Most of us have been lucky enough to enjoy at least some time away from work over the Christmas period. Here are a few civil service-related stories you may have missed from the past couple of weeks.
Land Registry and CAA staff vote for strike action
Members of the PCS union who work at the Land Registry have voted to strike in a dispute over office attendance and personal-data use.
The union – which is the civil service's largest – has around 3,800 members at the non-ministerial department, split across 14 sites. A ballot that closed on 23 December saw 69% of respondents backing strike action in response to the "arbitrary" imposition of a requirement to spend 60% of their time working from their offices rather than other locations.
PCS's data-use concerns centre on what it describes as "inappropriate" practice on the part of the employer that it says will lead to "micromanagement", "downgrading of some work" and "restricting of promotion opportunities".
Separately, PCS members at the Civil Aviation Authority voted to strike over pay in a ballot that closed just before Christmas. The result, which also includes backing for action short of strike, is in response to a pay offer of 4% for the lowest paid staff and 3% for everyone else at the CAA, which is a public corporation of the Department for Transport.
Civil Service Pension Scheme reforms 'under consideration'
The Cabinet Office is actively considering the potential to rebalance public sector pay and pensions in a way that could allow civil servants, teachers and NHS staff to trade off bigger pay rises today against future retirement income.
Resetting the current public sector model of lower remuneration than the private sector coupled with more generous final-salary pensions has been the subject of numerous recent calls – including from think tank Reform and former cabinet secretary Lord Gus O'Donnell.
According to a report in The Times this week, Cabinet Office permanent secretary Cat Little – who is also civil service chief operating officer – has confirmed that a review is ongoing.
"Officials are looking at ways to allow public sector workers to take higher pay at a time in their lives when they may be seeking to buy a house or look after children, in exchange for a lower income in retirement," the report says.
It adds: "Work is said to be at an early stage and ministers, who have yet to be presented with worked-up proposals, have not made any decisions on the idea."
Anger over quango renaissance
The government faced a call for a new war on red tape last week after a report suggested that a new quango, taskforce or advisory council has been set up every week on average since Labour came back to power in July's general election.
A tally in the Daily Mail singled out the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero as a particular growth area, with examples including the creation of Great British Energy, the new Mission Control advisory body, and the Solar Taskforce.
Other new entities include the Home Office's Border Security Command and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government's New Towns Taskforce.
Former Conservative Party minister Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, who failed to win re-election in July, told the Mail that a "great cull" of quangos was required, but the Starmer government was heading in the wrong direction.
"Labour seem bent on giving us government by the quango, for the quango," he said. "They want government done by their friends and they want it done away from prying eyes by organisations that are simply not accountable in the same way as elected ministers. It is not only anti-democratic but it also leads to worse government."
The Mail did not mention bodies announced under previous governments that the new administration is scrapping – such as the Office for Local Government and the Office for Place.
DWP staff voice fears over flashers, sex workers and addicts
Civil service leaders' union the FDA has said it is "deeply saddened" by a lack of concern from Department for Work and Pensions managers over staff safety at a major office building in Grimsby.
The union said officials who work at Crown House in the town had reported being targeted by flashers, sex workers and drug addicts. The FDA said the 1960s building, where 450 staff working on fraud and Universal Credit are based, is unfit for purpose and has inadequate security arrangements.
According to the Grimsby Telegraph, one respondent to an FDA staff survey said: "It’s like the den of iniquity around here. We have female members of staff harassed by drug users and alcoholics asking them to show their private parts. Men are propositioned by prostitutes on top of the wider crime-related issues. Myself and my colleagues have given up reporting issues as nothing ever gets done as this has been going on for years.
"Staff are reluctant to leave the building and it’s even more unsafe when staff have to work late when the dark nights set in. It’s simply not appropriate for a government building to be based here, especially given the sensitivity of our work."
The FDA wants staff to be moved to new premises and said it is taking its concerns directly to DWP permanent secretary Sir Peter Schofield and secretary of state Liz Kendall.
Traitors: Spoilers ahead
A diplomat-turned-civil-servant last night became one of the first casualties in the new series of hit BBC TV reality game show The Traitors, when he accidentally ejected himself from the class of 2025 just minutes into the first episode.
"Alexander", aged 38, attempted to use his diplomatic skills when the 25 contestants heading to the start of the show were told they would have to sacrifice three people before arriving at Ardross Castle, where The Traitors is filmed.
The cohort were travelling in three carriages of a train, each of which was required to lose one contestant by any means. Alexander attempted to secure a pool of potential volunteers in his carriage, suggesting he would be happy to be among them. No-one else followed his lead.
"I thought that maybe a couple of other people would also stand up, but that wasn't really what happened," he subsequently said.
"I think that by the time I'd said that I was considering it, I think that's almost as good as saying I'll do it, because everybody said: 'Yeah, that's great. Thanks so much, that's really nice of you. You should go'."
In pre-broadcast publicity issued by the BBC, Alexander said he thought it would be "fun" to bring his diplomatic skills to the game. "A diplomat is meant to win people over and be good at influencing and negotiating," he explained.