05 November 2004
The Trades Union Congress has backed the public sector unions' argument that cutting civil service jobs could be a 'false economy'.
In a stark warning, the TUC said public sector efficiency reforms could be jeopardised if the government pushed ahead with cuts.
General secretary Brendan Barber said: 'Public services are improving but looking for simple savings through job cuts at this stage could be a false economy. Cutting thousands of civil service jobs will hit the morale and capabilities of the public servants expected to implement government reforms. The costs could easily outweigh the benefits.'
The TUC's assessment of Sir Peter Gershon's efficiency review argues that the plans to cut more than 70,000 jobs from the central civil service could undermine morale.
Stating that the public sector is not 'inherently inefficient', the TUC report suggests that productivity in the UK public sector is 19% higher than in the US, 15% higher than in Germany and only 7% behind France.
A TUC spokesman said the planned cuts were likely to deliver less than 6% of the £21.5bn the government expects to save through reform. He added: 'These cuts will be mainly in low-paid jobs, and when you factor in the cost of filling the positions with agency and temporary staff, there is little benefit.'
But the TUC view differs from that of the PCS union, which has consistently argued the need for greater staffing across Whitehall. In its report, the TUC suggests the civil service is the right size now.
It says: 'The civil service is a small part of the public sector. It makes up only 10% of the public sector workforce and gained only 7% of the new jobs created in the sector between 1997 and 2003.'
A Cabinet Office source said: 'The Gershon review is being worked through at the moment and there is a determination to make sure that a reformed benefits service and other large-scale reform is delivered.'
Civil servants' sick leave rises again in 2003
Civil servants took an average of two weeks' sick leave last year, according to a survey of absenteeism in the civil service released by the Cabinet Office this week.
The report, Analysis of sickness absence in the civil service, put the cost to taxpayers of civil service sick leave at £386m, warning that absence due to ill-health 'continues to be a significant operational and financial burden' to the service.
The average of ten working days' absence recorded in 2003 was up from 9.8 days in 2002 and 9.2 in 2001. The figures, compiled by consultancy Aon, show that the government missed its target of reducing civil service sick leave to 7.2 days by 2003.
The government is trying to tackle the issue with increased monitoring and better staff management, with all Whitehall departments responsible for drawing up their own plan for cutting sickness leave.
Staff at the Child Support Agency, which has suffered severe computer and administrative problems, on average took 14 days of sick leave, the highest of any government department or agency.
Public sector unions claimed that the high level of absences was a result of increased stress in some frontline public service jobs.
Defra agency staff campaign against 'pitiful' pay levels
Agency staff at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs have launched a campaign against what they claim are 'pitiful' levels of pay.
In a series of lunchtime rallies on October 29, organised by the PCS and Prospect unions, staff complained that pay in some agencies was less than the minimum wage.
Linda Weatherhead, PCS negotiations officer for Defra, said that pay and conditions in the agencies had gone downhill.
She added: 'It beggars belief that government agencies are imposing offers that give no progression up the pay spine, don't even match the cost of living and, to add insult to injury, mean starting salaries for the bottom grade are below the minimum wage. It's high time management sat down with us to hammer out a deal that tackles the pitiful levels of pay and the glaring pay disparity between Defra and its agencies.'
Staff at the Central Science Laboratories, who are represented by Prospect, are also starting to work to rule following the rejection of an offer that did not allow for any pay progression, did not guarantee a cost-of-living increase and maintained a system of performance-related pay.
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