Whitehall chiefs set to ambush Ministers with demands to increase civil service pay

MANDARINS are preparing to ambush Ministers with demands to increase civil service pay.

Whitehall bosses met last week and agreed to confront them over dishing out bigger salary bumps to their staff next year.

Tens of thousands of civil servants are set to strike over paltry 2-3 per cent pay rises as the Government reins in spending to tackle soaring debt and inflation.

But the talks with Cabinet Secretary Simon Case and Treasury chief James Bowler resolved to “persuade ministers” to up the offer at the next review.

Levelling Up Permanent Secretary Jeremy Pocklington revealed details of the meeting at an internal call with his team of civil servants.

He said: “I and other heads of departments were all recognising and arguing that we need to do everything we can to persuade ministers that next year we will need to have more flexibility within our pay remit in order to do more to support you with cost of living pressures.

“Those decisions are not for permanent secretaries, they are for ministers, but I am certainly arguing the case, and that’s something every other permanent secretary in Whitehall is arguing for.”

The Whitehall chief said he knew the cost of living pressures had been “tough” and this year’s pay awards “don’t in any way come close to matching and increasing pressures”.

Around 100,000 union members in 124 government organisations like Border Force have already voted to strike.

And around 900 civil servants on the fast stream scheme are being balloted, meaning officials could walk out of Whitehall departments.

Civil service morale has crumbled with less than half of staff holding confidence in their bosses – down 13 per cent on last year – according to internal surveys.

Polls of staff seen by the Times show just 22 per cent think the institution is changing for the better.

Ex-Cabinet Minister Lord Frost took a stinging swipe at the civil service culture that prevents politicians from getting things done.

He wrote in the Telegraph: “There is cultural aversion to confrontation of any kind… and, as any good civil servant will tell you privately, there is almost no willingness to deal with poor performance or to dismiss anyone.”