Strike Suspended

To Shared services reps,

Please forward this immediately to all Shared Services members 

SHARED SERVICES STRIKE ON OCTOBER 31^ST SUSPENDED

PCS NEGOTIATES PROTECTIONS 

BATTLE AGAINST PRIVATISATION CONTINUES

After a strong campaign against privatisation of the delivery of shared services in DWP, Defra and the Environment Agency, the government is still determined to rush through the transfer of staff on Friday November 1^st .     

It is now certain that the new “Joint Venture” company SSCL will come into existence on that date.  The government retains a 25% share ownership and control in SSCL, while the French multi-national Steria has 75%.  

PCS has fought hard on to prevent privatisation and to slow down the delivery of the project, so that if a transfer went ahead it did so in a responsible manner and with the maximum amount of agreed protections for staff.  

Your strike action on Thursday October 25^th was instrumental in driving Steria back to serious negotiations.  As a result, Steria on behalf of SSCL have now agreed:

• SSCL will recognise PCS across the new company and will continue to talk to us about job protections, restructuring and all terms and conditions issues.  There will now be  “Meaningful Talks” post transfer to develop the protections already agreed. 
• The transfer will be covered by the “New Fair Deal” on pensions and SSCL will be an “admitted body” to the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme.  This means that staff transferring will remain in their current scheme with no change to contributions or benefits. This includes application of civil service compensation terms and ill health provision.
• There will be no material changes for at least six months, including compulsory redundancy and offshoring of work.  SSCL commits to “take whatever steps it can reasonably make to avoid the need for compulsory redundancy for the duration of the transformation period of 2 years”
• There will be no offshoring of any functions for at least a year
• No sites will close for at least a year (including a special commitment from Defra that the Alnwick and York offices will continue to operate as they are for at least 20 months after transfer.  Talks are on-going on extending this commitment to other sites).
• If and when proposals for site closures or offshoring are made, SSCL will consult with PCS for a minimum of 90 days before proceeding..  
• A “Redeployment Protocol” for former DWP and Defra staff who TUPE transfer to SSCL guarantees that any staff who may be declared surplus as result of restructuring will have a right to apply and if successful be redeployed to a role in either department and their executive agencies.  These staff would have priority access to the Civil Service Vacancies portal in the same way that surplus civil servants do. 

We believe this is the best floor of protections that can currently be achieved before the transfer.  Because of this the planned strike action for Thursday 31^st October has been suspended.  But we do not accept that these are the final and only agreements that are possible, and we will be continuing to negotiate to extend these once SSCL is established.

The government’s stake in SSCL means it cannot be hands off.  The Labour Shadow Cabinet Office team have been fully briefed on our concerns about jobs, services and security of data, and the Public Administration Select Committee is interested in the progress of SSCL.  We will be keeping up political campaigning to ensure that SSCL delivers a full and proper service and retains jobs.

There remains no good arguments to downsize and offshore, and if SSCL proceeds to do so we will ensure that its decisions are scrutinised at every level.  Once again the government has put ideology before efficiency and has shown disregard for civil servants.  PCS will continue to fight their privatisation plans and will represent your interests within SSCL. 

PCS will be consulting members about the progress in the talks and asking you to continue to support our campaign. 

Steve Cawkwell

PCS DWP Group Secretary