HM Revenue and Customs has tabled a pay offer for staff that is worth 6.2% for administrative officers paid at the national rate, the civil service's biggest union has revealed.
While the new government set a broad-brush 5% figure for civil service rises in the pay-remit guidance issued by the Cabinet Office at the end of July, it's up to individual departments to translate that into a settlement for staff.
HMRC yesterday published its detailed pay offer to staff and the PCS union today shared a grade-by-grade breakdown of the offer for staff below senior-civil service level.
AOs on the national rate are the biggest winners in terms of proportional uplift for 2024-25, with the 6.2% pay award said to equate to a £1,555 annual boost.
AOs paid at London rates are being offered a 5.1% rise, which equates to a £1,459 pay increase for the year.
Administrative assistants – the lowest grade in the department – are being offered a 5% rise whether they are paid at the national rate or the London rate.
That equates to a base pay award of £1,254 for AAs outside the capital and £1,414 for those in London.
At the other end of the delegated-grades scale, no-one at higher officer grade or above is being offered a 5% rise, regardless of their work location.
HOs on the national rate are being offered a rise of 4.67%, worth £1,698 a year in terms of base pay. HOs in the capital are being offered 4.66%, which is worth £1,930.
Grade 6 officers based in the capital are being offered the lowest proportional increase: 4.56%. However it is worth £3,672 – the highest uplift among delegated grades.
PCS said it would consult with members on the HMRC offer over the course of the next month.
"Given the pay remit guidance of 5% the offer was always going to be far short of our national pay demands," it said. PCS added that its revenue and customs group executive committee' negotiators "have sought to maximise the benefits for members".
The union said members who get Universal Credit payments to boost their earnings had raised concerns that a one-off payment for the 2024-25 increase that is backdated to April could negatively affect them.
It said HMRC had said it is unable to stagger the backdated increase across multiple payslips because staff could "face other financial implications" related to Universal Credit as a result.