Members of the PCS union have voted overwhelmingly to accept a three-year pay package that outstrips civil service-wide pay remit guidance.
In a ballot last month, 93.7% of those who voted backed the deal, which will see Home Office officials receive a pay increase of at least 6% in 2025-26, 5.5% in 2026-27 and 4% in 2027-28. Just over 60% of eligible union members voted in the poll between 9 and 30 March.
The result means the department can move forward with its pay flex business case. Pay remit guidance published by the Cabinet Office last year said departments could increase their overall paybills by 3.25% in 2025-26, with scope for a further 0.5% increase to be targeted at “specific departmental workforce issues”. Anything beyond this requires the department to set out a pay flex business case detailing where it can save money to pay for the extra pay bump, which must be approved by the Cabinet Office and Treasury.
The deal includes a break clause that will be triggered if pay remit guidance exceeds 5.5% in 2026 or 3.6% in 2027.
Under the deal, some staff – including those in the lowest-paid grades – will receive higher pay adjustments. Pay for administrative officers and executive officers will increase by up to 7.74%, 7.29% and 4.66% over the three-year period covered by the deal.
This means that by July 2027, all Home Office officials will earn at least £15 per hour, with the national salary for administrative assistants sitting at £29,050. Pay for administrative officers and executive officers, who make up around 67% of the department’s workforce, will increase by up to 20% over that period, according to PCS.
The deal also includes changes to paternity and adoption leave, which will come into effect this July. Some 7,500 staff on pre‑modernised terms will transition to modernised conditions and will receive compensation payments worth between £3,000 to £5,000.
PCS said it expects staff’s April salaries to reflect the changes. The pay adjustment will be backdated to July 2025, excluding a 3% interim payment made in December.
The union said it will monitor implementation of the deal closely and is encouraging its members to check their entitlements using the department’s pay calculator.
The ballot follows nearly a year of negotiations, consultation and “detailed work” between PCS and the Home Office, the union said.
“The deal is a substantial achievement, marking continued progress since the industrial action of recent years and delivering meaningful long‑term gains for members,” it said.
When the pay offer was put forward in March, a Home Office spokesperson said: “The three-year pay deal that we have been negotiating with our trade unions will be cost neutral overall and follows an assessment of pay and conditions across the department.
“It will mean we can deploy our workforce more efficiently and attract and retain the best talent to deliver on our priorities of securing the border, making our streets safer and protecting homeland security.”