By Austin Harney
Despite the need for more jobs and services throughout the Civil Service, the Tory government announced 91,000 job cuts in May 2022. During that time, the Tory government’s demand was for each government department to produce plans for 20% and 30% job cuts to the Cabinet Office. But during the following month, the government went further as the Cabinet Office wrote to the civil service unions confirming that departments and arms–length bodies need to make proposals by 30th June for how they would achieve 20%, 30%, as well as 40% reductions to staffing.
They, also, need to set out the reductions on services. Targets for departments will be set during October, and they will then be expected to implement their plans. Such job cuts could include outsourcing and compulsory redundancies which PCS has heavily resisted so far.
The Tory government provided its reason for announcing these 91,000 job cuts in the Civil Service through the previous Prime Minister, Boris Johnson congratulated the Civil Service for getting Brexit done, delivering the Furlough Scheme and helping with the vaccinations against Covid. He then went on to say that this was possible only through taking on thousands of extra staff, saying the Civil Service had grown by over 20% since 2016.
He then said that from now on, “We no longer require the state to have the same colossal presence in people’s lives. And rolling back the state in turn means we will, also, need fewer civil servants.” Johnson added: “As many families and businesses now look at how to reduce their costs in a period of higher global inflation, it is right that we do the same.”
Although it was devastating when the New Labour government under its Chancellor Gordon Brown announced 104,000 Civil Service job cuts in 2004, the current 91,000 job cuts will be more draconian as they are expected to be implemented within three years, back to the 2016 levels. It couldn’t happen at a far worse time, with the cost of living crisis, as many PCS members continue to face the most appalling levels of poverty pay and a pay freeze for, at least, ten years. Unquestionably PCS is facing the biggest attacks on its membership yet!
PCS met with the Cabinet Office on 3rd May to make clear its opposition to job cuts. Our trade union decided that there should be no compulsory redundancies and no privatisations, by making clear that the civil service needed more staff and resources, not fewer. Also, there must be full consultation and negotiation at the Cabinet Office and departmental level with the trade unions on the departmental plans. Although the PCS Union Conference has agreed an emergency motion to build a campaign against the planned job cuts and for increased resourcing to deliver adequate public services, we need a great deal of help from all the Labour MPs in Parliament.
General Secretary Mark Serwotka said: “This government always manages to find money to pay millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money to its millionaire friends or buy bottles of champagne for Downing Street parties but never for its hard–working staff members. The prime minister thanks civil servants in one sentence, tells them their jobs are at risk in the next. He is a disgrace.”
Obviously, there are no assurances that these job cuts will be reversed under the new Prime Minister Liz Truss. The Tory government is committed to pay restraint despite the cost of living crisis and is still committed to reducing the Civil Service Compensation Scheme that would facilitate the sacking of tens of thousands of civil servants on the cheap. Liz Truss is already looking at fundamentally reforming the Civil Service and introducing more anti–union legislation with a review of the Equality Act that could be of detriment to us all.
It is vital that the Labour Party unites with all trade unions against this current onslaught by this Tory government. An injury to one is an injury to all!
Austin Harney is a member of the National Executive Committee of the Public and Commercial Services Union.
Image: PCS strikers rally the Forum, Norwich on the first day of their strike. Uploaded by Edward. Roger Blackwell from Norwich, UK, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
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