The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has today set out a new employment offer designed to reward strong, consistent performance, aid career development and close pay gaps.
This follows an extensive, wide-ranging and comprehensive consultation with all FCA colleagues and the FCA’s Staff Consultative Committee. The changes, including updates to the proposals consulted upon, will mean that the FCA continues to provide one of the best reward packages of any regulator or enforcement agency in the UK.
As part of the offer, around 800 of the FCA’s lowest paid colleagues will receive average salary increases of £4310 to the minimum of a new pay benchmark, with other salary increases and performance related pay, taking overall increases for them to an average of around £5,500. These increases come with higher pension contributions and flexible benefits. Additionally, colleagues who meet their performance targets, approximately 85% of colleagues, will receive salary increases of at least 5% this year and 4% in 2023. Those who have not met their objectives this year will be given assistance to meet their performance objectives.
The FCA will also pay colleagues meeting their performance objectives a one-off, back dated cash payment equivalent to 4% of salary in April in recognition of the changed economic environment since the consultation was launched in September last year.
The FCA has confirmed that discretionary cash bonuses will be removed for all staff from next year, with the final bonuses paid to the highest performing FCA colleagues in April 2022.
Nikhil Rathi, Chief Executive of the FCA said:
'I’m hugely grateful for the time colleagues have spent contributing to the consultation and I understand the strength of feeling about some of the changes we are making. We have welcomed the open debate and discussion and, with the Board, considered all the feedback we have received.
'We believe we have developed a fair, competitive, and sustainable offer that will help us achieve our regulatory objectives, as well as diversity goals, that supports the lowest paid and the strongest performers, with most colleagues receiving a minimum salary increase of over 9% over the next two years and an average of over 12% over that period.'
Notes to editors
- The full employment offer can be seen here[1]. The consultation is here[2].
- The consultation ran from September to December 2021 and was 4,500 responses through the feedback tool, 2,200 emails to the team, 700 comments raised in meetings and over 580 questions answered on our intranet site, Pulse. FCA Executive Committee held 77 ExCo-led sessions virtually and, where possible, in person in London and Edinburgh.
- Find out more information about the FCA.