PRESS RELEASE: ‘Pay review bodies – their past and their future’
The Institute of Employment Rights (IER) launches Pay Review Bodies report alongside trade unions.
The Parliamentary launch of the IER’s new report, ‘Pay review bodies: their past and their future’ takes place on Thursday 19th September in Westminster. The report has been written by IER expert Dr Andrew Moretta, in collaboration with a range of trade unions with experience of pay review bodies.
Against a backdrop of 44 years of political attacks on trade unions and collective bargaining, workers in some sectors were initially better off under Pay Review Body (PRB) structures. However, over time, successive governments have exerted undue influence over the independence of PRBs, until their recommendations became no more than options for the government to either accept or dispense with as they saw fit.
In this timely report, Dr Andrew Moretta takes us through the history of pay review bodies (PRBs); when they should be used under international law; when they shouldn’t be implemented, and the evolving history of how they have inadvertently become a political trojan horse for successive neo-liberal governments to degrade real-terms wages, and undermine collective bargaining in various sectors even further.
In the report, the author finishes by making a list of practical recommendations which should help restore independence and due process to existing PRBs where they are appropriate, and, in cases where the workers concerned are illegitimately denied the right to bargain collectively, allow the representative unions to be able to revert rapidly to collective bargaining.
Speakers at the launch event:
- Steve Gillan – POA General Secretary,
- Prof Lydia Hayes – IER Vice President,
- Fran Heathcote – PCS General Secretary,
- Daniel Kebede – NEU General Secretary (tbc)
- Gawain Little – GFTU General Secretary (tbc)
- Dr Andrew Moretta – author of the report.
The launch of ‘Pay review bodies: their past and their future’ takes place in Committee room 4a, Palace of Westminster, London, SW1A 0PW on Thursday 19th September at 5pm – 7pm. To attend, please contact the IER on office@ier.org.uk.
James Harrison, the Director of the Institute of Employment Rights, said:
“The operation of Pay Review Bodies has been something that we, as the Institute of Employment Rights, have been tracking for some time, contrasting it to collective bargaining structures and analysing its independence. We are delighted to present this report, expertly compiled by Dr Andrew Moretta, which reflects the varied experiences of PRBs amongst trade unions, as well as taking a broader view of how these bodies developed historically and their likely future use.”
Fran Heathcote, General Secretary of PCS union, said:
“Stronger trade unions with collective bargaining rights are key to tackling problems of insecurity, inequality, discrimination, and low pay. As this report shows, too often pay review bodies are subject to government interference and far from independent.
The real experts on pay are the ones receiving it: our members. We don’t need an independent pay review body to tell us what fair pay is – our members know and we are their voice. We welcome the new government’s commitment to sectoral collective bargaining and look forward to that being implemented in the civil service.”
Gawain Little, General Secretary of the General Federation of Trade Unions (GFTU), said:
“This important report comes at a crucial time. Pay review bodies have been used by successive governments to hold down workers’ pay. Too often, they lack independence and are a poor substitute for real collective bargaining. The newly-elected Labour government has an opportunity to reset this pattern and to lead a massive expansion of collective bargaining across our economy, bringing us in line with international expectations and introducing a genuine new deal for workers.”
Steve Gillan, General Secretary of the POA said:
“The Prison Service needs a complete overhaul of pay. We would much rather have collective bargaining on pay instead of the charade of the Pay Review Body, year on year. POA members deserve far more.”
Daniel Kebede, General Secretary of the National Education Union, said:
“The right to national collective bargaining was illegitimately taken from teachers under Margaret Thatcher. The review body system has failed teachers, providing no protection against pay cuts and sky-high workload, or the teacher recruitment and retention crisis which has resulted. Performance-related pay and the dismantling of the national teacher pay structure have been imposed without evidence and at great cost. Collective bargaining is a fundamental right under international law. We urge the new Government to move quickly to restore national collective bargaining rights for teachers.”
[Ends]
Contact
For more information, please contact James Harrison, Director, Institute of Employment Rights via james@ier.org.uk or 0151 207 5265.
Notes for editors:
- Pay Review Bodies are advisory non-departmental public bodies who provide evidence-based advice and recommendations to governments across the UK on levels of pay for their respective remit groups. Governments are not bound by Pay Review Bodies’ recommendations. There are 8 Pay Review Bodies:
- Armed Forces’ Pay Review Body (AFPRB)
- Review Body on Doctors’ and Dentists’ Remuneration (DDRB)
- NHS Pay Review Body (NHSPRB)
- Prison Service Pay Review Body (PSPRB)
- School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB)
- Review Body on Senior Salaries (SSRB)
- National Crime Agency Remuneration Review Body (NCARRB)
- Police Remuneration Review Body (PRRB)
- You can read the IER’s ‘Pay review bodies: their past and their future’ report online here: https://www.ier.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/IER_A4_PRB_Rep.pdf
- You can find more information on the IER’s work on sectoral collective bargaining on the IER website, here: ier.org.uk
- The IER’s X / Twitter account can be found here: https://x.com/IERUK, Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/TheInstituteOfEmploymentRights and their LinkedIn account here: https://www.linkedin.com/company/8943813/admin/dashboard/
Additional information
The Institute of Employment Rights (IER) was formed in 1989, in part to respond to a raft of Thatcherite anti-trade union legislation. It seeks to develop an alternative approach to labour law and industrial relations and aims to generate discussion on the future of trade union freedoms and employment law.
