Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Civil ServiceEmployee relationsLatest NewsIndustrial action / strikesPublic sector

100,000 civil servants to strike on 1 February

by Adam McCulloch 12 Jan 2023
by Adam McCulloch 12 Jan 2023 Photo: Shutterstock
Photo: Shutterstock

About 100,000 civil servants will strike on 1 February in a dispute over pay, jobs and conditions, the Public and Commercial Services union has announced.

The action will coincide with the TUC’s “protect the right to strike day” announced on 10 January in response to new government legislation. It follows the largest mandate for strike action in the union’s history after a ballot last November.

The civil servants strike will involve members in 124 government departments and follows walkouts last month involving Border Force staff, driving examiners and National Highways workers.

The PCS union is calling for a 10% pay rise, protections to pensions and protections from job cuts.

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka suggested there might be coordinated strike action with other unions on the same day, telling Sky News: “I think as long as the government retains its position of refusing to put money on the table, we will see more and more cooperation and coordination between unions. I don’t believe we will be the only union on strike on 1 February.”

Strikes

Unions clash with Shapps over Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill

Minimum-service strike laws would allow dismissals

Handling industrial action

Serwotka accused the government of “treating its own workforce worse than anyone else in the economy”. He added: “We’ve been given a 2% pay rise. We’ve been told tens of thousands of jobs are going to be slashed, our conditions are going to be cut. And we represent people who deliver public services from cradle to grave.”

The government has said the union’s pay demands would cost an “unaffordable” £2.4bn.

But the PCS boss said: “That’s the way of the government trying to avoid a sensible argument. We believe that if you get less than the rate of inflation, you’re actually poorer for going to work at the end of the year than you were at the start of the year and that can’t be right.”

He added: “Even if it’s true that it was to cost £2.4bn, that is a tiny fraction the Conservative government was prepared to borrow to give tax cuts to the richest in this country. So the government knows it can afford it.

“It knows if they gave us a pay rise, our members will spend it in their local economy, boosting manufacturing and the hospitality sector at a time of recession, unlike the rich who avoid paying taxes and put their money in the Cayman Islands. So it makes sense for the economy and it makes sense to ensure that civil servants are working but are in poverty.”

Serwotka said he was meeting Cabinet Office minister and paymaster general Jeremy Quin today (12 January) and said “if he puts some money on the table there is a chance this dispute can be resolved”.

The PCS and fellow civil service unions Prospect and FDA were invited to talks by Quin earlier this week.

The FDA is balloting its members over a strike in the civil service fast stream and Prospect is planning to ballot members over industrial action if there is no movement from the government.

The leaders demanded that its discussions with ministers were “meaningful”. In a joint letter to Quin this week, Dave Penman, the FDA general secretary, and Mike Clancy, the general secretary of Prospect, said: “We must be clear, however, that if you are serious about trying to resolve these issues we would expect that, at that meeting, government will have something meaningful to present to the unions rather than simply once again being in listening mode.”

Serwotka added that if there was no movement on the government’s offer then “he’ll see public services from benefits to driving tests, from passports to driving licences, from ports to airports affected by industrial action on February 1.”

The PCS said a further 33,000 members working in five more departments, including HMRC, were next week re-balloting to join the union’s national strike action.

Conservative MP and former cabinet minister Jacob Rees-Mogg, who last year accused civil servants of “skiving off” responded to news of the strike by tweeting “If they are not in the office will anyone notice?”.

Latest HR job opportunities on Personnel Today

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

OptOut
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.


Browse more human resources jobs

 

Adam McCulloch

Adam McCulloch first worked for Personnel Today magazine in the early 1990s as a sub editor. He rejoined Personnel Today as a writer in 2017, covering all aspects of HR but with a special interest in diversity, social mobility and industrial relations. He has ventured beyond the HR realm to work as a freelance writer and production editor in sectors including travel (The Guardian), aviation (Flight International), agriculture (Farmers' Weekly), music (Jazzwise), theatre (The Stage) and social work (Community Care). He is also the author of KentWalksNearLondon. Adam first became interested in industrial relations after witnessing an exchange between Arthur Scargill and National Coal Board chairman Ian McGregor in 1984, while working as a temp in facilities at the NCB, carrying extra chairs into a conference room!

previous post
Disability claimants could continue to receive benefits in work
next post
Cybersecurity is an HR issue, not just a matter for IT

You may also like

Minister defends Employment Rights Bill at Acas conference

16 May 2025

Nurses threaten strikes if pay demands not met

12 May 2025

Resident doctors to ballot for strike action

2 May 2025

Ofgem workers ballot for strike action

2 May 2025

University of East Anglia set for nine days...

2 May 2025

Unite announces further Gatwick airport strikes

2 May 2025

Acas hosts talks to end Birmingham bin strike

1 May 2025

Scottish Water workers strike in dispute over pay

22 Apr 2025

Teachers could strike if pay award not improved

16 Apr 2025

Birmingham bin strike to continue as ‘totally inadequate’...

15 Apr 2025

  • 2025 Employee Communications Report PROMOTED | HR and leadership...Read more
  • The Majority of Employees Have Their Eyes on Their Next Move PROMOTED | A staggering 65%...Read more
  • Prioritising performance management: Strategies for success (webinar) WEBINAR | In today’s fast-paced...Read more
  • Self-Leadership: The Key to Successful Organisations PROMOTED | Eletive is helping businesses...Read more
  • Retaining Female Talent: Four Ways to Reduce Workplace Drop Out PROMOTED | International Women’s Day...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2025

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2025 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+