A start to restoring staff confidence, retaining talent and getting the FCA back on track.
Why does the FCA need a staff-led Action Plan?
The Covid crisis showed that the FCA relies on the knowledge, experience, and motivation of its staff to step up in challenging times. However, staff have experienced severe pay cuts, poorer work conditions, and unfair performance reviews.
The FCA has seen a turnover of nearly a fifth of all staff in the last year alone and a quarter in the last two years, with many leaving daily. Unite has seen morale collapse and 60% of FCA staff now say they no longer have trust or confidence in leadership. As a result, staff are leaving, FCA performance is declining across the board, firms are not getting value for their fees, and consumers are being failed. The FCA no longer has the people, experience and institutional knowledge needed to regulate in difficult financial times.
Unite believes there IS an alternative. It is time to be honest about the challenges both leadership and staff face so we can work together to get the FCA back on track.
The union has no doubt that the FCA can be a better regulator if we treat staff right.
Our Staff-led Action Plan
Where the staff survey found critical failings in trust, empowerment and reward, staff have meaningful solutions. We, as a Union, aim to work with the FCA to implement them.
- Recognise Unite the Union:
- Evidence shows Union recognition leads to higher staff morale, greater talent retention, and better governance.
- The FCA is one of the only public bodies not to recognise a Union. FCA staff deserve the same representation as at the Bank of England.
- The Staff Consultation Committee can, and has been, ignored. A recognised Union can’t be. Recognition means full consultation and bargaining rights on decisions that affect employees.
- There is no representation without consent. Staff should have a free and fair vote on how they wish to be represented.
- Pay and Reward:
- Next year’s 4% uplift in base pay made in the ‘Offer’ is now badly out of date and needs readjusting for inflation. This is a sustainable and fair way to help staff through the Cost-of-Living crisis.
- Pay all staff at least the minimum of their pay grade. Penalising staff performance through base pay is cruel and unnecessary when we have other performance measures.
- Equal pay for equal work. Pay colleagues in our Leeds and Edinburgh offices the same for the same work their colleagues in London carry out.
- Performance and Grading:
- Judge staff on their actual performance, not on a curve. Managers are forced to find 15% of competent staff as failing just to meet quotas. This is unfair, demoralising and makes the FCA an unhealthy place to work.
- The current performance grading system is particularly unfair for staff with disabilities and workplace adjustments. Abolishing the curve can improve equality and inclusion.
- Transparency and Accountability:
- The FCA has committed to greater transparency so why wait? Staff deserve transparency on how their pay is calculated and the real impact of the ‘Offer’ on diversity and inclusion.
- Link Director remuneration to diversity, inclusion and staff survey outcomes. This incentivises better outcomes, is an accountable way to improve performance, and is an independent way to restore staff trust
- Benefits and conditions:
- Health benefit contributions scaled to pay. The current one-off excess penalises the lowest paid and part-time staff who are more likely to have disabilities or health conditions.
- Set up an emergency assistance fund like the Bank of England’s St Christopher Fund to help employees in emergency situations.
- Flexible and decentralised hybrid working. A one-size-fits-all approach can’t work for a large and diverse organisation. Local teams and departments know what works best.
- Flexible working options. Allow greater flexibility in how we work including compressed hours. This allows staff to work around caring responsibilities or taking up volunteering opportunities.
- Equal paid leave. PBS and associate staff deserve the same leave entitlement as their management colleagues.
Is this realistic?
Unite is not asking the FCA to row-back or abolish the Employee ‘Offer’, we’re simply asking to review its progress and update it where it is failing to meet the needs of the FCA and staff. It’s the right and sensible thing to do
In 2021-22 the FCA ran a significant surplus with £52.8m in unspent firm fees – equivalent to 15% of total staff spend. Its reserves have increased to £121.3m and the main reason for underspend is down to fewer staff.
This means the FCA can afford to make significant and long-term improvements to pay and conditions. This would incentivise better performance, make the FCA a competitive employer, retain talent at the time we need it most, and cut huge costs in recruitment, training, and hiring third parties.
There IS an alternative.
Join Unite?
What has the union done for us?
This year Unite has:
- Helped secure the full £1,000 Cost of Living payment for Part-Time staff.
- Helped prevent attempts to bring employees back to the office more often than necessary
- Secured the ‘Colleague Voice’ investigation into staff representation.
Back our plan? What can you do?
• Join Unite the Union to be heard, be represented, and expect better
• Share this alternative plan with your colleagues and hear their views
• Advocate for our staff-led action plan in internal meetings and events
• Join our weekly Newsletter mailing list and keep in touch
We are a staff-led branch and this year alone hundreds of your colleagues have joined Unite and made this possible. Will you join them? Together we are stronger. This is a staff-led plan so tell us what you think – Unite would love to hear your views.
You can email us at uniteatfca@gmail.com and see more about our work at www.unitethefca.org
