Members will be acutely aware from our previous communications that we have been pressing the company to implement this last element of our previous pay agreement. BT’s communication states their intention to discuss how it will work with Prospect, for the avoidance of doubt our clear expectation is that increases will be backdated to January.

The company communication also refers to a review of the Reward Framework which is about to commence. Prospect shares some of the concerns outlined, particularly regarding pay progression but we also have an agenda for these discussions taking into account concerns that members have consistently raised with us about the current pay arrangements such as pay differentials, length of pay bands, etc.

Whilst members will be keen to know the outcomes of the 2017 pay negotiations it is clear that it may take a little while to conclude our discussions and we welcome BT’s commitment to backdating the award to June.

We will communicate further with members as soon as there is any progress that we are able to share.