14 April 2006
Civil service trade unions this week accused the Department for Work and Pensions of withdrawing a commitment to avoid compulsory redundancies in implementing the government's £40bn efficiency programme – leaving staff threatening a two-day strike next month.
Public Finance has learnt that in recent meetings with staff, DWP managers have dropped all references to their past commitment that the department would not pursue compulsory redundancies under plans to reduce its head count by 30,000.
The Public and Commercial Services trade union, which represents the rank-and-file civil servants under threat from the job cuts, said its representatives left a meeting with senior managers last week 'in disgust' after they failed to receive assurances that compulsory redundancies would be avoided.
At a meeting of the PCS national executive on April 12, the union's leadership backed plans for a 48-hour strike on May 2 and 3 – a walkout that would end hours before the local government elections on May 4.
PCS national executive member John McInally told PF: 'The DWP is not giving us the 'no compulsory redundancies' agreement that we received when the efficiency agenda was first announced in 2004.
'They are not saying that there will definitely be compulsory redundancies, but the protection that staff had previously enjoyed is absent from current discussions – we are wary about what could now follow.'
The DWP claimed it had never agreed to avoid compulsory redundancies – despite admitting to an initial 'moratorium' in 2004.
A spokeswoman said: 'The DWP has never offered a commitment never to enter into compulsory redundancies. We did, however, make a commitment that there would be no redundancies within three months of an initial agreement [on the savings plan] in November 2004 and we stood by that commitment.'
The DWP has been under intense pressure to meet its efficiency targets. It must slash £960m per year from its operating costs by 2008; a programme that includes 10,000 staff relocations on top of the job cuts.
In last month's Budget statement, Chancellor Gordon Brown increased the pressure when he slashed a further 5% in real terms (around £900m per year) from the DWP's budget over the course of the next Spending Review period (2007/08 to 2010/11).
Last month, DWP permanent secretary Leigh Lewis told PF that more than 15,000 of the job cuts had already been achieved, many through natural wastage, staff redeployment and limited voluntary redundancy schemes.
But the PCS claims that the efficiency agenda has affected the department's ability to deliver public services, such as delays of between four to ten weeks for benefit payments at Jobcentre Plus offices.
McInally said: 'The PCS is realistic about the [wider DWP reform] programme… but it has now impacted so negatively on our members that their livelihoods and public services generally are under threat.
'We are reiterating our call for a moratorium on the job cuts, and the proposed strikes are a reflection of the level of dissatisfaction this whole reform programme is causing.'
The DWP spokeswoman added: 'We appreciate the concern and anxiety felt by our staff. We want to maintain dialogue with the unions, but we believe that taking strike action is not in the best interests of our staff or customers.'
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