Members working at The Pensions Regulator started their 37th day of strike action this week following disputes over pay.
According to the Public and Commercial Services union, members working for TPR will take action throughout January after being offered a 3 per cent pay rise while other civil service employers are getting 4.5 per cent.
Dates for strike action include January 10 to 12, 16 to 18, 24 to 26 and 30 to 31. They will also strike on February 1.
PCS membership at TPR has risen by 163 per cent since the dispute started in September.
However, members are reporting the ongoing strike action is creating a backlog of work and systemic disruption to TPR’s ability to deliver on their statutory duties.
One member at TPR said: “The simplest way I can put this is that we have a choice to make - either send a message now and hope for change or give up and leave TPR.
“Personally I waited three years to get some kind of pay rise which reflects the work we put in throughout the pandemic and the pay freeze, and was rewarded with a net 0.7 per cent increase.”
Another member said it “is a shame that l was left with no choice but to take strike action due the actions and responses of my employer,” adding they were “frustrated and bewildered by TPR’s refusal to meet with the union to resolve this matter”.
A spokesperson for The Pensions Regulator said: "We are disappointed by the announcement of further industrial action.
"What we pay staff is fair and this year our lowest paid workers received a pay rise of 6.25 per cent. After months of meetings, we have now exhausted negotiations for last year’s pay and are now looking ahead to next year.”
This latest phase of action comes after members voted in a ballot for more action by a margin of 95.70 per cent on a turnout of 75 per cent.
PCS has had numerous meetings with TPR management and is actively looking for a resolution to the dispute.
“We do not believe that negotiations are exhausted,” it said.
Mark Serwotka, general secretary at PCS, said TPR aims to "build people’s confidence in pensions" but asked: "How can it build confidence in the wider world when it’s lost the confidence of its own workforce?”
It comes as last year, staff working at TPR took strike action in September for two weeks in a dispute over pay.
sonia.rach@ft.com
