The civil service’s biggest union has launched a ballot of members who work at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office seeking views on the department’s new performance-based pay system.
PCS said it has concerns with FCDO’s methodology for calculating its 2025-26 pay offer for staff, which is based on HM Treasury and the Cabinet Office’s 3.25% pay remit.
The union said that the department’s proposed mix of a consolidated award and a non-consolidated award “misrepresents the true pay increase” staff will receive. It added that diverting funds from consolidated pay to performance bonuses would mean that one in five FCDO staff would be left with “less than the expected 3.25% increase”.
PCS said that under FCDO’s plans, future pay awards would now be tied to performance ratings from 2024-2025 – which it said was a change introduced “without proper consultation”.
“We argue that this retrospective application is unfair, as staff were unaware that their performance ratings would affect future pay,” the union said.
PCS acknowledged that it has long campaigned against performance-related pay. It said evidence indicated that performance-related pay disproportionately affected women, disabled staff, and those with caring responsibilities.
“Staff who take parental leave, secondments, or unpaid leave may find themselves excluded from pay awards under the new system,” it said.
PCS added that FCDO’s new performance management system contained no right of appeal.
“Not only is pay now determined at the whim of a line manager, if you disagree with their decision that you are a poor performer and are on an improvement plan, you cannot appeal that,” the union said. “PCS is challenging this.”
PCS’s indicative ballot is calling on members at FCDO to “express their views” on the new system.
Although it is not a vote to support industrial action, the ballot does ask members about their willingness to take industrial action generally and strike action specifically. The ballot is open until midday on 29 August.
An FCDO spokesperson said the department’s recently-introduced progressive pay structure would allow staff to “progress through pay grades more quickly based on their delivery for the FCDO and for government.
“The FCDO has protected the lowest paid staff by offering a 5.4% consolidated uplift to our lowest pay band,” the spokesperson said. “This is a key milestone in becoming a more modern employer, focussed on recruiting and retaining the best talent, with an emphasis on high performance and delivery for the British public.”
The department added that 80% of FCDO staff would receive a consolidated pay rise of at least 4% this year.
It said the 2025-26 pay offer provided a long-term strategy to continue to reduce gender and ethnicity pay gaps by ensuring the opportunity for all staff to reach the top of their pay band in a “reasonable” timeframe.