It’s election time in PCS and you always expect a bit of healthy debate on social media.

This has got worse in recent years and yesterday, Socialist Party presidential hopeful, Marion Lloyd, who has failed in every attempt to become general secretary and then president since breaking from Left Unity, made a rather unfortunate video where she carefully read from a script all of her criticisms of current president, Martin Cavanagh, and general secretary, Fran Heathcote, in an attempt to discredit the Democracy Alliance. Inadvertently, demonstrating, as a senior manager, how out of touch she is with ordinary low paid members, by dismissing the overpayment of the levy that members were forced to cough up, under her coalition of chaos, who refused to pause it, as only £35, and ‘just a meal at Nando’s’. Democracy Alliance candidates have pledged to right the wrong and refund the levy from the point it should have been paused, and whilst it might only be £35 to her, or ‘a meal at Nando’s’, that is a lot of money to the members we represent. These characters cannot be trusted with your money.

Astonishingly, she accuses Martin of ‘bribery’ and ‘frittering away money’. Astonishingly, because yesterday Marion and her allies, offered up, without consultation or discussion with anyone, £200,000 of PCS members’ money as a solidarity donation to the American Federation of Government Employees, whose President had been invited to address the NEC. The coalition’s NEC vice president later wrote to confirm he wants that money paid, and it must be a minimum of £200,000.

PCS Members’ Money – What’s at stake?

Having offered up the biggest donation in the history of PCS, the Socialist Party/ Independent Left Alliance also voted at the NEC to support every motion on the National Conference agenda that called for an immediate reinstatement of the levy, without consultation, and rejected every motion that called for consultation with reps and members about how to build a sustainable fighting fund.

These are the politics of madness, ignoring the wishes of members whilst trying to drive through policies, not in the best interest of members, but in support of their political masters.

But the Independent Left, in particular have an obsession with money, your money.

In the last few days, they have published on their website a complete work of fiction regarding the general secretary’s salary. Fran isn’t up for re-election but has faced this misogyny all year, presumably they are working on the basis that if you throw enough mud, some will stick, and that the Democracy Alliance will be tarnished by association.

Their article covers a £12k payrise they claim the GS awarded herself – she didn’t, claims she earns a 6 figure salary – she doesn’t, and the supposed impact of the PCS staffing restructure.

It is based on a huge misunderstanding of the PCS Financial report for 2025, which might be amusing until you remember that these individuals now dominate the NEC Finance Committee and include the National Treasurer in their number. They nodded through a paper at the NEC this week, presented by the National Treasurer, which demonstrates that everything they have alleged about the levy all year has been incorrect, another misunderstanding. The new Finance Committee were even invited to a special meeting, to help them better understand the financial report, but presumably it didn’t help them.

The Facts

In relation to the General Secretary’s salary:

• The salary increase that the article uses for the GS is for 2024-5. The salary increase for the GS (and for all PCS staff) for 2024/5 was 4.99%.
• The average increase for PCS members over the same period was also 4.99%.
• The salary increases for PCS staff, including the General Secretary, is based on a pay basket formula that ties PCS staff pay increases to those achieved by PCS members.
• For the 2024 pay round PCS analysed over 160 pay settlements across the civil service (including DWP, HMRC, MoJ, Home Office) covering over 85% of our members. This demonstrated that the average pay increase achieved by PCS members was 4.99% and the same award was given to all PCS staff.
• The pay award for PCS staff is consolidated but only 1% pensionable (unlike the award for our members).

The IL appear to have arrived at the figure of 13.3% by inaccurately moving the bottom of the GS spine point from 11 to 8. This has presumably happened because they have misunderstood the colour coding on the annual report.

Had they read the paper properly, they would have spotted that the GS/AGS spine still runs from 11-1.

The 13.3% figure reported is factually inaccurate. The GS pay increase was 4.99%.

The 2025 pay round has not started in PCS – contrary to the claim made in the article – and will not do so until PCS has the necessary data from the 2025 civil service pay remit and actual settlements. Once PCS has this, negotiations will take place with our staff union, the GMB, but any increases for 2025 will be in line with the pay basket formula and our long-standing position that the pay award to PCS staff tracks those that are achieved for members.

Again, contrary to the claim made in the article there was and is no relationship whatsoever between the GS salary and pay award, and the staffing review.

What the 2025 Financial Report does show, and what the IL/ BLN are keen to detract from, having tried to discredit Fran all year, is that the staffing review is already paying dividends in respect of the organisation within PCS: 

• The staffing review carried out by the incoming General Secretary is completely within her gift, covered by her contractual rights, and in line with what many new general secretaries have done on taking up office.
• We now have the lowest staff cost to membership income ratio we have had in years, following the review. As the AGS explained to conference in 2024, our union has one of the lowest ratios in the trade union movement, and we aim to remain at approximately 33% (this will always fluctuate as staff join or leave), at that time our staff ratio was 34.5%. Now it is 32.9%, busting the myth that the staffing restructure blew the budget and massively increased the higher grades.
• Fran has worked meticulously to ensure we remain at approximately 33% and will continue to do so.
• Every post within the structure was filled by fair and open competition and in line with previous recruitment policies in full consultation with the staff union, GMB.

We are the first union in the TUC to completely eradicate the gender pay gap since the review.

This should all be a good news story for PCS and something to be proud of, but instead it is dismissed and lied about, by those driven by hatred.

These are the facts – don’t believe the nonsense. 

The PCS NEC elections have started. You will soon receive your postal ballot paper. If you want a union that works for you, not the Socialist Party, or the Alliance For Workers’ Liberty, listens to you and consults you over issues such as the levy, and works in the best interest of members. VOTE FOR DEMOCRACY ALLIANCE candidates.

Do not ignore your ballot paper or these elections. Please use your vote. Together, we can end the insanity that is threatening our union.

Reclaim PCS! Vote DEMOCRACY ALLIANCE!

Click here for Democracy Alliance election literature -> https://pcsleftunity.org/elections-2025/