UK Government Offers Civil Servants £1,500 Bonus to End Row

(Bloomberg) -- The UK government offered a one-time bonus to civil servants in an effort to stave off the threat of strikes.

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Ministers proposed a £1,500 ($1,878) payment in the current pay year to help government workers struggling with Britain’s cost-of-living crisis, the FDA union said on Friday in a statement.

The labor group’s executive committee will meet next Thursday to formally consider the package, which it said was “a significant amount of money and will make a real difference to many civil servants.”

The FDA has been balloting 22,000 members on strike action for the first time in 40 years as soaring inflation puts the squeeze on ordinary Britons. The vote is currently on hold, and as part of next week’s meeting, the union said its executive will consider the implications for the ballot of the new pay offer.

A separate group, the Public and Commercial Services Union, has been holding strikes across the state sector in recent months, including areas such as the Border Force and Passport Office.

The PCS said it would scrutinize the offer on Monday.

Read More: UK Loses Another Half a Million Days to Strikes in One Month

Cabinet Office Minister Jeremy Quin confirmed the pay proposal in a statement, calling it “both fair to the taxpayer and a recognition of the financial pressures civil servants have faced over the last year.”

--With assistance from Ali Asad Zulfiqar.

(Updates with PCS response in sixth paragraph.)

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