Pat McFadden, the chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, has kicked off the 2026-27 pay round and reaffirmed his commitment to announce pay awards for civil servants earlier in the year.
The senior Cabinet Office minister sent the department’s annual remit letter to the Senior Salaries Review Body yesterday, beginning the process for determining pay awards for senior civil servants.
In the letter, he said: “Public sector workers delivering our vital public services deserve timely pay awards. We announced 2025-26 pay awards two months earlier than last year, and remain committed to bringing 2026-27 pay announcements forwards further.
“To this end, I would be grateful for your support in achieving an earlier pay announcement by submitting your report at the earliest point that allows you to give due consideration to the relevant evidence.”
McFadden added: “I recognise that changing the timeline from recent years will present challenges for you, but I am sure you also share the government’s belief in the importance of returning to more timely annual pay processes. To enable you to submit your report earlier, our department will aim to cooperate with all your deadlines and bring the evidence process forward.”
In recent years, the pay remit process has started very late in the year. Civil service pay awards have typically been announced well after the start of the financial year on 1 April, with rises sometimes not reaching pay packets until several months into the year. In some cases, civil servants at delegated grades – who do not have a pay review body – have had to wait much longer, as each department must negotiate its own pay deal with unions.
The pay remit process for this year’s pay award – 2025-26 – started on 30 September 2024, and the pay award was announced around eight months later, on 22 May. The process was delayed after the previous government chose to not make any decisions on public sector pay before the 4 July general election.
The process for the 2024-25 pay remit began even later, with the then-chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, John Glen, sending his remit letter to the SSRB on 20 December 2023. The pay award was not announced until 29 July 2024, a few weeks after Labour came to power.
McFadden also confirmed in the letter to SSRB chair Lea Paterson that, as with the 2025-26 award and as spelled out at the 2025 Spending Review, all pay awards “must be funded from departmental budgets and there will be no additional funding available for pay settlements”.
The chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster said the Cabinet Office’s evidence this year will set out the funds available to the SCS for the coming financial year, along with the recruitment and retention context, earnings data and the government’s future strategic priorities.
He said it will also "set out our strategic priorities for the SCS workforce, including in relation to pay”, including "setting out our direction for a fundamental review of the SCS pay and reward frameworks, which was recommended by the SSRB in your 2025-26 report and accepted by the government".
"This government continues to strive to ensure that the SCS is equipped to efficiently deliver vital, high quality public service, and drive our ambition for mission-driven government," he added.
McFadden also said that the government “greatly values the SSRB’s key role in providing independent and evidence-based recommendations” and that it is “important that we continue to work constructively together”.