Closing the gap: pay, equality, and the cost of living

I recently attended a Trades Union Congress (TUC) Education webinar led by Anna Kalsi at the TUC, and Taisie Tsikas at Labour Research Department, which explored the continuing cost of living crisis, strategies for pay negotiations, the concept of pay restoration, and the relationship between pay and equality.

Despite inflation slowing, the cost of living remains a major issue because prices continue to rise and many households have not recovered from years of cumulative inflation. Over the last decade, prices have increased by almost 60%, while average earnings have fallen by around 5% in real terms. Lower-income workers are particularly affected because essentials such as food and energy account for a larger share of their spending. Looking ahead, further increases in energy and food prices are expected.

The session emphasised the importance of pay restoration, which looks beyond annual pay rises and examines how wages have kept pace with inflation over a number of years. Examples included resident doctors and teachers, who have experienced significant real-terms pay cuts over the last decade. Reps were encouraged to use RPI inflation calculators to identify the gap between past pay levels and what would be required today to maintain purchasing power.

For collective bargaining negotiation purposes, reps were advised to gather strong evidence by surveying members about financial pressures such as debt, bills, food insecurity, and energy costs. Employers can be asked to provide pay structure information under collective bargaining arrangements, and publicly available information can also be used to analyse senior pay.

A significant part of the webinar focused on equality and pay gaps. The gender pay gap remains 12.8% across the economy, with most large employers paying men more on average than women. From spring 2027, employers will be required not only to publish gender pay gap data but also action plans to address inequalities and menopause-related workplace issues. Upcoming legislation is also expected to require ethnicity and disability pay gap reporting. The webinar highlighted how cost of living pressures disproportionately affects minority ethnic, disabled, and transgender workers, making equality bargaining an essential part of pay negotiations.

The session also explored the impact of caring responsibilities and parenthood on earnings. Women’s income typically falls significantly after having children, creating a substantial long-term financial penalty. Participants discussed the importance of negotiating for flexible working, enhanced parental leave, maternity, and paternity benefits, and paid carers’ leave. Reps were also encouraged to campaign for paid leave following pregnancy loss, ahead of new rights due in 2027.

Key actions for union representatives include:

• Surveying members about cost of living pressures
• Calculating workplace pay restoration gaps
• Reviewing employer gender pay gap data and developing proposals
• Strengthening equality bargaining through dedicated Equality Reps
• Ensuring multi-year pay deals include protection against future inflation.

The overall message was that successful pay bargaining requires a combination of robust economic evidence, member engagement, and a strong focus on equality, ensuring that pay claims address both living standards and structural workplace inequalities.

The first step to negotiating improvements to pay at your employer is to speak to colleagues to encourage every employed pharmacist to be a PDA member and to have a member volunteer to be trained as the local PDA Rep.

By Jayne Love, PDA Organiser and Equalities Lead

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• Become a PDA Rep today!

Learn more

• Closing the gap: Pay, equality, and the cost of living
• Inflation Calculator 
• Gender pay gap service
• Ethnicity pay gap report: 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025
• Pregnancy and maternity discrimination
• Guide to: Discrimination and the pregnant employee