Report of PCS meeting with Steria/SSCL 24th April

To all PCS members in SSCL

The following has been supplied by PCS DWP Group.
PCS are continuing to campaign against the privatisation of shared services, job cuts, site closures and off shoring. The union is also pressing SSCL to get the best arrangements possible for staff in terms of Voluntary Exits, Voluntary Redundancy and redeployment.

Union Meetings
Another round of meetings will be held with PCS members in the next couple of weeks. Please attend the meeting at your office.

Voluntary Exits
When we met them on 24 April SSCL told PCS that the latest position on Voluntary Exits was –



MyCSP are currently processing exit quotes which should start to arrive with staff by the middle of this week. Quotes are being assessed in batches. Staff will then have two weeks to accept/reject their quote. If staff believe that there is a financial miscalculation, the clock will stop whilst they challenge the quote.

The majority of leaving dates will be between end of July and end of October. Some may be earlier or later by mutual consent.

SSCL/Steria is still seeking advice about the rights of staff leaving on VES/VR schemes to state benefits.

Voluntary Redundancy
SSCL told PCS that there had been 136 expressions of interest for VR as of 23rd April 2014. The closing dates are –

• Closing sites - 30th April 2014.
• Centres of Excellence - 14th May 2014.
• Alnwick - separate review

In response to strong concerns from members about being rushed to accept redundancy, which were expressed by PCS to SSCL, they agreed to consider extending the closing dates. We will update members on this once we know more.

Redeployment/re-appointments
Ten AO’s at Sheffield have been offered posts to move back into the DWP in the Dearne Valley Debt Centre.

The Crown Prosecution Service, Prison Service, MOD and Home Office have now signed up to the redeployment/re-appointment protocols. PCS want all government departments to sign up to the protocols to give you the most chances of redeployment and a job in future. 

The Prison Service has four AO vacancies available in Cardiff Prison. A site meeting is being set up to advise staff.

The Crown Prosecution Service has one EO vacancy at York.

The Ministry of Justice currently have fourteen permanent AO posts available in Newport and the Cabinet Office is pushing for them to be open to SSCL staff. PCS members should be very cautious about applying for these jobs because MOJ are next in line for privatisation and it could be a case of out of the frying pan and into the fire. 

Transformation
SSCL have agreed to consult PCS about the transformation programme.

Alnwick
Transition of Opthalmic Payments to Alnwick is moving on a phased basis from June 2014. Work is to be absorbed without any increase in current headcount. VES outcomes for staff at Alnwick will be placed on hold pending the National Primary Care Services bid outcome being resolved in May 2014. As soon as we know more we will update members in Alnwick.

Threat to AA job roles
SSCL agreed to consult PCS about the future business model which strips out AA jobs. The union will be seeking to protect AA’s. 

Pay 2014
The SSCL chief executive agreed to negotiate with PCS about your 2014 pay increase.

The next meeting between PCS and SSCL will be on the 1st of May.

The following has been supplied by the TUC:
 
Dear Colleagues

As you are no doubt aware, this coming Monday, 28th April, is International Workers Memorial Day.

There are a number of events planned across the country, with several taking place across the region over the weekend and on Monday.

The details of the events in the North West can be viewed here.

Please circulate this to colleagues and contacts within your unions, workplaces and organisations so that we can ensure a strong presence at these events as we not only mourn for those who have died but continue to fight for the living and to protect those at work with good health and safety laws and regulations.

Kind Regards
Kara Stevens TUC
North West Regional Council

DWP Group Executive Elections 2014

There are two sets of elections, National and DWP Group, this post refers to DWP Group. If your ballot paper goes to your home address then please send a link to this page home.

The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) Fylde Central Benefits and Services Branch recommends that you vote for the following candidates for officers in the PCS DWP Group Executive Elections 2014.

DWP GROUP ELECTIONS

BALLOT STARTS ON 23rd APRIL 2014

Group President: Fran Heathcote
   
Vice President (4): Martin Cavanagh, Helen Flanagan, Adam Khalif, Katrine Williams

Asst Secretaries (7): Ian Bartholomew, David Burke, Christine Cuthbert, Martin Foreman, Sam Hall, Mark Page, Steve Swainston

Organiser: Marie McDonough

Treasurer: Bashir Chilwan

Journal Editor: Tony Church

Committee (17): Alison Carass, Jason Ferraby, Janice Godrich, Angie Grant, Sharon Green, Glen Hatwood, Kevin McCafferty, John McInally, Brian Nairn, Dave Owens, Ian Pope, Carol Revell, Annette Rochester, Sian Ruddick, Dave Semple, Steve West, Ian Wilkinson

For further details (including if you do not receive your ballot paper) contact:

Mick Daniels
Branch Organiser
Room C122A, Warbreck House
by EMAIL or Ext: 61186

UNISON to appeal over employment tribunal fees

The following details have been supplied by the TUC:
UNISON is to apply to appeal last year’s court ruling rejecting its claim for Judicial Review of the government's decision to introduce tribunal fees.

The union will ask the Court of Appeal to consider the “shocking” figures released last month that revealed employment tribunal claims dropped by 79 per cent in the first six months after the government imposed fees on workers bringing a claim.

The fees introduced on 29 July 2013 mean workers can be required to pay up to £1,200 for taking a tribunal complaint about issues including victimisation for workplace safety activities. The High Court had ruled it was too early to judge the full impact of the changes.

Dave Prentis, general secretary of UNISON, said: “There is absolutely no doubt that the government's decision to introduce fees has destroyed access to justice. The fall in the number of tribunal claims being lodged is staggering and these latest figures give the government nowhere to hide. We have argued all along that there can be no price placed on justice, but the sad fact is that this is exactly what is happening.” UNISON says its campaign has already secured a significant concession from the government, so claimants who are successful will in most cases have their fees reimbursed.

Disciplinary Penalties and Mitigation

The following details have been supplied by the PCS DWP Group:

Mitigation may reduce more serious minor misconduct to informal action 

DWP disciplinary guidance revised
PCS raised concerns, following feedback from Branches, that DWP disciplinary guidance for the application of mitigation in disciplinary cases needed improvement. DWP has agreed to introduce the necessary clarifications in the guidance for mitigation in the disciplinary guide, ‘How to Assess the level of misconduct and decide a discipline penalty.’ The change should be published on 14th April 2014 in the guidance on the Department and You Intranet site for Discipline. The changes will have immediate impact on all decisions, including appeal decisions, but DWP does not require managers to take retrospective action in closed cases.

Mitigation process clarified
Paragraph 12 of the guide for ‘How to Assess the level of misconduct and decide a discipline penalty’ clarifies that:

12. Mitigation refers to something about the case that justifies a lower penalty or outcome than the norm.

The original version of Paragraph 12 did not include the words “or outcome.” This resulted in mitigating factors not being applied to reduce the normal penalty of a First Written Warning in some cases of “more serious minor misconduct.”

Possible outcome clarified
The “Possible Outcome” column for “More serious minor misconduct” in the chart for Penalties for Misconduct after paragraph 22 of the guide for ‘How to Assess the level of misconduct and decide a discipline penalty’ has been amended to clarify that:

If managers accept mitigation put forward by the employee a First Written Warning may be reduced to informal action.

This amendment, together with the clarification under paragraph 12, now confirms that mitigating factors, when accepted by the decision maker or appeal manager, may result in a lower outcome than the norm in some cases of “more serious minor misconduct.” The normal penalty is a First Written Warning but acceptance of mitigating factors may justify a lower outcome than the norm which would be informal action.

PCS DWP Equality Seminars

The PCS DWP Group will be holding six geographical one day Equality Seminars in Wales, Midlands, Northern region, London, Scotland and North West. All events will be held at PCS offices in May and June.

For further information and an application form please click here.

Workers Beer Company

Cofely (Ex BBW) members stand united and win

Threat of industrial action secures enhancements

The threat of industrial action by members working for Cofely (formerly Balfour Beatty) on the DWP contract has secured enhancements to redundancy terms and measures to support people leaving the company.

Members had indicated they were angry and prepared to take action in a dispute about the loss of posts, real concerns about future job security, the paucity of statutory redundancy payments and lack of measures to support people through the process, including; retraining.

However, before the ballot was due to begin, an offer made on 4 February, was considered by the branch executive committee and was accepted as making significant progress to deal with members’ concerns.

A PCS spokesperson said “The threat of industrial action at Cofely workplace has been met with a significant change of position from senior management and money put onto the negotiating table.
As further changes are predicted at Cofely, we call on all staff to note that by standing together PCS has shown that in the workplace we can achieve real gains.”

Steve Cawkwell
Group Secretary

PCS NEC Election 2014

There are two sets of elections, National and DWP Group, this post refers to the National Elections. If your ballot paper goes to your home address then please send a link to this page home.

The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) Fylde Central Benefits and Services Branch recommends that you vote for the following candidates in the PCS National Executive Committee Elections 2014.

NEC ELECTIONS BALLOT

STARTS ON WED 16TH APRIL 2014

President: Janice Godrich

Deputy/Vice Presidents (4): Sue Bond, Paula Brown, Kevin McHugh, John McInally

NEC General: Ian Albert, Mark Baker, Clive Bryant, Alan Dennis, Mike Derbyshire, Richard Douglas, Lawrence Dunne, Mary Ferguson, Helen Flanagan, Cheryl Gedling, Jackie Green, Sam Hall, Elenor Haven, Fran Heathcote, Declan Hickey, Zita Holbourne, John Jamieson, Adam Khalif, Mark Leopard, Neil License, Marion Lloyd, Dominic McFadden, Lorna Merry, Chris Morrison, Marianne Owens, Clara Paillard, Ian Pope, Karen Watts, Hector Wesley, Paul Williams

For further details (including if you do not receive your ballot paper) contact:

Mick Daniels
Branch Organiser
Room C122A, Warbreck House
by EMAIL or Ext: 61186

Check-off campaign: take action now.

The following details have been supplied by PCS:
1000 PCS members have sent the latest campaign email to MPs, asking them to write to Francis Maude MP and urge him to retract his request to departments, and 3,500 people have written to Nick Clegg, Deputy Prime Minister, asking him to speak out in government to protect check-off.

Support has also come from Jon Ashworth MP, Shadow Cabinet Minister who has written an article for the Unions Together website about the ideological nature of the attack. http://www.unionstogether.org.uk/blog/entry/another_tory_attack_on_trade_unions_-_ending_check-off/

Last month, Jon Ashworth MP cross questioned Maude in the House of Commons and about his interference and forced him to admit for the first time both that it was not his decision to make but for departments and that the costs of ending checkoff were potentially huge.

Action:
If you have not done so already, please join the campaign.

Email Nick Clegg, Deputy Prime Minister (www.pcs.org.uk/savecheckoff)
Email your MP (www.pcs.org.uk/MPsavecheckoff)

If you are an employee of the devolved administrations (the Scottish government, Welsh government or Northern Ireland government), we have a separate campaign email for you because while you are not directly affected, your voice in the campaign could be crucial. Please email your MP today (www.pcs.org.uk/dasavecheckoff)

Atos failure shows work tests should be in-house

The following details have been supplied by the TUC:
As private firm Atos nears the end of its highly controversial stint assessing benefits claimants on their fitness for work, civil service union PCS says the work should be brought in-house.

The union says the work capability assessment (WCA) is fundamentally flawed and designed not to support people into employment, but to cut their benefit entitlement. It adds this is a view shared by the British Medical Association, disabled people's organisations and more than 120 MPs.

PCS points to a report last month from the Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland that linked a woman’s suicide to a benefit cut following a test by Atos. Her GP and psychiatrist, who unlike Atos did not believe she was fit for work, were not consulted. PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: "These privatised work assessments are fundamentally flawed and designed to harass vulnerable people and take their benefits away, rather than provide support and guidance. Doctors, MPs and disabled people all believe the tests should be scrapped so, instead of replacing the failed Atos with another profit-hungry provider, the government should bring the work in-house and invest in it properly."

A massive step backwards for health and safety

The following details have been supplied by the TUC:
The government has chosen the 40th anniversary of the Health and Safety at Work Act to make one of the most dangerous changes since the legislation came into effect in 1974, TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady has warned.

Writing in the Morning Star she says ministers have “decided that Britain’s 4.3 million self-employed people should no longer be subject to the provisions of the Act unless they also employ people or are on a prescribed list of occupations. This is a huge step backwards, and one that could lead to a big increase in deaths, injuries and ill-health.” Noting that the self-employed have a fatality rate twice that of employed workers, she adds that “their actions can also kill or injure other people through carelessness or negligence. When they do they should be treated just like anyone else.”

She says a provision in the government’s Deregulation Bill, which would mean only those self-employed in jobs on the prescribed list could be prosecuted if they kill or injury someone as a result of their negligence, “is virtually a licence to kill. It will be a green light to cowboys and incompetents to cut corners and take risks - not only with their own lives but also with ours.” The union leader concludes: “All the government’s proposals will do is create confusion. People who are genuinely self-employed will have no idea about their responsibilities, while employers will be even more likely to employ workers on bogus self-employed contracts in order to try to get round their legal responsibilities.”

News from Paul Blomfield MP Member of Parliament for Sheffield Central

The following is a press release from the office of Paul Blomfield MP:

Paul Blomfield MP to accuse Prime Minister of

"empty words" over Sheffield jobs to be moved offshore

In a debate in Parliament tomorrow Paul Blomfield, MP for Sheffield Central, will accuse the Prime Minister of empty words over the loss of 239 civil service jobs in Sheffield. Mr Blomfield has secured a debate following the announcement by SSCL, a private company part-owned by the government, that they are shutting the Department for Work and Pensions office at Kings Court.

In a letter to Mr Blomfield the Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude has all but confirmed that the work currently done in Sheffield is to be moved off-shore. In January the Prime Minister told the World Economic Forum that he wanted the UK to become “the re-shoring nation” and that the Government would work to brings jobs back to the UK from abroad.

Speaking ahead of his Westminster Hall debate on the Shared Services job losses Paul Blomfield MP said:

“In January the Prime Minister told the World Economic Forum that he wanted the UK to become “the re-shoring nation” to bring jobs back from abroad. He even set up a new body called ‘Reshore UK’ to do this.  Now the Government is letting a private company take an axe to publically funded civil service jobs in Sheffield and move the work out of the country. Unless urgent action is taken the Prime Minister’s statement will be seen as nothing more than empty words.

“Ministers have treated staff disgracefully and dishonestly. Last year they refused to tell me how many jobs would be moved offshore under this privatisation contract, now they’ve all but confirmed that the work lost in my constituency is to be off-shored. I’ll be pressing Ministers to commit to arrange for Reshore UK to meet with SSCL and the Cabinet Office to consider how these jobs can stay in the UK.”

--Ends—

Notes for Editors

1.      DEBATE: Paul Blomfield’s debate on ‘Shared Services Job Losses’ will take in Parliament in Westminster Hall on Wednesday 9^th April at 11am.

2.      SSCL CONTRACT: In November 2013 the Government handed a lucrative contract ‘worth in excess of £1bn over 10 years’ to a new private company Shared Services Connected Ltd (SSCL). SSCL is 75% owned by the private firm Steria and 25% owned by the Government. http://www.steria.com/uk/media-centre/press-releases/press-releases/article/steria-awarded-major-uk-government-contract-to-transform-shared-services-and-help-drive-civil-servic/

 

3.      JOB LOSSES:

a)      In March 2014 SSCL has confirmed that three of its sites – Cardiff, Leeds and Sheffield – will close later this year with a loss of over 500 jobs in total. 239 jobs will be lost in Sheffield with the closure of the DWP office at King’s Court. They have also refused to rule out further cuts and office closures in future.

b)      On the day before the privatisation took place – 31st October 2013 - SSCL agreed  a six month no compulsory redundancy agreement and one-year guarantee of no site closures. SCCL are "honouring" to the day by closing the three sites on 31 October 2014.

4.      OFFSHORING:

a)      In January David Cameron made a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos on the opportunities of re-shoring jobs back to the UK. The Prime Minister said “there is a chance for Britain to become the “Re-Shore Nation” and that we must “act now to seize the opportunities of re-shoring”. https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/world-economic-forum-davos-2014-speech-by-david-cameron--2

b)      Francis Maude’s letter to Paul Blomfield (31^st March) says:

Regarding the possibility of work being sent overseas, it is vital for SSCL to be competitive in the long term, maximising job creation. SSCL needs to be line with other companies of this kind, which often see some non-customer facing transactional roles being sourced offshore.

5.      CONFIDENTIAL DATA CONCERNS:

a)      SCCL handles the sensitive personal and confidential data of tens of thousands of civil servants in the Department for Work and Pensions, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Environment Agency. Shared Services provide corporate services for IT, human resources management, pay and payroll, procurement, and finance.

In the debate Mr Blomfield will raise concerns about how this sensitive data will be handed securely if the work is moved offshore.

MPs lobbied to 'Save our shared services'

Our reps briefed MPs about a government privatisation agenda that is already leading to job cuts, office closures and offshoring.

Shared services are those parts of individual departments that provide corporate services to do with IT, human resources management, pay and payroll, procurement, and finance to deliver their business outputs.

MPs heard from our reps at shared service centres about our concerns that affect all our members. Those who work in shared service centres are at risk of privatisation and losing their job. While those that rely on shared services to process their wages and expenses, or provide advice and support, are at risk of having their personal data offshored.

Debate secured
Among the MPs attending today was Paul Blomfield who has a shared service site in his Sheffield constituency which is one of those threatened with closure. Paul has secured a debate for Wednesday 9 April on the job cuts. Other MPs attending also agreed to raise our concerns with relevant ministers. Newport East MP Jessica Morden took to Twitter to say it was ‘good to catch’ up with our campaign, which includes the Ministry of Justice office in Newport.

Government plans have created two independent shared service centres (ISSCs) which were outsourced last year. Arvato now runs what is known as ISSC 1 which covers Department for Transport shared services centre in Swansea. A strong union campaign meant that staff that wanted to stay were found jobs in DfT and there is a no compulsory redundancy guarantee.

ISSC2 meanwhile – which covers shared service functions for the Department for Work and Pensions, DEFRA and the Environment Agency has been turned into a joint venture company called SSCL in which the government owns a 25% stake, with French multinational Steria owning the controlling 75%.

On 4 March SSCL announced 500 job cuts, office closures and offshoring of work.

What makes these developments even more concerning is that other government department’s shared services could follow suit. For example, the Ministry of Justice recently announced it is considering joining one of the two contracts, despite a previous commitment to keeping its shared services centre – which includes the Home Office – in-house. The Ministry of Defence and HMRC shared service centres could also be affected.

PCS National Women's Seminar 2014

The annual PCS National Women’s seminar will be held at the Novotel in Manchester on 21-22 June.

The seminar seeks to encourage greater participation from women members and will integrate the PCS national campaign and organising priorities with the particular challenges faced by women. A variety of speakers, workshops and discussion group sessions will be spread across the weekend. The seminar is aimed at women members who are newly active or who would like to become more active in PCS. 

Applications are positively welcomed from black, disabled, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) members who are often under represented at union events. The application, supporting statement and monitoring forms are below and the closing date for receipt is 5 pm on Friday 23 May 2014. For more information please see the PCS website for the full Branch Briefing and also the application forms required.

Save our Shared Services - email your MP

The following details have been supplied by PCS:
On Wednesday (2nd April 2014) morning PCS will be holding a parliamentary drop-in session to brief MPs about the latest developments in Shared Services.

As part of the Government's drive to privatise large parts of the civil service, it is outsourcing 'shared services' that provide support such as IT, pay and payroll, procurement, and Finance.

Earlier this month a Government joint venture with French Multinational Steria known as SSCL, announced it was to close three shared service offices in Cardiff, Leeds and Sheffield, make over 500 jobs redundant and offshore more than 200 jobs to India. This announcement affects members in DWP, DEFRA and Environment Agency offices. We are concerned that other departments could follow suit with MoJ already planning to join on of two already outsourced shared services contracts.

If you rely on these services your personal data is under threat because of this.

Please make sure that you ask every single DWP union member to invite their MP to attend our briefing by clicking here.

Attendance Management: DWP must improve

The following details have been supplied by the PCS DWP Group:
PCS will take all necessary action to achieve improvements to DWP policy and procedure

Attendance Management Changes
DWP Attendance Management Policy, Procedure and Advice have been revised from 1st April 2014 following consultation but not agreement with the Departmental Trade Union Side (DTUS). The intent of DWP during the consultation process was to revise policy and procedure for consistency with Civil Service Employee Policy (CSEP) including the introduction of the CSEP spells of absence policy. The purpose of PCS during the consultation process was to:

• Oppose the imposition of a CSEP automatic warning policy
• Oppose the imposition of a CSEP spells of absence policy
• Negotiate improved support for disability related absences
• Negotiate improved guidance for exceptional absences
• Negotiate abolition of local “consistency” checking regimes which put undue pressure on managers to give inappropriate warnings

Warnings not automatic
DWP has agreed that Warnings are not automatic and should not be given where one of the special circumstances applies (Guidance for Employees 10 & Procedure for Managers 3.2). This retains policy achieved by PCS in 2009.

Spells of absence imposed
A new spells of absence trigger point has been imposed but only after acceptance of exceptions from the application of this policy to meet PCS concerns. New Procedure confirms that spells of absence are:

• Not applied for disability related absences (Procedure for Managers 2.2)
• Not pro-rata for part-time employees (Guidance for Employees 10 & Advice Q33)
• Not applied in a 6 month Review Period following a warning (Procedure for Managers 3.14/3.16, Procedure 3.25/3.27 & Advice Q34)

Disability related absences
DWP has accepted PCS proposals for improved procedural guidance for supporting occasional fluctuation of the level of disability related absence. Additions have been introduced to Procedure 3.2(b) & Advice Q9:
Advice Q9 New final paragraph:

Levels of disability related absences will vary, and may include peaks and troughs, so it would not normally be appropriate for an isolated peak of absence alone to justify unsatisfactory attendance action. The Disabled Employee’s Trigger Point supports irregular attendance and should not normally be used to trigger unsatisfactory attendance action in cases of continuous absence

3.2(b) new Procedural addition:
An occasional fluctuation [link to Q9] of the level of disability related absence would usually be supported and would not normally trigger warning or dismissal action. Before applying their discretion, or informing the employee of the decision in circumstances not listed, the manager must seek advice, not instruction, from their line manager (or a more senior manager) and an HR Expert.

Exceptional circumstances absences
DWP has accepted PCS proposals for new guidance for supporting exceptional absences.

New Attendance Management Advice Q36 covers “What should a manager consider when deciding whether to treat an absence as exceptional?

People can experience isolated incidents of absence or one-off illnesses or injuries. There are a number of circumstances where an absence would be treated as exceptional:

• An illness or condition which is usually only experienced once such as Chickenpox
• An illness or condition which is fairly uncommon or unusual
• An illness or condition which is fairly common but has had an uncommon or unusually extreme impact such as cases requiring hospital treatment
• The absence is following an accident or injury

A manager should not try to decide whether an absence is unlikely to reoccur. The manager must decide whether to treat an absence as exceptional based on the facts of the case at that time. Where an absence has been treated as exceptional but there are subsequent absences for the same reason, or related to it within the rolling 12 month period, that absence will be taken into account when considering whether to give an improvement warning.”

Spells of absence transitional arrangements 
The new spells of absence trigger point applies under DWP Procedure from 1st April 2014 but there are transitional arrangements:

• Sickness absences before 1st April will NOT count as spells of absence.
• Sickness absences that began before 1st April and include or continue past 1st April will NOT count as a spell of absence
• The trigger point for employees who are in a 12 month Sustained Improvement Period on this date is 8 days and will include spells from and including 1st April.

DWP now has accepted that the trigger point for employees in a 6 month Review Period will not include spells and will remain as four days.

DWP must improve
PCS Policy advocates significant improvement of Attendance Management. More needs to be done to ensure that:

• The warning process is not automatic in practice not just as a policy on the DWP intranet: words must be put into deeds
• Disability related absences must be better supported in practice
• Warnings and dismissal must be a last resort not a first option

PCS will take all necessary action to achieve improvements and better procedural fairness and justice for all: DWP Must Improve.

DWP Group Executive Committee Launches the DWP 2014 Pay Claim

The following details have been supplied by the PCS DWP Group:
The GEC is submitting the pay claim to DWP management to coincide with the TUC’s Britain Needs a Pay Rise Day on 1st April.

The DWP 2014 Pay Claim is based on the national union’s 2014 Pay Claim. Pay remains an integral part of the national PCS campaign for better pay, pensions and terms and conditions. Pay in DWP continues to be subject to a government imposed cap that keeps wages low and prevents members form progressing up the pay scale.

If pay had just kept pace with inflation, average civil service pay would be £1,800 higher than it is now. Across the economy pay cuts have damaged the economy and caused real hardship for millions of people.

PCS is backing the TUC’s campaign to increase the UK’s pay packet and get it shared more equally. The super rich continue to see their pay soar while falling wages are hitting millions of people. 

Headlines of the 2014 DWP Pay Claim:

• An end to the government imposed pay freeze/cap
• A Minimum 5% or £1,200 consolidated pay increase
• The Living Wage to underpin all pay policies and contracts
• Pay progression as a right for all
• National bargaining on pay for all staff

Equal pay and equality should be the central principles on which pay systems are based:

• Close pay gaps within and across departments
• No discriminatory performance pay
• Short pay scales with contractual progression

The full details of the pay claim can be found here.