Government specialists’ dismay at further changes to redundancy scheme

Specialists and professionals in the civil service have reacted with anger at the launch of today’s consultation on further cuts to their redundancy terms.

Prospect, the union representing nearly 29,000 specialists across the civil and public services, has accused the government of reneging on the deal made just five years ago, which Francis Maude, then cabinet office minister, described as “fair, affordable and sustainable for the long term”.

Prospect deputy general secretary Garry Graham said: “The agreement we reached in 2010 was at the height of the financial crisis. Our members want to know what has changed since then.”

Graham pointed out that further job cuts, office closures, ten years of pay restraint, the redundancy cap in the Enterprise bill and burgeoning workloads are demoralising civil servants.

“This is the latest round in a series of assaults on the terms and conditions of public sector workers. Many of our members will feel that this is a declaration of war by the government against its own staff and yet another example of its contempt for those delivering valuable public services.

“The Treasury is misleading the public by referring to redundancy payments as a ‘giveaway’.

“The money paid on redundancy is compensation for the loss of a job that is no longer required, not a payoff for someone who has underperformed.

“The evidence supporting the government’s claims is flimsy and will be strongly challenged by Prospect through the consultation process.”

He concluded: “Increasing the squeeze on the specialist work our members do – in areas such as health and safety, animal health, heritage, climate science, defence and much more – will do nothing for the economy. The public will pay the price when these services are damaged beyond repair.”

The proposed changes will apply to all major workforces including the civil service, teachers, NHS workers, local government workers, police offers and firefighters.

They include:

• setting a maximum tariff to calculate exit payments at three weeks’ pay per year of service
• capping to 15 the maximum number of months’ salary that can be used to calculate redundancy payments
• introducing a tapering element that will reduce the amount of compensation an individual is entitled to the closer they get to their retirement age
• setting a £80k salary cap for calculating exit payments
• reducing the cost of employer-funded pension top ups for early retirement as part of redundancy packages.

For more information, please contact:

Garry Graham:             [email protected]            07713 511703

Marie McGrath:           [email protected]          020 7902 6615