20 May 2005
Legal advice sought over pension proposals
Senior civil servants will shortly take legal advice over the Cabinet Office's plan to reform Whitehall pensions, amid growing concerns that proposed changes could breach human rights or sex discrimination laws.
The FDA civil service union, which represents 13,000 senior staff, this week committed itself to full legal consultation after solicitors working for government departments raised questions about the retirement changes proposed by ministers before pension negotiations were suspended in advance of the general election.
In a consultation document published last December, former Cabinet Office minister Ruth Kelly proposed raising the pension age across Whitehall from 60 to 65 and calculating retirement payments according to civil servants' career average salary. They currently receive pensions based on their final salary.
Sources at the Treasury Solicitors Department and the Crown Prosecution Service this week said the government's own legal staff were concerned that raising the pension age could breach the Human Rights Act, while the switch to an average salary structure for civil service pensions could be challenged under sex discrimination laws.
When Kelly published the Cabinet Office's proposals, she claimed that pensions linked to an employee's average salary would benefit women and part-time workers. But initial assessments of the changes indicate that women could lose out significantly.
One senior Whitehall source told PF: 'Legal experts are wondering whether the Cabinet Office's proposed changes are susceptible to challenge.'
At the FDA's annual conference on May 13, civil servants voted to seek legal advice on the issue. The union described Kelly's proposals as 'contradictory, inadequate and ill thought-through'.
However, the pensions dilemma has been complicated by former work and pensions secretary Alan Johnson's pre-election decision to suspend the overhaul of Whitehall retirement planning. To prevent pre-election strikes by public sector staff, Johnson wrote to union leaders, including FDA general secretary Jonathan Baume, to agree a 'fresh start' and 'genuine negotiations'.
Consequently, it is unclear whether the initial proposals are still on the table.
But the Cabinet Office played down fears over the proposals, arguing that it merely needs to consult with civil servants prior to any new legislation. A spokesman said: 'The civil service pension schemes are statutory and the legal basis for changing them is contained in the Superannuation Act 1972. The Cabinet Office, on behalf of the minister for the civil service, can make changes provided that it consults with those likely to be affected, or with their representatives.'
Blair urged to get off the 'sofa' and consult on policies
FDA general secretary Jonathan Baume has called on Prime Minister Tony Blair to end 'sofa government' and restore the tradition of extensive policy consultation with the civil service during Labour's third term.
Opening the FDA's annual conference, Baume called for the restoration of 'effective Cabinet government'. He argued that Labour's large second-term parliamentary majority led to an 'unwillingness' to embrace traditional civil service skills, such as coherent policy-making, which in turn helped to 'weaken the government's effectiveness'.
FDA members, many of them senior Whitehall staff, have raised concerns about Blair's informal policy-making processes, a style that led critics to coin the term 'sofa government'. Baume said that the government had seemed to relish confrontation with public servants, rather than attempting to win support through dialogue and involvement. He added that it had paid the price through a vastly reduced majority.
Regarding Blair's third term, Baume said: 'The dynamics at the heart of government will be very different to those we have experienced [so far] under Labour. I hope we will see… a reassertion of the role of Parliament and its own structures, including select committees. All too often, the views and processes of Parliament appear to have been treated with disdain. With a reduced majority, the government will need to genuinely listen and consult much more about its controversial policies, striving to reach consensus.'
Baume urged civil servants to embrace parts of the government's civil service reform agenda, arguing that society's expectations for public servants had changed.
But he said he would continue to lead Whitehall's fight against staff pension reforms, 'artificial pay caps' and job cuts.
Call for 'open and fair' jobs contest
Political candidates for senior civil service posts should be forced to compete with high-performing mandarins, the FDA union has said.
An emergency motion to the FDA's conference called on the government to limit the increasing use of political appointments to posts previously held by apolitical civil servants.
It followed Prime Minister Tony Blair's recent appointment of former Scottish secretary Helen Liddell and Paul Boateng, former chief secretary to the Treasury, as high commissioners to Australia and South Africa respectively.
The FDA believes the posts should also have been made available to civil servants so that the government could avoid 'cronyism' accusations.
However, it has not recommended a ban on external and political appointments.
The motion states: 'Conference insists that such appointments must always be on the basis of merit and following an independent, open and fair competition in which internal candidates are allowed to compete against external candidates on an equal basis.'
Delegates said they were 'dismayed' at the decision to appoint Liddell and Boateng without such competition.
PFmay2005
