UK Competition Regulator to Reform Pay System Amid Bias Allegations

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is set to revamp its staff payment structure following allegations that its previous bonus scheme was discriminatory towards minority employees. According to an internal note seen by Financial News London, the planned changes are aimed at addressing criticisms of racial bias and inequality in its performance-based reward system.

The CMA is considering shifting to a nomination-based payment system, a move which marks a departure from its existing performance grading method. This shift, first revealed in a post by the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) on the CMA’s intranet, would allow staff and managers to nominate colleagues for financial awards, instead of relying on performance ratings.

The agency has not yet finalized the proposed reforms and is holding staff engagement sessions to gather feedback, according to the PCS post. Despite repeated requests, the CMA declined to comment on the ongoing changes.

The proposed overhaul follows a discrimination claim in 2022, when several ethnic minority employees at the CMA alleged that they had been unfairly excluded from receiving bonuses. The employees, who raised their grievances at an employment tribunal, argued that the old scheme — which awarded bonuses to staff rated as “consistently exceeding” or “partially exceeding” in performance evaluations — disproportionately disadvantaged Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic (BAME) staff. The CMA settled the case without admitting liability but paused all performance-related bonuses while a review was conducted.

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According to Financial News London, a recent note from the PCS revealed further troubling statistics about pay discrepancies under the old system. Minority staff reportedly received 76p for every £1 awarded to white employees, and part-time workers received 80p compared to their full-time counterparts.

PCS general secretary Fran Heathcote voiced her union’s concerns over the new proposal. While welcoming the CMA’s decision to separate pay from the appraisal process, Heathcote expressed doubts about whether the new reward scheme would eliminate discrimination.

“We are deeply concerned that the current in-year reward scheme delivers the same potential discriminatory outcomes,” Heathcote said in the note, emphasizing the union’s ongoing commitment to ensuring pay equity for all employees, particularly BME, disabled, and part-time workers. She added, “We are yet to see an appraisal system that delivers equitable outcomes for all members.”

The union has called for a recognition-based system that distributes pay more equally across the CMA, arguing that this approach would allow the agency to focus its resources more effectively on its core work. The discussions are ongoing, with CMA staff awaiting the final outcome of the proposed reforms.

Source: Financial News London