500 signatures reached
To: Oliver Dowden, Minister for the Cabinet Office
Fight for Fast Stream fair pay
Civil servants on the Fast Stream are still civil servants: employed by the Cabinet Office, we're dedicated individuals tackling the major challenges facing our nation. We can be found across government, in every department, tirelessly working to serve the public. But we are not treated like other civil servants.
We are subject to a different pay review process, which leads to us receiving poorer outcomes than colleagues who happen not to be on the scheme. Our base pay lags thousands of pounds behind non-Fast Stream civil servants doing the same amount of work.
That is why we are calling on Oliver Dowden, Minister for the Cabinet Office, to stand up for all civil servants on the Fast Stream, and make sure we are treated fairly. We are asking him to ensure all Cabinet Office employees are treated equally in terms of base pay, annual pay awards and performance related pay.
Why is this important?
We are assigned more challenging roles and work longer hours than ever before to meet the demands of EU Exit. We are redeployed at short notice and without any choice as to our work, sometimes moving across the country to take up new posts. We are being treated as a flexible, contingent labour forced and asked to take on more and more, while being paid less and less each year in real terms.
No wonder 2/3 of respondents to a recent FDA Fast Stream survey said they were so unhappy with their pay that they have considered leaving their jobs.
Fast Stream and Cabinet Office leadership have consistently failed to engage constructively with the FDA – the union for Fast Streamers.
Our work, and our worth, has been devalued year on year. It’s time for the government to stop gambling with our good will, respect the work we do, and realise that "experience" does not pay the bills.