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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Environment
Phoebe Weston

Low pay at Natural England ‘a threat to UK’s net-zero target’

A man fiddles with a transmitter as a companion holds a hen harrier on moorland
A Natural England ornithologist fits a transmitter to a hen harrier on Bowland moor, Lancashire. Complex skill sets could be lost, the union warns. Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian

People working for the government’s conservation watchdog are so underpaid that it is threatening the UK’s ability to reach net-zero pledges, a trade union report warns.

Salaries of those working for the government agency Natural England have fallen by 20% in real terms over the last decade, with starting pay thousands of pounds lower than private and charity-sector equivalents, according to the Prospect union’s Natural England 2022 report.

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