PCS to hold strike ballot of G4S security staff on DWP contract

We are seeking a pay rise for all 200 members employed by G4S Solutions, as well as reinstating the pay differential between grades because supervisors currently earn just 1p more an hour than the security guards they oversee.

The workers are employed on a private contract for the Department for Work and Pensions.

PCS General Secretary Fran Heathcote said: “Our members work on the frontline, playing a critical role in keeping their civil servant colleagues safe, as well as supporting the delivery of vital services to often very vulnerable benefit claimants.

"They put their bodies on the line every day and it's only fair they're fairly rewarded for their work with a decent pay rise."

GMB members working for G4S Solutions have already announced strikes on May 7, 8, 13, 20, 28 and 29. Strike action by members on the DWP G4S contract will be very disruptive and has the potential to close many of the around 700 jobcentres across the regions and nations.

Anger over low pay

G4S members are very angry at the low levels of pay they experience while having to put their bodies on the line every day. They are paid at the National Living Wage and are still waiting for a pay offer from 2022 to be implemented.

This group of members has a critical role in DWP offices keeping DWP civil servants safe. This is no more apparent than in jobcentres where G4S security guards have to intervene in incidents to protect their civil service colleagues every day. They work at the frontline supporting the delivery of vital services to often very vulnerable benefits claimants.

PCS has written to the DWP to demand that in the eventuality of G4S strike action robust risk assessments are undertaken, particularly of jobcentres, and that our members’ safety is not compromised by opening jobcentres unnecessarily in the absence of adequate security measures.