Contribution of civil service employees during covid-19 crisis

Early day motion 445, tabled 5 May 2020 by Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party). Signed by 38 members.

That this House expresses its gratitude to the tens of thousands of workers across the civil service who are playing absolutely critical frontline roles at this time of the covid-19 epidemic; praises their dedication and professionalism at this testing time; notes that Department for Work Pensions' staff are coping with an unprecedented spike in claims for universal credit; further notes that HMRC workers are processing applications to the Job Retention Scheme vital to protecting jobs and livelihoods; regrets that these members have seen a prolonged pay squeeze in real terms since the onset of austerity following the financial crisis, and that many are now understandably worried about their own financial circumstances; believe that it is in everyone’s interest to allow the civil service workers to dedicate all of their attention to coming to grips with the present crisis, rather than having to engage with the highly fragmented series of pay bargaining processes across the civil service; commends the civil service union PCS for putting forward constructive proposals for an interim agreement for the duration of the crisis based on an above-inflation pay settlement; welcomes the decision of the Scottish Government to enter into such agreement; and therefore calls on the UK Government to follow suit in reaching an agreement over pay, and also to implement a moratorium on redundancies and office closures.

Signatures by party: Labour 16, Scottish National Party 15, Plaid Cymru 4, DUP 1, Green 1, Labour/Co-operative 1.