Controversial cuts to the Civil Service Compensation Scheme will kick in tomorrow, the Cabinet Office has confirmed, despite the fact that the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union has yet to ballot its members on the changes.
Ministers announced earlier this year that they wanted to revisit the Civil Service Compensation Scheme — last renegotiated in 2010 — as part of a wider bid to cut the cost of exit payouts across the public sector.
The move prompted strong criticism from civil service unions, who pointed out that changes to the scheme had been made just six years after protracted negotiations with the government.
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After a summer of fresh talks with some unions, the Cabinet Office made a "final offer" on the latest changes in September, continuing to propose cuts to all three forms of exit payout in the civil service, but rowing back from some key elements of its initial proposals.
Last week members of both the FDA and Prospect unions – which took part in talks with the Cabinet Office over the summer – voted to back a deal with the government to avert more stringent cuts.
Cabinet Office minister Ben Gummer on Tuesday laid the amended Compensation Scheme before parliament and said the changes would take effect from tomorrow, November 9.
"Our overarching aim will always be to provide the best possible service for the public and to create a civil service that treats our workforce with fairness and respect," he said.
Unions have been particularly angered by the decision to look again at the Compensation Scheme so soon after the 2010 deal, which was described by then-Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude as "fair, affordable and sustainable" – a statement unions took as confirmation it would not be revisited for some time.
"We have an agreement that provides a firm foundation for the management of the civil service and its people for a generation" – Cabinet Office minister Ben Gummer
In response to those concerns, Gummer's statement includes the following passage: "I believe that these reforms represent a strong negotiated settlement.
"It has been reached with trade unions that have engaged constructively in discussions. As a consequence we have an agreement that provides a firm foundation for the management of the civil service and its people for a generation. This administration will not seek to deviate from this agreement."
In a separate press statement issued by the Cabinet Office, Gummer said that while he could not "bind future administrations" he "cannot see circumstances in which successive administrations would seek to do so either".
He added: “With this reform concluded, I want to work with trade unions on the aspirations we all have to make the civil service an even better place to work”.
But the decision to press ahead with the changes has already sparked a furious response from PCS, the civil service's biggest union. PCS says it was barred from talks on the changes after refusing to accept the Cabinet Office's preconditions, and has been seeking to push back the deadline for a deal to give it time to ballot its members.
In a statement, PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka again raised the prospect of taking legal action against the government.
"As by far the largest civil service union, we quite reasonably requested more time to be able to consult our members" – PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka
"This is a despicable act of bad faith against its own workforce by a government that, after shutting us out of talks, is now imposing more cuts so soon after saying the system was sustainable and affordable," he said.
“As by far the largest civil service union, we quite reasonably requested more time to be able to consult our members, so the refusal to allow that and now this imposition are an unnecessary and spiteful insult to them. We will be fighting these changes politically and we are considering legal action."
"Deals like this are never easy"
Dave Penman, the general secretary of the FDA union, has meanwhile defended his union's decision to take part in negotiations, arguing that while the proposals were "neither necessary nor justified", his job was "to influence the outcome on behalf of our members".
"The deal not only sees the maximum award increase to 18 months from the original 12, but early payment of pension is also protected and improved through a flexibility to maximise the value of payment up to the £95k cap," he wrote in an exclusive piece for CSW.
"In addition, we’ve retained the protocols for avoiding redundancy, which now also cover the SCS for the first time."
"We think this offer gives us an effective, cost-efficient system to help civil servants leave when the time is right" – Civil service chief executive John Manzoni
Penman added: "Deals like this are never easy. It ultimately took commitment and energy from both sides to keep the negotiations alive, when at times they looked as dead as Michael Gove’s cabinet career.
"But regardless of how proud I am of our negotiating team and what I know we have achieved, ultimately members face the prospect of another cut in their terms and conditions. And so, despite their understandable anger at being picked on again, they also understood that a deal was preferable."
Announcing the imminent Compensation Scheme changes, civil service chief executive John Manzoni said having "the best possible civil service" required "being able to recruit and retain the best people, and being able to shape our workforce to effectively meet the challenges that we will face in the coming years".
He added: “The government is reforming the Civil Service Compensation Scheme to align with wider compensation reforms across the public sector and we think this offer gives us an effective, cost-efficient system to help civil servants leave when the time is right.
“Our overarching aim will always be to provide the best service for the public, create a brilliant civil service for our people, and to treat them with fairness and respect.”
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