Recap of Prospect Public Service Sector Conference

On Wednesday 18 June, Prospect held its biennial Public Service Sector Conference at the Park Plaza Hotel in London. Delegates from across the country came together to debate the pressing issues facing members in the sector, to shape union policy through motions, and to connect with fellow reps and colleagues from other branches.

We began the day with an opening address from Prospect General Secretary Mike Clancy, who set the tone by outlining the current political landscape. Mike spoke about Prospect’s continued engagement with government on some of our key priorities, including the Employment Rights Bill and the Strategic Defence Review, Mike also highlighted the crucial role of specialists in delivering public value in challenging times.

In the afternoon, we were pleased to welcome Georgia Gould MP, Parliamentary Secretary for the Cabinet Office. Speaking to conference, she said:

“In this room there’s so much technical expertise, so many highly skilled people who are the absolute bedrock of delivering missions of growth to clean energy.”

Following her speech, Georgia took questions from delegates, and answered with a shared commitment to working in partnership with Prospect to improve our public services and to support workers.

Throughout the day, we heard insightful and thoughtful debates on a wide range of motions. Identifying the problems of non-competitive pay, a lack of pay progression and other issues, delegates re-committed Prospect to campaign for root and branch reform of civil service pay and reward frameworks,

Other topics included improving support for neurodiversity in the workplace, raising concerns about the administration of civil service pensions, campaigning over reducing the gender pension gap, and the increasing our work over the impact of data and artificial intelligence on the public sector.

These debates showcased the strength of Prospect’s democratic voice and the deep knowledge our members bring to shaping union policy.

Congratulations to the our Public Service Sector Executive Committee (PSSEC) on their appointments, and to our Presidential Team:

• Geoff Fletcher, President

• Nick Mole, Vice-President

• George Ryall, Deputy Vice-President

📸 You can view highlights from the day in our Flickr photo gallery.