Civil Service compensation talks hit the curb
Wednesday, August 25th, 2010Civil Service compensation talks hit the curb
Unions are outraged by what they see as the Government’s declaration of war on trade unions with the proposed reformation of the Civil Service Compensation Scheme. The Government has stated that it wants to bring the Scheme into line with good practice in the private sector. These curbs would have the effect of cutting the redundancy terms of public sector workers.
At present, those with long service of more than 20 years are entitled to a lump sum worth two years’ salary if they take voluntary redundancy, three if the redundancy is compulsory. A few have received as much as six years’ salary. Treasury figures suggest 600,000 public sector posts could go over the next five years. In light of this, it may be understandable why the government are contemplating their current path of action.
Making a change of this nature is a fundamental change to the employment contract. The Labour administration also tried to reform the scheme by introducing a two year cap on redundancies, but failed after the Public and Commercial Services Union argued their case at a judicial review. The coalition is anxious to push through reform of the CSCS so that any civil servants made redundant after 15 September will be made subject to the new terms. Its stated intention would be to reach a negotiated agreement, which would include protection for lower-paid civil servants. It intends to call union officials in for a ministerial meeting once the government has taken a view on how it will proceed with the proposed changes. However, it has indicated that it might pass legislation to reverse the ruling if necessary
Unions claim the planned changes to civil servants’ severance deals threatened to “rob” staff of up to a third of their redundancy entitlements, which could be worth tens of thousands of pounds. One union leader called industrial action an “inevitability” if payouts to redundant employees are reduced. The General Secretary of the Public and Commercial Services union, Mark Serwotka, has indicated that the union will use all means at its disposal to deflect moves to reduce payments to public sector employees who are laid off.
The minimum redundancy pay allowed under the law is half a week of statutory pay per year of service, dependant on age and length of service, so the Government has quite some way to go on bringing the Scheme into line with the private sector.
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