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Francis Maude to slash ‘untenable’ redundancy pay-offs for civil servants
Paul Waugh, Deputy Political Editor6 Jul 2010
More than half a million civil servants will have redundancy pay slashed under new moves to tackle the deficit, the Government confirmed today.
Minister for the Cabinet Office Francis Maude said the current legal protections for staff were “simply untenable” as he announced fresh legislation to cap pay-offs.
Civil servants across Whitehall — and in big regional departments such as Work and Pensions, Revenue and Customs, the Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Justice — have a legal right to redundancy terms which can be worth more than six years' pay.
Under the new regime, all compulsory redundancy payments would be capped at one year's pay and voluntary redundancies at 15 months' salary.
Mr Maude said he had been forced to act by the “current economic climate” and because the PCS union had taken court action to defend the system.
He also signalled a wider drive for regional pay rates across the civil service in a challenge to national pay bargaining with trade unions. While the civil service has London weighting to reflect higher housing costs, full-blown regional pay rates have rarely been tried. Public sector pay in the regions is about five per cent higher for men and up to 13 per cent higher for women compared with the private sector.
If Mr Maude is successful, the coalition could try to dismantle national pay bargaining for teachers, nurses and other public sector staff. Any such moves would be resisted by the unions.
Varying regional pay could be used to fill shortages in areas that have difficulty hiring people.
Mr Maude today said that he would prefer to proceed by negotiation with the unions but was determined to get the changes through. “Our system of a permanent politically impartial Civil Service is one of the jewels in our constitution and it is rightly admired throughout the world… Sadly the huge deficit we inherited means there is a real urgency now for change,” he said.
“What is on offer now is simply untenable and completely out of kilter with what is on offer in the wider public sector and the private sector. Our ambition now is that a negotiated, sustainable and practical long-term successor to the existing scheme can be agreed — one that is flexible and appropriate for current economic climate and also fair for lower paid workers.”
Reader views (31)
Pretensions of clairvoyance by Dave and Jane somewhat wide of the mark.
- Anglo, Sussex England, 07/07/2010 11:27
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Most Civil Servants ain't going to get anywhere near 6 years salary and it's likely that most will be at the lower end of the pay scales. If the unions don't want to play ball and expect the rest of us, who are only guaranteed statutory redundancy, to cough up in these hard times then change the tax law and withdraw the £ 30k exempt amount and make them all redundant on 31 March so a fair proprtion of it is taxed at rates anywhere between 42 and 62%.
Still there's other ways around it and I'd be a tad more worried if I sitting in a quango at the minute.
- Mark, Gerrymandered African Republic of Southwark, 07/07/2010 08:57
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@ - HavinALaugh, Worthing, 06/07/2010 20:31
Please can we stop calling them Civil Servants!
They are no more "Civil" than me and they are certainly not "Servants".
They are "tax payer funded employees" and this tax payer does not want to pay for their T and Cs anymore.
Well Havinalaugh, I as a Civil Servant and a tax payer and therefore co-shareholder in a number of rescued banks no longer want to fund the lifestyle and the pensions of arrogant city bankers!
I also hope that when you are in need of essential public services such as the Police, Ambulance service and Fire Brigade there are enough staff in those organisations to come to your aid even if you can't be bothered to fund them anymore!
- Bleeding Heart Liberal, London, 06/07/2010 22:37
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anglo - you are either a buffoon or someone pretending to be one. All your comments simply reveal someone who is angry, dissatisfied with his life, and lacking in any attractive qualities at all. Why don't you try and find something good to say about the life you find around you rather than simply slag off as many categories of humanity as you can find. Wouldn't want to be in your head mate - must be ghastly!
- dave, london, 06/07/2010 22:10
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anglo - are you a real person or some ridiculous characature of a white working class person? I hope for yourself its the latter because if you are actually the way you say you are i doubt you even have a job in either the private or public sectors - a poster boy for the poor, the bigotted and the irrelevent.
- jane, london, 06/07/2010 21:54
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Rich Brit - I am positive!
Maybe the North-East will be a target? You have quite a nest of them up there - I've dealt with them - they are useless.
- Anglo, Sussex England, 06/07/2010 21:32
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David Cameron to Nick Clegg: "My noose is better than your noose. Let's go try them? Where's the nearest unemployment tree?"
As I have previously said, with the Lib Cons happily alienating their biggest supporters it will be an interesting 12 months before the next election. Or are we on 11 months and counting down?
- daves, chelmsford uk, 06/07/2010 20:48
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Dear Anglo,
Are you so sure Public Servants are work-shy? From what i can see a lot em are fairly well educated, to post grad level, especially those in health, education and civil service management. Indeed a lot of them will have these qualifications supported by their employers and enjoyed good training in many relevant areas. I'd imagine many would be highly desired by employers looking for skilled staff.
Good luck in the race to the bottom, i know who my money's on. De Tocqueville said 'In a democracy people get the government they deserve'. Thats what you shall have have...
- Richbrit, Newcastle UK, 06/07/2010 20:48
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In scanning these posts a question comes to mind:-
What is so precious about Public Sector Employees?
and an observation prompted by a post from Canvey Island ... if the 'Civil Service' were competent in their duties there would be no need for HMG to employ expensive consultants!
- Anglo, Sussex England, 06/07/2010 20:43
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Please can we stop calling them Civil Servants!
They are no more "Civil" than me and they are certainly not "Servants".
They are "tax payer funded employees" and this tax payer does not want to pay for their T and Cs anymore.
Its game over, time is up, we want nothing more than they live in the same world as their employers, us.
We lose our jobs when people don't want what we do. We get pay cuts when our companies lose money. We get sacked when new technology does the job faster and cheaper. We have to sit and watch these miserable people wine on and on about contracts and conditions - in the real world when your time is up its up and T and Cs mean nothing.
- HavinALaugh, Worthing, 06/07/2010 20:31
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Speaking as someone who considers themself as a hard working, honest person and having worked as a civil servant for 25 years (5 years in private sector before that) - I have recently been told that my pay will now be frozen, my pension will be reduced due to the recent budget change in the way it is calculated and now I'm being told that if I were to be made redundant the terms of settlment will be reduced by two thirds. So on 3 counts I am being affected significantly and against what I believe to have been my contractual rights without consultation and seemingly as part of an ongoing politically spun barrage of jingoism against the public sector as a whole.
My main question, though one of many, is really about the overall maths here and long term plan for our future following these seemingly incessant cuts. I wonder how the government see The future of the public sector as a whole and what will happen if as seems to be the case myself and very many others are effectively thrown on to the scrapheap as individuals along with numerous other projects, plans, initiatives, developments and also the combination of cross reliance between public and private sector for mutual benefit?
I used to feel valued and believed that we were an evolving nation striviing to improve all areas to create and maintain a decent society where public service is admired and valued.
The present government seem to be only concerned with the present tense and no real thought seems to be planned or considered for the long term future, other than cooking the books for a short term financial gain.
- John, Birmingham, 06/07/2010 20:15
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I was made redundant many years agoand after twelve years of very loyal service I was given the maximum the government allowed. I think it was a week for every year.
I was also given an extra months pay for loyal service and my full holiday entitlement for the year although it was only April. This nowhere near came to three year salary so what is so terrible about a year's salary? Why should Civil Servants be chosen as special. I then spent many many years in Local Government and I agree with Headflip, Midlands that when you are bad at your job you get promoted as no manager wants to keep the rubbish. The good stay where they are and stay and stay.
Private sector is much harder work but far more rewarding in job satisfaction though.+
- Amber in mitcham, Mitcham Surrey, 06/07/2010 20:09
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If the Government stopped employing consultants in the Civil Service then their would be no need to make staff redundent. Fact is most long term civil servents joined when their post was permenent and they developed skills in different areas as their career progressed.
But decisions to cut the number of permenent staff have lead to civil servents being made redundent while short term agency staff have been taken on in their place!! And then they wonder why cases of information leaks leaks that of MPs expenses have increased.
Odd thing is that civil servents can be made redundent receive a full pay-off and after a set period can join as a new member of staff without need to repay payment as that was for another job!!!
- Melvyn, Canvey Island , Essex, 06/07/2010 19:42
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While the Government picks on soft targets such as the Civil Service, why are they leaving the obscene bonuses paid to bankers and high flyers.
The reality is that most Civil Servants are actually contributing to their own pensions through their pay. Many civil servants are on low wages, barely at minimum wage level. Their entitlement to draw the benefits accrued by their payments into the scheme is both legal and morally right.
The perception being fostered is that Civil Servants are in some way a privileged position. Some further up the tree may well be, but the average industrial worker is on a wage lower than the wage paid in the private sector for similar work. The unfairness and morality of the current proposals is at best suspect at worst driven by a poisonous political ideology.
I am not in favour of industrial action but in this case I can see the justification for it.
- John, Canterbury UK, 06/07/2010 18:30
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The reason the PCS won in the High Court is that what the previous government tried to impose was illegal. Francis Maude is likely to find that trying to change the law will be successfully challenged to. You cannot change a persons terms and conditions without their agreement whether they are public or private sector workers.
By the way Anglo, the PCS members are taxpayers unlike some of the Conservative non doms who are trying to force this through!
- Bleeding Heart Liberal, London, 06/07/2010 18:16
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This is going to be the worse government we've had since the Thatcher government. Once this useless government is over in five years, they will be kicked out,and will not govern for a generation(hooray). They will wreck the economy, crime will go up as well as unemployment.
- Andrew, London, 06/07/2010 17:37
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Having worked in local government I think it's a good move that's long overdue.
On a daily basis I worked with people who were rubbish at their job but were too expensive to sack and instead promoted to a position out of harms way. They then sit tight until the day the big fat pension starts rolling in. Totally scandalous!
And don't get me started on the number of people given dumb ass titles just to keep them out of the dole queue!!!!
- headflip, midlands, 06/07/2010 17:25
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All the gifts to various Unions byBlair/Brown & Co are slowly leaking into the public domain. This redundancy pay off rate is an obscenity and it is bang on right to let it be known to the public and to act fast.
Our public sector has way more similarities to Greece than we probably thought!
- Robert Marshall, London, 06/07/2010 17:19
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Dear Richbrit,
ex Public Sector usually means work-shy - not much competition. I've dealt with them. They are a worthless rabble for the most part.
- Anglo, Sussex England, 06/07/2010 17:09
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I am sick and tired of people like Beryl blaming the deficit solely on the financial sector. Yes, the banking crisis made the situation worse but the DEFICIT started long before 2008. The last Labour Government started borrowing more than we could afford in 2003 in the mistaken belief that the books would eventually balance with the growth generated by the credit boom. Of course that was a policy built on sand and now the present Government is having to clear up the mess.
People should ask themselves why Gordon Brown, the supposedly prudent Chancellor, risked putting this country into the red in the first place. Could it be that his client state of benefit claimers and overpaid civil servants, many of them in non-jobs such as 'Cheerleaders', 'Change Managers' and 'Tsars', had to be financed in order to keep him and his party in power?
Sorry, the party's over and the sooner people realise this the better.
- Lorna, Manchester, England, 06/07/2010 16:58
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Wake up everyone the last Labour government were spending far in excess of what the Country was earning, even in the good times.Maybe that wouldn't have mattered so much if the good times continued ..but they didn't.It also may not have mattered quite so much had the same Labour Government not wasted so much...but hey what does that matter its only OUR money ..who should we blame US ALL FOR LETTING THEM STAY AND GOVERN SO LONG .
- roger ivimy, sussex, 06/07/2010 16:24
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Regional pay, redundancy reduced - this should just be the start.
We don't need half of the people in the UK doing stuff just to keep them off the dole queue.
It’s nothing to do with the Banks who have, by permission of the last Labour government, cost the country a fortune.
This is to do with people who pay taxes into the pot being fed up with “workers” taking it out of the pot and doing nothing we couldn’t do cheaper, better and faster.
I am no fan of BT but even they can save 10% of costs and see customers satisfaction rise in the same year so what’s with this nonsense that you can’t cut costs in the Public sector without cutting services – you can.
The real problem in Britain is the Unions and they need to be sorted out once and for all. Strikes should be illegal in 2010.
- HavinALaugh, Worthing, 06/07/2010 16:17
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People being made redundant or having their entitlements cut, forcing more children below the poverty line.
School rebuilding stopped.
Cuts the worst since World War II
But hey, lets protect OVERSEAS AID.
.
The population are being punished for what the bankers did and yet how many bankers have gone to jail?
.
The government needs to get its priorities right.
- Neill, Kilburn, London, 06/07/2010 16:10
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People being made redundant and having their entitlements cut resulting in even more children being pushed below the poverty line.
School re-building stopped.
.
But hey, lets put a wall around overseas aid and protect that!
.
The government needs to get its priorities right.
- Neill, Kilburn, London, 06/07/2010 16:00
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Cheer up Beryl. Life's too short to worry about public school boy and their fags millionaires, of which of course there are 19 in the cabinet. Just about as many as in my my local - not.
- Derek Porter, London, UK, 06/07/2010 15:40
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Can anyone tell me why the government is waging war on the population of this country???? The blooming financial sector started this all off, and now everyone is being hammered for it. I knew this would happen and tried talking everyone I knew out of voting for either Cons or Dems, but unfortunately, lots of people got taken in, I bet they're eating their words now, except for the ones who have plenty of dosh so it doesn't matter to them. Darn right, they would be quite happy if we were all dead so they didn't have to spend ANY money on us!!!
- Beryl, Herts, 06/07/2010 15:23
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After you read the above article read the article below and then argue that the same rule applies to all. It so obvious that power is being abused by the suit wearing thieves that the country has in government.
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/politics/article-23853211-pound-1m-severance-payout-for-ex-labour-ministers.do
- Miah, London, 06/07/2010 15:17
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Half a million desperate ex public sector workers all chasing your private sector jobs, how do you think that will bode for your terms and conditions Anglo?
- Richbrit, Newcastle UK, 06/07/2010 15:02
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Do pay cut apply to PMs and Mr Francis Maude
- Snowtintrough, Sunderland England, 06/07/2010 14:42
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If the PCS decide to strike perhaps the people paying for all of this,the taxpayers, ought to picket the PCS.
As Anglo says , it is far better than the statutory minimum that the rest of us have to live with. .
- forgotten man, midlands, 06/07/2010 14:36
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Just heard that in future they will 'only' get 12 months pay instead of the outrageous minimum of 36 months they currently get.
This is far in excess of the statutory minimum that applies outside of the cushy Public Sector.
It is far too generous.
- Anglo, Sussex England, 06/07/2010 13:23
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