represents the union’s Northern Ireland Civil Service (NICS), responds to the newly published public sector pay policy for Northern Ireland.

This pay policy will once more provide an effective barrier to the meaningful pay increases civil servants deserve, and will reinforce the view that the NICS has, as an employer, abandoned its responsibility to fairly reward its employees in favour of a minimalist approach based solely on considerations of recruitment and retention.

While the NICS claims that the policy gives flexibility to make higher awards it is quite clear that these will be permitted (and indeed, only possible) in return for large scale reductions in staffing.

FDA members in the Northern Ireland Civil Service have not received a meaningful pay increase in over a decade. They are now faced with the prospect of another pay award which fails to protect them against the effects of inflation. Through the upcoming negotiations the FDA will press for a plan to restore the pay our members have lost over the past ten years, and establish a strategy for reward that recognises the talent and hard work of civil servants.