24 November 2006
Senior managers at the Revenue and Customs department are furious over the way last week's radical restructuring was handled internally.
Meetings between senior-grade staff and R&C directors since the public announcement on November 16 have centred as much on an apparent failure to consult key personnel as they have on how managers will achieve the changes. Around 17,500 posts are to be cut and hundreds of offices closed nationally. Many of the cuts will affect senior staff.
R&C sources told Public Finance that hundreds of senior personnel were unaware of the initiative, which has formally been presented as a consultation, until the public announcement. They say individuals who were given advanced notice of the statement were kept in the dark about the extent of the overhaul.
Whitehall's trade unions, including the FDA, which represents senior personnel, and the Public and Commercial Services union, which represents 84,000 R&C staff, only discovered the extent of the cuts on the department's intranet after the public announcement.
That contrasts with the traditional Whitehall practice of full consultation with the unions and senior managers before a formal announcement, so that internal concerns can be dealt with.
Civil servants are seeking assurances from acting R&C chair Paul Gray that the decision does not represent a change in the way such announcements are managed across Whitehall. Further departmental efficiency plans and overhauls are expected to follow next year's Budget and Comprehensive Spending Review, which will outline Whitehall's spending and administration budgets for the next three years.
Paul Whiteman, the FDA's senior R&C officer, told PF: 'We were disappointed by the lack of consultation with the unions prior to the announcement. The FDA has since met with the R&C, and they are aware of our concerns over their lack of consultation and the impact of the changes.
'We hope that the R&C understands the importance of engaging their managers in planning and implementing change in the department. I hope that our trust in the consultation process will develop as we progress.'
The R&C said it outlined the consultation process to trade union leaders late on November 15 – just hours before the public announcement. It had previously informed 450 'change managers' of the programme, a spokeswoman said.
'The decision was taken to inform all other staff of the exact details at the same time,' she said.
Unions issue joint warning on 'unfair' pay system
Whitehall's pay system for senior civil servants is unfair, too complicated and 'no longer fit for purpose', two professional-grade trade unions have warned.
The usually moderate FDA and Prospect unions seem to be tired of repeating warnings over the senior civil service's pay system, and have called for government action to improve matters.
FDA officials fear low morale over pay could cause an exodus of experienced personnel to better-paid jobs in the private sector.
The two unions' annual submission to the Senior Salaries Review Body makes clear their increasing anger at ministers' failure to correct problems with pay progression through the band system, disparities with the private sector and 'grossly unfair' caps on the number of staff who can receive pay increases annually.
Senior Whitehall staff have warned the Treasury, which determines civil service pay, about growing problems for many years.
'We cannot stress too strongly the depth of frustration and concern among members of the senior civil service about the failure to address these long-term flaws in their pay arrangements,' said Jonathan Baume, FDA general secretary. 'Repeated assurances that problems will be addressed are no longer believed, and there is deep scepticism among members about the possibility of any change.'
Other Whitehall sources said senior personnel were angry at the Treasury's decision this year to ignore the SSRB and put caps on pay rises. One said: 'There are serious concerns that the Treasury now thinks it is fine to ignore the SSRB on matters regarding pay.'
The unions accept that there is no prospect of significant concessions from the Treasury in 2007 but they urge the SSRB 'to sponsor dialogue between the Cabinet Office and the unions to agree changes… in time to inform the 2008 report.'
Commercial head of DoH departs for banking role
Ken Anderson, the Department of Health's commercial director general, is to leave the department for Swiss investment bank UBS.
His departure comes amid question marks over the future of the independent sector treatment centre programme he spearheaded.
Anderson joined the DoH in 2002 and was appointed as its first commercial director general in 2003, responsible for introducing private sector competition to improve NHS efficiency.
But earlier this year the Commons health select committee dubbed the programme's plans a 'profound incoherence'. It was concerned that the ten-year £5.8bn project to set up fast-track centres for simple operations meant patients were diverted from NHS facilities that were now half-empty.
Procurement for phase two of the scheme began this year. The original plans were for 24 separate centres with a cost of £550m over five years. Fears of over-capacity led to seven being scrapped, yet Anderson and Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt told the committee the payout would remain £550m.
The DoH would not comment on Anderson's replacement.
PFnov2006
