by René Lavanchy
Civil service unions are considering taking the Government to court after it announced plans to save £500 million by cutting redundancy payments to civil servants.
Unions are unhappy that the plans to change the civil service compensation scheme were imposed without discussion last week, after months of negotiations came to a halt in September without agreement.
The scheme is laid down in law by the 1972 Superannuation Act, which requires union consent in case of “detrimental changes to accrued rights”. The Cabinet Office believes this rule does not apply to its changes, but the Public and Commercial Services Union disagrees, and believes that they require an Act of Parliament.
Cabinet Office minister Tessa Jowell’s letter announcing the changes was handed to union officials last Friday, at the same time as civil servants received an e-mail from Cabinet Secretary Gus O’Donnell saying the plan had been “modified significantly” to accomodate feedback from the consultation.
The new scheme will increase the minimum qualifying period for redundancy pay from one year to two and cap severance payouts at £50,000 for staff on less than £25,000.
In court, unions are likely to argue that civil service bosses failed to negotiate meaningfully. A Whitehall source told Tribune that they had cancelled several meetings with unions in the run-up to the announcement.
