On the go: Civil servants have voted to strike with the highest level of support for industrial action in the Public and Commercial Services Union’s history, in a dispute that includes pensions.
On November 10, the PCS announced that 100,000 civil servants — or 86.2 per cent of those balloted — voted in support of strike action.
In August, the union announced that it had given the government a September 5 ultimatum on its demands over pensions, pay and job security. The government’s refusal to meet these demands led to the ballot.
The Scheme Advisory Board recommended in 2019 that contribution rates be cut by 2 per cent in the event of a cost-cap floor breach. The cost cap is calculated as the employer contribution correction cost plus the transitional protection remedy cost, with a 2 per cent plus or minus corridor.
A floor breach would mean an increase in take-home pay, but the imposition of McCloud costs meant that this would no longer happen.
The PCS has claimed that members are overpaying their pension contributions by 2 per cent. It has written to the Cabinet Office seeking negotiations.
PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: “We are calling on the government to respond positively to our members’ demands. They have to give our members a 10 per cent pay rise, job security, pensions justice and protected redundancy terms."
