Forestry Commission Trade Unions - www.fctu.org.uk
Civil Service Compensation Scheme
Civil Service Compensation Scheme
The Superannuation Act 2010, introduced in the House of Commons on 15 July 2010 was passed into law on 16 December 2010. It caps the redundancy payouts to civil servants at 15 months' salary. Initially the proposal was for a maximum of 12 months' salary. This was raised during the passage of the Bill to 15 months in the case of voluntary redundancy.
Since the previous government first published proposals for CSCS reform in July 2009, there had been considerable political controversy and union backlash, particularly from PCS.
The dispute over redundancy payments is long-standing, and under previous rules, in order to change the CSCS an agreement was needed with all six civil service unions. The Superannuation Act 2010 amended the Superannuation Act 1972, in order to limit redundancy payouts and to end the absolute requirement for an agreement with trade unions in relation to redundancy payments.
In a written statement on 21 December 2010, Francis Maude advised parliament that we "are now in a position to be able to repeal the caps set out in the Act through the Superannuation Act 2010 (Repeal of Limits on Compensation) Order 2010, which comes into force today. The repeal means that the statutory caps of a maximum of 15 months' pay for voluntary departures and 12 months' pay for compulsory departures, will not apply to the new civil service compensation scheme that is starting on 22 December 2010."
The key elements of the final compensation scheme were for voluntary redundancy, if below normal pension age (either aged 60 or 65), were for one month's pay per year of service up to 21 months (previously 15 months) with a taper of between a maximum of 21 months' and six months' compensation for those approaching pension age, and for those at or above normal pension age, one month's pay per year of service up to a maximum of six months.
The current PCS position states:
Following PCS’s success in having the previous amendment scheme quashed talks on reform of the compensation scheme have recommenced with the approval of the Cabinet Office Minister the Rt Hon Francis Maude MP.
However the Minister has made clear that he sees the scheme quashed by the High Court as being over generous and the coalition government in its programme said it would recommit itself to reforming the CSCS in line with practice in the private sector whatever that may be.
Certainly what the government are seeking to do in this Bill is far more draconian than anything previously proposed. At a time when hundreds of civil servants across the country fear for their jobs, this Bill will slash their redundancy compensation, especially for older and longer serving staff.
The PCS position is quite clear that we are always prepared to negotiate to reach agreement, but any agreement should be fair to all parties, recognise the accrued statutory rights held by many civil service staff and be fair to new entrants to the civil service.
What is not acceptable to PCS and its members is for the government to attempt to use the Superannuation Bill as a blunt bargaining tool to influence the negotiating process nor is it acceptable as the government threatened to do, to introduce further legislation to change the 1972 Superannuation Act to remove the provisions which require agreement with the unions to detrimental changes.
This now forms part of the wider PCS campaign against cuts.
In a national ballot, PCS received massive support for the campaign.
Prospect conducted a ballot between 23 November and 16 December and over 10,000 members voted in favour of the new scheme. See Prospect info and briefings.