Guidance

Civil Service Pay Remit Guidance 2021/22

Published 25 March 2021

1. Scope and purpose of the pay remit guidance

This guidance covers pay setting arrangements for civil servants throughout the Civil Service, including departments, non-ministerial departments and agencies, as well as for public sector workers in non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs)^{[footnote 1]} and other arm’s length bodies^{[footnote 2]}. Where reference is made to civil servants, it also includes references to other workers employed in an organisation covered by this guidance. The guidance provides a framework within which all departments will set pay for 2021/22, and for departmental pay strategies and pay reporting. This guidance does not apply to departments that are already in arrangements outside of the pay remit guidance including those in multi-year deals. A glossary of terms used in the guidance can be found in Section 8.

2. Key factors determining the 2021/22 pay remit

2.1 Introduction

In November 2020, the Chancellor announced as part of the Spending Review 2020 that there will be a temporary pause on pay rises for most public sector workforces in 2021/22, including the Civil Service.

The exception to this policy are organisations in legally binding pay deals (including those in multi-year deals).

Performance pay, overtime, pay progression where it is still in place, and pay rises from promotion will continue. Departments may continue to utilise existing allowances, however any increase to the level of allowances, introduction of new allowances, or changes to criteria for allowances must be included in the calculation of increase in remuneration (IRC) costs as outlined below.

To protect the lower paid staff those on full time equivalent base pay of under £24,000pa, excluding overtime and allowances will receive a consolidated increase of £250. For those who will be receiving an increase to the new National Living Wage rate of £8.91 an hour, they will receive the National Living Wage increase or £250, whichever is greater.

Organisations should only be making consolidated pay increases in the circumstances set out above. Organisations are reminded that all elements which increase paybill cost must be included in the calculation of a pay award, except employer National Insurance contributions and employer pension contributions.The following must be included:

• re-valorisation
• any remaining historic progression increments
• introduction of new allowances
• increases to existing allowances
• cost of increases in the non-consolidated performance pot above its existing proportion of total paybill
• non-consolidated payments (except for payments related to performance from the non-consolidated performance pot)
• buy-out of allowances or non-pay entitlements
• incentive payments relating to the implementation of pay reforms
• cost associated with changes in non-pay benefits (e.g. leave entitlements)
• increases arising from pay restructuring (e.g. associated with machinery of government changes or repositioning staff within the pay range)
• non-pay rewards
• salary sacrifice schemes

As set out above, if a department makes any changes to elements of their paybill this forms part of their total paybill. As there is a pause on pay this year, further approval is required from the Cabinet Office and HM Treasury Ministers on any increases to the paybill outside of the strict exceptions of the pay pause policy set out earlier in this section.

Departments should contact the Cabinet Office for advice if they are unsure what elements of the paybill would contribute to their IRC.

Cabinet Office and HM Treasury will consider requests from departments for pay flexibility proposals where it meets the requirements set out in Section 3. Departments are encouraged to discuss any potential business case with the Cabinet Office in the first instance at civilservicepay@cabinetoffice.gov.uk. The deadline to submit a case for the 2021/22 remit year is no later than 31 December 2021. Pay remits will not be reopened once the relevant Secretary of State has approved them. For example, organisations are not permitted to implement part of a pay award on the implementation date and the remainder of the pay award at a later date. In exceptional cases, organisations must seek approval from the Cabinet Office and HM Treasury.

2.2 £24,000 underpin

In 2021/22, Civil servants earning below a full time equivalent base salary of £24,000pa will receive either an increase of £250 in 2021/22, or an increase to the National Living Wage Rate, whichever is greater.

There may be scenarios where a pay award above these parameters is required in order to avoid the “leapfrogging” of those earning just over £24,000, by those earning just under £24,000. In such cases, departments are permitted to apply tapered increases for individuals’ salaries which fall between £24,001 and £24,249 to increase a salary up to £24,250 to avoid “leapfrogging”. Regardless of where an individual’s current salary falls between £24,001 and £24,249, their new salary will be £24,250.

Costs associated to increase individuals’ pay under £24,250, either the flat £250 or tapered increase are permitted to be implemented outside of the pay pause for the 2021/22 pay remit year. Any questions on how to apply this approach should be directed to the Cabinet Office using the contact details in Section 7.

2.3 National Minimum Wage & National Living Wage

From 1 April 2021, departments must ensure that they apply the legislative increase to the National Living Wage (NLW) and National Minimum Wage (NMW). The cost of raising individuals to the new rates, can be applied outside of the pay pause. This will be the increase in the cost over 12 months from the date of the 2021/22 pay award. As set out above, individuals earning under £24,000 will be entitled to receive the uplift to the new NLW rate or £250, whichever is greater.

2.4 Holiday Pay

Employees are entitled to holiday, paid at a rate which reflects their actual earnings, so that they do not see a reduction in earnings when on annual leave. This calculation may include regular overtime, including using a 52 week period on that calculation, and organisations should ensure that they are fully compliant with their legal obligations.

Increases in remuneration made specifically to fulfil the legal obligation to include payments for regularly worked overtime in statutory holiday calculations should be considered outside of the headline pay awards, providing that the increases are made only to the extent that they fulfil the legal requirements. Any element of such payments from departments that exceeds the required legal obligation should be expected to seek explicit HM Treasury consent, before the payment is made, as per the processes detailed in Managing Public Money.

If a department wishes to clarify the position on Holiday Pay, and further advice is required, they should contact the Cabinet Office using the contact details in Section 7.

2.5 Performance related pay awards

Non-consolidated performance pay will continue to be managed, as in previous years, within each department’s non-consolidated performance pay “pot” calculated as a fixed percentage of pay bill. With the agreement of HMT and Cabinet Office, departments have the option of transferring money between their consolidated and non-consolidated pots as set out below in 4.2.

Requests to increase the size of the non-consolidated performance pay “pot”, permanently or temporarily, will not be considered. Public sector organisations are encouraged to target their funds to ensure there are enough staff to deliver vital public services.

3. Pay flexibility

The Government will take a robust and thorough approach to assessing cases for pay flexibility during the pay pause in 2021/22, particularly cases that seek flexibility for multiple years, and will only consider cases that realise cashable and sustainable savings and/or productivity and efficiencies early on within the business case lifecycle through changes to terms and conditions of employment.

The deadline for submitting pay flexibility proposals for 2021/22 is 31 December 2021.

3.1 Pay flexibility process

Business cases for pay flexibility are subject to approval by Cabinet Office Ministers with subsequent sign-off by HM Treasury Ministers. In exceptional circumstances where Departments wish to take advantage of this flexibility they are required to seek their own relevant Minister’s approval before submitting their proposals using the pro forma (docx, 12.9 KB). Departments must also get approval from their Permanent Secretary, Human Resources and Finance Directors prior to the approval from the relevant Secretary of State or responsible Minister.

3.2 Types of business case

Transformational

Departments may seek to address transformational workforce reform. Such proposals will only be considered where there is a clear case that workforce reforms will generate real and cashable productivity and efficiency gains through changes to terms and conditions of employment and other areas such as recyclables and a reduction of contingent labour. Departments should also demonstrate a clear link as how the proposals will benefit the service delivery of the organisation. Departments should discuss options with the Cabinet Office before formally submitting a business case.

Such proposals should be targeted to address specific recruitment and retention issues and look to improve the business and service delivery of the department. Recyclables savings may be used as an efficiency gain as part of a department’s savings package.

Recruitment and retention

Departments, in exceptional cases, can seek pay flexibility to address specific problems associated with recruitment and retention in specific grades and professions within their department. These cases must include associated efficiencies and reforms to deliver sustainable savings going forward. Organisations must include robust evidence in support of pay proposals and consider the wider current economic and labour market context. Proposals must also be strictly targeted and involve prioritisation.

The degree of labour turnover and recruitment deemed to be problematic will vary by Department and by grade and profession of staff. Departments will need to demonstrate that recruitment and retention problems severely risk service delivery, and the degree to which any turnover problems are associated with pay rather than other wider organisational factors.

Where Departments are citing staff motivation as a contributor to turnover, they must demonstrate whether these problems are associated with pay, for example, through evidence from surveys of staff and exit interviews. Departments should expect to be challenged on whether alternative measures are more appropriate to address the issues they have identified

Transfer of funds from the non-consolidated pot to consolidated pay

Departments and NDPBs have in previous years been permitted to reduce their non-consolidated performance related pay (PRP) pot permanently as a percentage of consolidated paybill be permitted to offset agreed increases in paybill costs applied to meet targeted recruitment or retention pressures. Departments may also use this flexibility to address pay anomalies.

The permitted reduction in the PRP pot is capped at an amount equivalent to 50% of the pot, or 0.5% of the baseline paybill if smaller, in order to ensure that departments maintain sufficient resources to continue to fund non-consolidated performance arrangements. PRP pots may not be reduced to provide additional funding for the consolidated pay bill generally (for example to fund an across-the-board increase to staff), but must be targeted to address recruitment and retention pressures or pay anomalies.

Funding remaining within the ring-fenced PRP pot following an agreed reduction, is expected to be applied to performance-related payments. To avoid this flexibility resulting in subsequent paybill increase, the reduction in the PRP pot will be permanent once the pot as a percentage of paybill has been reduced. Departments must be satisfied that their proposed reduction will not jeopardise the operation, development or effectiveness of their performance-related pay arrangements.

Requests to increase the size of the non-consolidated PRP pot, permanently or temporarily, will not be considered. Public sector organisations are encouraged to target their funds to ensure there are enough staff to deliver vital public services.

Capability based pay frameworks

Departments or professions may, subject to approval by Cabinet Office and HM Treasury, look to introduce arrangements that enable movement through pay bands based on achievement of higher workforce productivity e.g. growth of capability. Where departments already have agreement from Cabinet Office and HM Treasury to implement capability based progression through a professional pay framework (e.g. the Digital, Data, Technology and Cyber pay framework) these payments can continue in 2021/22. Departments will still be required to demonstrate and evidence the cashable and sustainable savings unlocked by the introduction of such systems If departments are looking for a longer term approach to individual pay that delivers sustainable savings, they should contact Civil Service HR Expert Services, contact.us@csep.gov.uk, for further advice on the options which could apply.

Departments should have removed automatic progression pay based on time-served from their workforces and it should not be reintroduced. Any progression pay still in place in core departments or their ALBs not agreed through business case approvals will be in breach of government policy and must be notified to the Cabinet Office and HM Treasury immediately. Going forward, departments should ensure that pay arrangements they put in place do not involve automatic time served-progression pay, or create an entitlement for employees to receive automatic increments.

Digital, Data, Technology and Cyber pay framework

Departments are able to submit a business case to the Cabinet Office via the Digital Data and Technology (DDAT) Function for ministerial approval to implement the DDaT pay framework. The pay framework achieves consistent pay ranges (based on current departmental ranges and market data) for use by departments seeking to recruit and retain staff and embed capability in roles, enable departments to compete more effectively on pay in the external market and reduce internal competition across the Civil Service. Departments should discuss options with DDaT before submitting a business case.

3.3 Business case assessment

When submitting a business case departments must demonstrate they have considered and met the following headline principles throughout their proposals:

• transformational and targeted: proposals must deliver long-term focused transformational changes to departmental delivery and therefore significant improvements in productivity and/or resolve specific problems encountered by Departments
• delivers efficiencies and productivity: delivers cost-neutral savings and efficiencies to the paybill which cover the increased Increase in Remuneration Cost (IRC) by the end of the period of flexibility, and provide sustainable workforce productivity gains
• evidence-based: demonstrate low levels of pay that are below relevant comparators and how this has translated into significant recruitment and retention problems (including relevant statistics) and robust evidence that the pay discrepancy will have a front line impact on business delivery
• measurable: timelines and milestones must be provided to enable the tracking of the pay reform to ensure savings and impacts are being achieved
• coherence: proposals may take into account wider Civil Service context and departments may decide it is appropriate for them to look towards more consistent approaches and policies. In particular business cases are encouraged to look at where historic divergence between departments makes reward systems more complex, less agile, less fair to employees and less value overall to the taxpayer

In submitting proposals, departments should be clear on whether increases in line with the £24,000 underpin, NLW and statutory holiday pay entitlement are included within the headline pay award. A business case must also include a detailed plan for implementation, including departmental TU engagement. For example, if collective agreement is not being pursued, an outline of how the department will engage with TUs and a robust explanation of how the projected financial savings will be realised and equality issues mitigated should be included in the business case.

4. Pay remit process and approval

4.1 Responsibilities

Cabinet Office and HM Treasury

Cabinet Office has responsibility for the overall management of the Civil Service. It is responsible for publication of the Civil Service Pay Remit guidance and ensuring that it is affordable and flexible enough for all relevant departments to apply within their budgets. It works with departments and agencies on their workforce and reward strategies to encourage them in implementing tailored reward strategies that are consistent with their workforce and business needs, ensuring they are able to attract and retain talent to deliver government’s priorities and world class public services.

HM Treasury has overall responsibility for The Government’s public sector pay and pensions policy, and maintaining control over public spending including with regards to departmental spending.

Departments

Departments have responsibility for implementing Civil Service pay policy for their workforce in a way that is consistent with the Civil Service pay guidance but also reflects the needs of their business and their labour market position. All pay remits must be approved by a Secretary of State or responsible minister, and each department, through its accounting officer, is responsible for the propriety of the pay award to staff.

Trade Unions

Departments are responsible for negotiating the annual pay remit with their recognised trade unions in line with the delegated pay framework. As a matter of course, departments are encouraged to work constructively with recognised trade unions on the development of their overall pay, reward and workforce strategies, including annual pay remits and the development of pay flexibility business cases. Once the annual pay remit has been agreed by the relevant Secretary of State, departments can enter into formal negotiations with the trade unions. If departments require guidance or advice about what constitutes ‘formal negotiation’, they should contact the Cabinet Office. As there is a pause on pay in 2021/22, the scope of departmental trade union engagement may be limited; however departments are encouraged to explain how the underpin will be applied and seek trade unions’ views on the use of non-consolidated performance pots as usual.

4.2 The remit process

Approval

Departments, NDPBs and Agencies are required to submit a short business case to their relevant Secretary of State or appropriate Minister for approval. The only exceptions to this are those departments that are the direct responsibility of HM Treasury Ministers and those for which there is no relevant Secretary of State, as set out in Section 6. Their remits will continue to require HM Treasury ministerial approval.

During the pay pause the business case should include how the £24,000 underpin will be applied in the Department, taking into consideration current grading structures, any existing progression arrangements and the application of the NCPRP pot.

No further approval from Cabinet Office or HM Treasury is necessary unless specific arrangements or requirements are already in place, or a department is looking to implement a pay award outside of the remit set by this guidance (such as a pay flexibility business case) at which point they should contact Cabinet Office and refer to the guidance in Section 3.

Pay flexibility business case to the Secretary of State

Departments should ensure that clearance is sought from the relevant HR and Finance Directors, and Permanent Secretary prior to submission to the Secretary of State. Secretaries of State should consider the proposals against the following criteria:

1. Departments need to demonstrate that their proposed pay remit is affordable within departmental budgets or through savings generated as a result of further flexibility in line with the guidance at Section 3;
2. The requirements in Section 3 of this Guidance must be met;
3. The business case should cover, where relevant:

• information on how the business case is consistent with the department’s overall workforce, pay and reward strategy
• information on the makeup of the department’s workforce, and the internal and external labour market in which they operate
• the relevant local labour market in which staff operate
• the recruitment and retention situation within the workforce
• Equality Act requirements to avoid discrimination, including the need for departments to meet their obligations under the Public Sector Equality Duty, and to record their findings on this
• the total reward of staff, including pensions and conditions of service
• any structural changes or reforms to pay arrangements
• considerations to how the £24,000 underpin might impact the proposals

Departments should also work constructively with trade unions on the development of their overall pay and reward strategies and may find it helpful to discuss proposals with trade unions as these are developed. Following approval from the relevant Secretary of State, departments should enter into formal negotiations with their departmental trade unions. However, if during subsequent negotiations with Trade Unions there are any significant deviations from those proposals, then these need to be reported to the Secretary of State, Cabinet Office, or HM Treasury as appropriate, before any final agreement is reached. Any department that is uncertain as to whether what they propose to agree constitutes a significant difference from that specified under the remit should contact the Cabinet Office for advice.

Pay settlement changes are expected to apply from the settlement date upon which the department’s pay remit year commences, and not deferred.

4.3 Legal considerations for departments

Departments are reminded of their obligation to comply with their Public Sector Equality Duty when considering pay awards for their staff and the requirements of the HR Functional Standard (including adherence to all legal and regulatory requirements).

Where appropriate, departments are also expected to apply this guidance alongside the HM Treasury guidance on public sector pay and terms.

Departments are encouraged to take legal advice on the drafting of any pay commitments to ensure that these are affordable and consistent with this guidance.

Ministerial approval of pay remits is given on the basis that a department does not enter into any legally binding agreements in Trade Union negotiations that effectively commit it to automatic costs in the future.

4.4 Senior staff

Senior civil servants (SCS) and NDPB equivalents are not included within the scope of this Civil Service pay guidance. The pay of the SCS is covered by the Senior Salaries Review Body’s (SSRB) remit and is set centrally by the Cabinet Office. Pay for senior staff in NDPBs is not covered by the SSRB’s remit, nevertheless NDPBs have an important leadership role in following public sector pay policy, therefore, any annual pay increase or decision to award performance-related pay to such staff must be considered alongside and according to the same principles that apply to SCS.. Sponsor departments are responsible for enforcing this. The latest SCS Pay Practitioners Guide can be found here.

5. Pay reporting to HMT

In return for the continued delegation of pay to Secretaries of State, departments are expected to provide data to HM Treasury on their forecast and outturn data for the pay round.

Departments are asked to submit these data using the Workforce and Pay Remit (WPR) application in OSCAR for each remit as soon as they are approved, but in any case by 30th September 2021 (if necessary on a provisional basis in the first instance).

Failure by a department to provide appropriate data, or provide it in good time, may result in re-imposing the requirement for approval of remits for that department in future years or other action to encourage better compliance.

The information below summarises the data that departments are expected to report to HM Treasury for the 2021/22 remit year:

Each department should submit data covering the department itself, each non-ministerial department falling within the area of responsibility of their Secretary of State, each agency that they sponsor and each NDPB. Departments should not in general combine data relating to separate remits. Exceptionally, aggregate data may be entered for NDPBs with prior HM Treasury agreement.

The data required is outturn for 2019/20 and 2020/21, as well as a forecast for 2021/22. Outturn data should be consistent with published resource accounts (allowing for differences arising from the financial year basis of the latter) and forecasts, including any forecast changes to staff in post, should be consistent with the in-year expenditure forecasts that all central departments routinely provide to HM Treasury via the OSCAR system. Data must be provided for the delegated Civil Service grades, and not combined with Senior Civil Service data or data for Senior Civil Service equivalent grades. The OSCAR system makes provision for the separate collection of data relating to the Senior Civil Service. HM Treasury will provide guidance in due course with regards to Senior Civil Service or Senior Civil Service equivalent grades. Data should be provided for the financial year, not the remit year.

If there are significant anomalies in the data, for example because it represents less than a full year of activity, or there are large differences between successive forecast and outturn figures for a particular year, departments should provide a brief explanation, either in the space provided on OSCAR or in an email to the Workforce Pay and Pensions team at HM Treasury (see Section 7 for contact details).

HM Treasury will issue a commission directly to departments to formally begin the WPR process. This will include all relevant guidance and information.

Departments who have previously been granted clearance can continue the paybill control pilot going forward. HM Treasury will continue to keep the use of paybill control under review.

6. Departments requiring HM Treasury approval

Those departments that are the direct responsibility of HM Treasury and those that do not have a Secretary of State with the authority to determine pay, should submit their annual pay remit to HM Treasury for approval.

The list detailed below comprises those departments that are the direct responsibility of HM Treasury ministers, and will therefore be signed off by HM Treasury ministers in the same way that other departments will be signed off by their own Secretary of State.

Departments that are the direct responsibility of HM Treasury ministers:

• HM Treasury
• HM Revenue and Customs
• Government Actuary’s Department
• National Savings and Investment
• Valuation Office Agency
• Debt Management Office
• Office for Budget Responsibility

The second group compromises departments where there is no Secretary of State with the authority to determine pay:

• Government Communication Headquarters
• Secret Intelligence Service
• The Security Service

7. Contacts

Any queries in relation to this guidance, or the remit process in general, should be addressed to the Cabinet Office in the first instance:

Reward, TUPE and the Employment Framework team
Civil Service HR Expert Services
Cabinet Office
5th floor
10 South Colonnade
Canary Wharf
London
E14 4QQ

Email: civilservicepay@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

Workforce, Pay and Pensions Team
HM Treasury, Zone 2 Red
1 Horse Guards Road
London
SW1A 2HQ

For queries on WPR reporting: WPR@hmtreasury.gov.uk

For other queries: civilservicepay@hmtreasury.gov.uk

8. Glossary of terms

8.1 Total paybill (£ million)

Total paybill: The template calculates total paybill as the sum of direct wages and salaries, pension contributions and National Insurance Contributions. Includes all staff-related costs excluding the cost of staff not on the formal Civil Service payroll, comprising direct wages and salaries, employer pension contributions and employer National Insurance Contributions. This should include staff paid from programme budgets.

Direct wages and salaries: The template calculates direct wages and salaries from the sum of pay, allowances, non-consolidated performance (e.g. bonuses) and overtime entered in the OSCAR template. Direct wages and salaries include all the elements that go to employees on a current basis (as opposed to pension payments, for example, which are deferred).

Pension contributions: Enter the total cost to the department of pension contributions. Employer National Insurance Contributions: Enter the total cost to the department of employer National Insurance Contributions.

Exit costs: Enter the exit costs. These include any benefits to an individual, in the form of pay, pension or other remuneration, when leaving service (through either compulsory redundancy or other agreed departures) other than entitlements accrued in the normal course of employment up to and including the exit date.

8.2 Non-paybill staff costs (£ million)

Consultants/interim/agency staff costs not included in the paybill: Enter the total cost of all staff who are not on the formal Civil Service payroll, including for example, consultants, interim and agency staff.

8.3 Non-consolidated performance pay pot (% of paybill)

Non-consolidated performance pay pot (% of paybill): Enter the size of the non-consolidated performance pay pot expressed as a percentage of total pay bill. Note that this may differ from outturn or forecast expenditure on non-consolidated pay recorded as a component of salaries and wages.

8.4 Paybill per head (£)

Paybill per head: The template calculates two measures to show the total paybill divided by the workforce size. Paybill per head (headcount) is total paybill divided by headcount. Paybill per head (FTE) is total paybill divided by full-time equivalent (FTE) workforce.

Average earnings per head: The template calculates two measures to show direct wages and salaries (i.e. pensionable pay – i.e. excluding employer pensions and NICs) divided by the workforce size. Average earnings per head (headcount) is direct wages and salaries divided by headcount. Average earnings per head (FTE) is direct wages and salaries divided by FTE workforce.

8.5 Workforce size

Please ensure that headcount and FTE are calculated on the required basis for all years, and if necessary enter revised figures.

Headcount: Enter the total Civil Service workforce on a headcount basis, calculated as the average for the remit year based on the size of the workforce at the end of each month.

Full time equivalent: Enter the total Civil Service workforce on a full-time equivalent basis, calculated as the average for the remit year based on the size of the workforce at the end of each month.

Number of exit packages: Enter the number of exit packages made within the year. This should relate to the ‘exit costs’ figure reported under paybill.

8.6 Wastage and vacancies (%)

Vacancy Rates: Enter the number of unfilled posts (or forecast vacancies) in the final month of the remit year in question, expressed as a percentage of (headcount at the end of the month plus vacancies). This figure should reflect the number of posts that are either unfilled or filled by contract staff, which will be advertised under Civil Service fair and open competition rules. This figure should not include vacant posts that will be removed as part of organisational restructuring or planned workforce reductions.

Staff wastage: Enter the proportion of employees leaving the department over the year (excluding redundancies but including exits due to all other factors including performance related exits and ill-health retirements) as a % of total workforce. Excludes those employees moving between jobs within the department.

8.7 Change in pay from previous year (%)

Basic award (%): Enter the average % increase to the steps (for a step based pay system) or maxima/minima (for a non-step based pay system) of the pay ranges within an organisation. Pay drift (%): The template calculates pay drift as the difference between average earnings growth % and basic award %.

Average earnings growth (%): The template calculates this as the change in average earnings per head (FTE) from the previous year, as a % of average earnings per head in the previous year. It includes all changes in direct wages and salaries.

Percentage increase in remuneration cost (IRC) (%): Enter the percentage change in the IRC. This is the difference between the projected remuneration cost and the baseline remuneration cost expressed as a percentage of the baseline remuneration cost. All departments should enter data for all three calculations of the IRC:

1. Increase in remuneration cost
2. Increase in remuneration cost excluding legally binding progression increments or progression buy out costs
3. Increase in remuneration cost excluding progression increments or progression buy out costs, and PRP pot switches

For those departments to whom the below do not apply, the figures will be identical:

• departments that pay contractual progression increments or
• departments who have agreed a switch in funding from the non-consolidated performance pay pot to fund recruitment and retention pressures

Those departments that fall under either or both of the above are expected to report the effects of these factors on their IRC by entering outturn and forecast data for all three versions of the IRC.

8.8 National Living Wage (NLW)

Number of employees on the NLW: The number of eligible employees that are on (or are within 5 pence of) the NLW from April in the pay remit year. For example, as of April 2021, the rate of the National Living Wage is £8.91.

Paybill costs of those on the NLW: The total paybill costs incurred by all employees on the NLW within the pay remit year and the cost of increasing the wages of eligible employees to meet the legal entitlement of paying the NLW.

8.9 Baseline remuneration cost

The baseline remuneration cost is the cost to the department, for the remit year, of the expected staff complement, excluding the costs of progression or revalorisation or any other increases. Baseline remuneration cost does not include employer national insurance and pension contributions.

8.10 Projected remuneration cost

The projected remuneration cost is calculated by adding the increase in remuneration cost arising from the remit proposals to the baseline remuneration cost.

Example: if the total costs of the remit proposals were £100,000 and the baseline costs were £2,000,000 the projected costs would be £2,100,000.

8.11 Increase in remuneration cost (IRC)

As stated in Section 2, the IRC includes all increases arising from the remit proposals, apart from employer National Insurance Contributions and pension contributions, and is net of any offsetting reductions in the costs.

The IRC calculation should assume that all increases are implemented from the settlement date. Departments cannot reduce the IRC by deferring the date of implementation of component increases.

8.12 Non-consolidated performance payments

Non-consolidated performance payments are awarded to staff based on performance either at an individual, team or organisational level. They are re-earnable and do not have associated future costs. Types of payment include:

• performance related payments based on individual contributions to the department and assessed by the Departments performance management system
• special bonus schemes for individual payments for special projects or outstanding pieces of work that are not covered by the normal performance management system
• Non-consolidated performance payments met from the performance pot should be excluded from the IRC calculation. However, non-consolidated payments not related to performance, as well as increases in the non-consolidated performance pot, must be included in the IRC calculation.

8.13 Calculating the performance pot

The organisation’s existing non-consolidated performance pot is a cash value derived from a percentage of the consolidated baseline paybill, and not a fixed cash amount.

Example: In 2019-20, an organisation has a consolidated paybill of £20 million and has built up a non-consolidated performance pot of 3%. The cash value of the non-consolidated pot is therefore 3% of £20 million, and so equals £600,000. In 2021/22, because of staff reductions, the consolidated baseline paybill is reduced to £19 million. While the non-consolidated pot as a proportion of consolidated paybill remains unchanged at 3%, the cash value is reduced to £570,000 (3% of £19 million).

8.14 Other non-consolidated payments

Non-consolidated payments other than those related to performance must be included in the IRC calculation.

8.15 Progression Pay

Progression pay systems are those under which pay to individuals in a specific grade or post increases periodically. Progression pay cost is the cost of moving someone through the pay range and in spine point or step based system relates to the costs of incremental steps. In some cases this is subject to demonstration of increased capability (to a particular standard), a satisfactory performance assessment and/or may be a legal entitlement. Progression may also be as a result of targeting a pay award. In milestone and reference-point based systems, progression means the cost of moving staff within the pay range.

8.16 Revalorisation

Revalorisation relates to the uprating of pay ranges, spine points or step based systems and is the value by which set points are increased. The cost of any revalorisation must be included in the pay award, i.e. the IRC calculation.

8.17 Non-pay rewards and benefits

These include increases in annual leave entitlements, reduction in working hours, etc. The cost of such changes should be calculated and included in the IRC calculation.

8.18 Non-paybill staff costs

This covers consultants/interim/agency staff costs not included in the paybill. It includes the total cost of all staff that are not on the formal Civil Service payroll, including for example, consultants, interim and agency staff.

8.19 Remit year

The period for which the approved pay remit applies. Remits apply for one year but the settlement dates, i.e. the date upon which the pay remit year commences, vary from one body to another.

8.20 Recyclable Savings

Recyclable savings are generated when staff leave the department and are replaced by entrants with a lower salary cost. The difference between the leaver’s salary costs and the entrant’s salary costs is the saving to the paybill.

Vacant posts do not generate recyclable saving, because until the post is filled the salary cost to the paybill cannot be determined.

1. Throughout the guidance the term “department(s)” includes all organisations (ministerial and non-ministerial departments, agencies and NDPBs) that come within its scope, unless the context clearly implies otherwise ↩

2. Organisations should contact their parent or sponsorship department to seek guidance from the Cabinet Office (contact details found in Section 7) if unsure whether they are in scope of the guidance. ↩