1000’s of DWP staff are paid the lowest amount the government can legally pay them and all staff are paid between 20 and 30% less in real-terms per grade than they were in 2010.

Last week the employer announced an 1.75% interim payment to be paid at the end of November, while they agree the final offer. This means that those expecting their usual pay increase in time for Christmas have instead been provided – given inflation is 3.5% – a 1.75% real-terms pay cut before the holidays. Merry Christmas from DWP.

DWP staff provide vital services to the country. From paying pensions and in-work benefits, supporting those who cannot work and of course helping many into work. So the interim pay award announced for 30 November is a poor way to thank them.

Look at the detail. AO to G6 colleagues get a consolidated 1.75%. AAs, the lowest paid grade, don’t even get this as a consolidated rise, instead getting it as a non-consolidated payment in twelve instalments. Their salaries don’t rise, the payment isn’t pensionable, and it is subject to tax and National Insurance.

Members under formal poor performance action on 1 July are excluded. For people who have carried the Department through a difficult period, that is not recognition, and all will rightly feel insulted.

Now some might say the money is something and so better than nothing. We agree that the money is real and is better than nothing, but it is nowhere near enough. It is a payment made ahead of the main award and so will reduce whatever we get in the end and for AAs it isn’t a pay rise at all. In any case, faced with inflation of 3.5% and rising, it doesn’t protect our standard of living.

If the Department are seeking to pay us in excess of the 3.5% Cabinet Office remit (via a pay flexibility business case), why wasn’t the interim payment at least the full 3.5%?

DWP figures it can push us around. Certainly, a union without a credible strike mandate has little to bargain with.

Luckily, the recently launched civil service-wide National Campaign ballot gives DWP members a constructive output for their righteous anger.

We need the strongest Yes, Yes vote to get the Department to treat us seriously. A strong result in the ballot gives our negotiators in pay talks leverage that the Department cannot ignore.

DWP members vote as their own bargaining unit, and the 50% turnout threshold will be applied to DWP members as a unit. In the last DWP pay ballot, 85% of those voting said yes, yet the union fell short of gaining a mandate because turnout didn’t reach 50%. A high yes vote on a low turnout is not enough.

So if you are in DWP and haven’t voted as yet, then we urge you to do so now – and ask your colleagues do the same. Complete the e-ballot sent to your personal email address from ‘Civica Election Services’ (check your junk!) or to your home postal address if PCS does not have a personal email for you.

And remember, tell a rep that you’ve voted!

DWP members have real power. But that power only counts if it is used, and the way to use it is through the ballot. A Yes, Yes vote on a turnout above 50% is what turns our anger at the interim payment into a mandate the Department has to take seriously. Without it, the interim award shows what we can expect: decisions made for us, on terms we didn’t choose.