Last Friday the Government announced plans to radically reduce the compensation paid to civil servants who are made redundant. The proposals are published by the Cabinet Office and are described as “reform” of the civil service compensation scheme. The proposals actually represent a cut in contractual rights to a decent redundancy compensation at a time when jobs are at risk.
PCS alongside other trade unions have been in negotiations with the Cabinet Office since last Autumn but nothing has so far been agreed between the two parties. Despite this members were notified of the proposals in such a way that they thought the new plans had the full agreement of PCS.
PCS General Secretary Mark Serwotka stated:
These proposals are a disgraceful attempt by the government to replace a fair, negotiated right to decent compensation with a bargain basement pay-off at a time of massive insecurity over jobs.
Following the announcement The Daily Mail published a grossly misleading article making out that the vast majority of civil servants receive a golden handshake when they leave, which is far from the truth.
Mark Serwotka said:
Away from the headlines about bumper pay-outs for mandarins, the vast majority of civil servants live in the real world where pay is low and pensions are far from gold-plated. The real divide is not between public and private, but between low-paid workers and the very wealthy.
Additionally Mark responded to the Daily Mail with the following comment:
Your report about proposed changes to the civil service compensation scheme – Blitz on the £1bn golden goodbyes for civil servants - is based on a grain of truth, a great deal of speculation and a dose of prejudice.
The fact is that civil service management have put forward proposals that slash workers existing legal and contractual rights to fair compensation if made redundant.
It is interesting that these existing terms were introduced by the Treasury in 1987 and endorsed by the then Government led by Margaret Thatcher. If it was fair then why is it not fair now for civil servants who for years have suffered low pay and low increases on the basis that they have secure jobs?
It is also the case that almost 100,000 civil service jobs have been cut in the past four years. The vast majority of those jobs have been among low paid civil servants providing essential services in every community.
The stereotype of mandarins with gold-plated pensions is far from the truth. Almost 20% of civil servants earn less than £15,000 a year and the average civil service pension is £6,500. When you exclude high earners, the average is £4,200. Hardly gold plated.
Media myths about the civil and public services:
Tags: Civil Service, Mark Serwotka, Myth, PCS, Pensions, Public Sector, Redundancy, Trade Union
