The review announced that there would be further cuts to civilian numbers; that allowances would be slashed and that the 1% pay 'freeze' would continue for a further year.
The review announced that there would be further cuts to civilian numbers; that allowances would be slashed and that the 1% pay ‘freeze’ would continue for a further year.
Our union is horrified that the fate of thousands of hardworking and committed MoD civilians was announced on the Andrew Marr show, clearly demonstrating the contempt that our employer now has for us.
The subsequent confirmation by both the Secretary of State and the Permanent under Secretary that these job losses will once again not be matched by a matching reduction in workload makes clear that pressure will continue to increase on those who remain.
This continued gutting of MoD civilians is having a real impact both on morale and the ability to recruit and retain good quality staff who can support the frontline. But the spending review has also made clear a stark difference between the treatment of military and civilian staff.
There is a growing sense of anger that when civilian staff see their jobs, pay and allowances under sustained attack that their military counterparts (who already get paid substantially more, often to do the same job) now seem invulnerable to further cuts.
Staff feel rightly aggrieved that their senior leaders have let them down badly, when it is clear that the Chiefs of Staff have gone into bat for the military and achieved guarantees on pay, allowances and job security that civilian staff are unlikely to see for a long time.
Morale across the department is incredibly fragile, as staff understand that their leaders see them as the problem and that their efforts are not remotely valued by senior management who only wish to see 5% identified as poor performers to eventually be shown the door.
Civilian staff have not had a pay rise of any form for several years, which means that many staff have taken a real terms 15-20% pay cut in this time. The scrapping of any form of progression has left a mismatch in salaries causing real resentment, particularly when our senior leaders have re-introduced higher starting pay for new entrants.
Higher starting pay, which is inherently discriminatory, will see new starters in areas such as DE&S paid significantly above existing staff. They will be expected to train, develop and support that individual who will be paid more than their experienced colleagues, who in turn have no chance of progressing up to those equivalent salary levels for many years – if at all.
These further attacks may be the trigger for further skilled and experienced staff to just walk away, leaving massive recruitment problems and loss of corporate knowledge.
Pay and bonus proposals 2013
The department has made a formal offer of 1% on all pay spines (including at the maxima) for all staff, except for those on restoring efficiency. The protected pay allowance for E1 and E2 staff would continue for a further year.
The department has confirmed that bonuses would be paid only to a maximum of 25% of staff, identified as those receiving a box 5 performance marking after moderation. As last year, only 1.7% of the bonus pot would be distributed to staff.
They have also proposed the re-introduction of higher starting pay, using some of the remaining 1% from the bonus pot to deal with recruitment and retention issues.
Finally there are currently no proposals to re-introduce progression, although senior management have indicated a desire to use the new performance management arrangements to determine possible progression.
Negotiations continue, but it is clear that these proposals are both unacceptable and completely fail to meet the reasonable demands laid out in our pay claim.
Attacks on terms and conditions resume
Senior management have also indicated that they now intend to progress the remaining Cabinet Office proposals to reduce still further our terms and conditions. These were:
• Annual leave - a maximum of 25 days annual leave for the first year of service building up to a maximum of 30 days annual leave;
• Occupational sick pay - OSP to start at one month full pay and one month half pay in the first year of service, rising with each year of service to five month full pay and five months half pay after five years service;
• Hours of work - an increase to 37 hours for staff in London currently on 36 hours;
• Mobility – full mobility for all grades between departments as well as location;
• Probation - departments should consider what restrictions are placed on entitlements during the probation period (e.g. access to flexi-time).
MoD management have already introduced detrimental changes to privilege days and access to flexible working for new starters and promotees and senior management and Ministers now think to the time is right to go further.
Our union will oppose these cuts, which will damage morale still further and also lead to major recruitment, retention and staff development problems.
Action on performance management
A number of members have asked for clarification about the sentence in the letter (Annex 1: Letter formally objecting to the new system), that states, "I will not be agreeing any performance objectives and I will not agree a Performance Report."
There is nowhere on the new Performance Appraisal Report (PAR) 2013/14 to members to sign, either to agree objectives, or to agree the PAR. Members therefore need to indicate their disagreement with their objectives and their report in a different way, so that they are able later in the process to progress a grievance should the outcome be unsatisfactory.
Members who are worried that this may expose them to some risk should talk to their branch representative, who can take further guidance if needed from their regional liaison officer.
Attacks on facility time start to impact on activists and members
This week massive cuts on facility time and detrimental changes to the department’s employee relations process have been imposed.
Although our union attempted to mitigate the worst effects of the proposals, a shambolic negotiations process has led to incoherent and un-agreed proposals being released onto the People Portal while reps have been ejected from trade union offices, dumped into the redeployment pool and sent home on gardening leave.
Our union will attempt to maintain support to members, branches and activists through this process but this will be assisted by more members being willing to play a more active role in their union.
Guidance on how we will operate in this changed environment is being developed.
Continuing to take action to deliver a Fair Deal in Defence
On behalf of the group, I would like to thank all those members, activists and some non-members who took part in the day of protest last week.
Industrial action, in the form of an overtime ban and withdrawal of good will, continues in the group to force senior management back to the negotiating table to address our legitimate and growing concerns.
Senior management need to understand that the issues we are raising are not going to go away and neither are we. Until they sit down to talk to us and agree to work constructively to find solutions, morale will continue to fall and staff anger will increase.
We are talking to members and activists to identify further possibilities to take action that will have maximum impact on the department with minimum effect on members. If you have any ideas that could help us develop our thinking, please get in touch.
