Criminal background checks staff in Liverpool stage walkout over pay

Liverpool MPs MPs Paula Barker and Kim Johnson (centre) joined the staff on the picket line

Staff at a contact centre which handles thousands of criminal background checks have gone on strike over pay.

Eighty-five workers at Liverpool's Hinduja Global Solutions (HGS), which deals with about 15,000 Disclosure and Barring Service checks every week, have staged a six-day walkout.

The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) said its members had rejected a 3.25% pay rise.

HGS said the strike was "extraordinary" as other staff accepted the offer.

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said taking strike action was "always a last resort, but our hard-working members feel they have no option because they are struggling".

He said the company's owner topped "the rich list with a personal wealth of £24.5bn", while its directors and management received a 13% pay rise in 2021.

"It's time for the company to do the decent thing and pay its staff at least a living wage," he said.

'Primarily fixed costs'

Kim Johnson, the Labour MP for Liverpool Riverside, said that to offer workers a 3.25% pay rise "in the face of almost 10% inflation... is a slap in the face for the workforce".

She said the firm had recently revealed a £1.6bn increase in profits, so workers needed "a pay rise that reflects the real cost of living increases, and lifts many out of poverty pay".

An HGS spokesman said the strike was "extraordinary, given that the latest pay offer... was accepted in April this year by colleagues in all other public and private sector accounts".

He said the firm's public sector contracts were "primarily fixed costs" and with "no cost-of-living provision, any salary increases are fully funded by the business".

He added that since HGS took over the contract to deliver the checks in March 2020, the firm had "ensured annual pay rises across our entire business".

"In addition, we delivered new ways of remote working that have transformed the working environment keeping our colleagues safe and reducing their work-related costs," he said.