This case revolved around the public sector pay freeze, although not to the right to impose a freeze on increases to wages per se. Rather it involved the withholding of increments or guaranteed pay progression points. The three claims here are seen as test cases for other public sector employees denied incremental rises.

Incremental increases were part of a collective agreement designed to motivate and reward longer-serving public servants. Although considered at the time of earlier pay rise negotiations, the original tribunal and the EAT found that the correct c onstruction of the agreement was that it dealt with two subjects. The first was the pay increase for staff generally, which was limited to the years 2009/10. However, there