The Civil Service (particularly the Department for Work and Pensions) is one of (if not the) largest employers on the Fylde Coast, however recent Ministerial figures indicate that there are now circa 5,000 DWP staff on the Fylde Coast. There used to be thousands more.
The main political parties appear to be drawing together a consensus that 2010 will witness an attack on Civil Service jobs, compensation payments for when people are forced out of work to be slashed, threatened attacks on Pensions and Pay.
The Financial crisis created by the Bankers and the Millionaire Class:
The Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Rt. Hon Alistair Darling MP set out in his pre-budget statement fiscal measures to respond to the financial crisis created by the errors of the bankers and excesses of the millionaire class.
The measures attack the pay, pensions and conditions of the working class civil servant who had absolutely nothing to do with the errors of the bankers nor the excesses of the millionaire class.
We believe that the government should be focussing more on tackling the £100 billion plus of uncollected, evaded and avoided tax instead of talking about slashing public sector spending and capping public sector pay etc.
In essence the average low paid Civil Servant on the Fylde Coast is being asked to pay in terms of attacks on their Pay and Pensions for the excesses of the financial sector and the errors of the bankers. It’s a bit like Robin Hood but in reverse as the millions of working people have bailed out the millionaires and now are being asked again to pay for the errors of the bankers and their excesses. This will undoubtedly be an issue that the PCS in general and the Fylde Branch in particular will have to respond to in 2010.
Job Cuts in the Fylde and the attacks on the Civil Service Compensation Scheme:
In the Department for Work and Pensions it has been established that over two thousand one hundred jobs have already been cut on the Fylde. Once the worst of the bankers created recession is over then there could be attempts at a purge on Civil Service jobs.
Following from the recent unilateral attempt to impose changes to civil servants’ redundancy terms, it is clear that the government are preparing to cut more jobs on the cheap. The published proposals have not been agreed with the PCS.
The proposals include the following attacks:
- Slashed. The amount of compensation paid if you are made compulsory redundant.
- Chopped. The amount of money that may be offered on any exit scheme (including compulsory redundancy on voluntary basis)
- Axed. All the enhancements to any early retirement schemes that may be offered in the future will be axed.
It is clear that the Government are preparing to cut more jobs on the cheap. Cutting the compensation makes it cheaper to get rid of people. There is every likelihood of their being a ballot of the members in January 2010 for Campaigning Action to defend our conditions of service and jobs. (There is also concern about the standard of the jobs for those left after the job cuts. Due to attacks on Conditions of Service following the job cuts many of the posts are now of the call centre type).
Pay 2010: PCS have warned that capping pay would further undermine morale and entrench low pay in the civil service where 1 in 5 earn less than £15,000. Pay in the Civil Service (DWP) is lower than that of comparable jobs in the private sector with pay gaps of more than £5,000 between the civil service and private sector.
The Chancellor announced a new pay cap of 1 percent pay increases for the next three years in the Public Sector.
Pay cuts and pay freezes have been a common feature for civil servants as the Government has sought to drive down pay over the past few years, with all of the DWP staff receiving a 0% pay rise last year and 1% this year.
There has not been a golden decade of pay rises in the DWP with people getting on average a one percent pay rise over the past three years; however we are being asked to pay for the financial crisis none of which was our doing. Now to tell people that their pay rises are going to be capped at 1 percent for the next three years, making 6 years in total, is grossly unfair.
In reality, because of the fact that, uniquely in the Public Sector, pay progression in the Civil Service is costed out of Annual Pay rounds, this means negative pay rises, i.e. pay cuts of -1%, or alternatively no pay progression.
To explain this; without Pay progression, two people doing the same identical jobs, but one is paid up to £5,000 per annum less than the other, in perpetuity. Imagine if an MP was paid £5,000 per annum less than another in perpetuity, there would be uproar. Members will be undoubtedly very angry at those responsible for this injustice.
Pensions: Members will be concerned over moves to cap employer contributions to public sector pensions. Only two years ago the Government made a commitment to the public sector unions. This led to the closing of the Civil Service final salary schemes to new members and the introduction of a career average scheme (not based on final salary) as well as existing staff being able to continue in the scheme that they have been part of. There are five different Pensions Schemes now in existence in the Civil Service.
There are two myths about Civil Service Pensions. Firstly there is the one that the final salary schemes are still open. They are not. They closed to new members in 2007. Second is that the all Civil Servants are on gold plated pension. Far from being gold plated, the average civil service pension is £6,500. Pensions are deferred income not a lavish perk.
The question is does the Government want people to work until they are 80 (if they survive) whilst young people cannot find work? This is not a logical way to proceed.
Conclusion: The Branch will ensure that we play our full role in the Campaigning Action that is needed. In 2010 there will be a General Election and the Branch will be contacting the candidates to ask where they all stand on all the above issues and will provide assistance to members who may also wish to ask the candidates about such matters.
