The
Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) has called on the Government to
justify paying its top advisers six figure salaries while thousands of its
employees are struggling to make ends meet.
According
to research carried out by the union, three quarters of civil servants earn
less than the national average wage of £24,421 – 25 per cent of civil servants
earn less than £12,770, 41 per cent less than £15,000 and 82 per cent less than
£25,000.
Around
10,000 civil servants also claim Working Families Tax Credit to boost their
incomes – adding up to £35 million a year.
The
PCS said it has secured significant pay rises for the lowest paid civil
servants over the past three years, but more needed to be done.
The
union is campaigning for a national pay framework setting minimum standards on
pay and conditions, this would include a minimum wage of £12,000 across the
civil service (£15,000 in London).
Mark
Serwotka, PCS general secretary elect, said: "These figures explode the
popular myth of the wealthy, bowler-hatted civil servant enjoying a career
behind a Whitehall desk. The real picture is one of dedicated public servants,
most of them PCS members, delivering government services to the people across
the UK with a large proportion being poorly paid.
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"The
fact that four out of five government employees earn less than £25,000 and a
quarter of the civil service earn less than £12,770 shows that the high earning
Sir Humphry-style mandarins are an elite minority."
