Month: Dec 2025

Public money used for private profit

In May 2025, HMRC moved from multiple Facilities Management (FM) contracts to one contract for the West of the UK – awarded to Sodexo – and one contract for the East of the UK – awarded to Mitie. This new model was termed by HMRC as ‘Next Generation Facilities Management’. Six months later the reality has been a backlog of repairs, offices being temporarily closed and FM staff resignations.

The new contract brings together ‘hard FM’ (maintenance and repairs) with ‘soft FM’ (cleaning, reception, cafe) to reduce the number of contracts required. This was supposed to deliver savings for HMRC. It does appear that the winning bids from Sodexo and Mitie come in at a lower cost to HMRC compared to the five previous contracts.

But cheaper is rarely better. It’s important to look at what the contracts are actually delivering to understand if HMRC is getting value for money. HMRC sets standards for hard and soft FM that are supposed to be met under the contract. If these standards are met then the contracts work.

On ‘hard FM’, key performance indicators aren’t being met. Statutory requirements aren’t being completed. Without sign off for the statutory safety of offices, they will have to be closed to staff. HMRC is then left paying rent on buildings it can’t use. Other repairs are mounting up too – broken doors, cracked windows, fallen ceiling tiles, broken taps, broken toilets, faulty plug sockets, the list goes on. Every one of these is another hindrance on the ability of HMRC staff to do their jobs effectively.

On ‘soft FM’, standards are barely met or not met. This isn’t the fault of the hard working staff – they are doing as much of the thankless cleaning and tidying at humanly possible. The problem is the cuts to headcount and hours available that are imposed from the top. Not enough FM staff means the workload is too much for those that remain and not everything can be done. The FM staff suffer the pressure of being expected to delivery the impossible, and HMRC staff suffer the consequences of unclean offices. The only winners are the companies siphoning taxpayer money into shareholder dividends. So much for being the ‘next generation’.

Ebenezer Sodexo cancels Christmas for staff

Even this isn’t bad enough for Sodexo. They are going a step further by seeking to make soft FM staff redundant all across the sites they have responsibility for. Fewer staff will make an already difficult job next to impossible for these staff. This decision is a mistake driven by corporate greed.

But consider the timing – the redundancy consultation is being conducted so that it’s completed by 19 December. What kind of Christmas will Sodexo soft FM staff, when they may not have a role in 2026?

PCS has members in Sodexo. PCS has correctly sought to intervene to support these members. Sodexo don’t recognise PCS and refuse to engage with PCS. There’s mounting evidence that Sodexo are ignoring their own redundancy HR policy and possibly employment law as well.

PCS has raised concerns with HMRC. Sodexo have assured HMRC they will still be able to meet key performance indicators, so HMRC have decided this isn’t their problem. All too often HMRC has tried to wash its hands of responsibility for privatised services. It was this attitude that allowed the Concentrix debacle to happen (see https://bln.org.uk/2025/07/08/fight-back-against-hmrcs-outsourcing-plans/). It was HMRC that suffered the reputational damage and the consequences. PCS must continue to pressure HMRC to intervene before the damage is done by Sodexo.

Mitie now implementing staff cuts

Even as PCS is looking to intervene at Sodexo, Mitie have made the disgraceful decision to make its own cuts. Little information has been shared with PCS about Mitie’s plans. Mitie what don’t recognise PCS and refuse to engage with PCS. Once again the HMRC says this is a matter for the private contractor and they can’t (or rather they won’t) intervene. 

The implication is that HMRC will have at least 100 fewer cleaning staff at offices in 2026. This would be bad at any times, but it comes even as HMRC seeks to restack it’s offices to increase capacity for people. So more members in offices using the facilities, more desks to clean, fewer staff at Sodexo and Mitie to deliver the essential services. HMRC is putting cost savings ahead of staff health and welfare.

No lessons learned by HMRC

In 2001, nearly all Inland Revenue and Customs & Excise buildings were sold to Mapeley and then leased back from Mapeley. Even at the time of this arrangement, it was controversial. Mapeley were based in Jersey so the profits of made on the contract weren’t taxable in the UK.

As time went on, Mapeley proved to be an unreliable landlord for HMRC. Repairs were slow or just not completed. The Office of Budget Responsibility reviewed the contract and found HMRC only made ‘savings’ from office closures – and those savings were inevitably offset by other costs like redundancy payments.

Time and again, HMRC has entered into contracts with the private sector that don’t deliver benefits. Whether it’s Mapeley, Concentrix, Fujitsu, Sodexo or Mitie, the private sector is a parasite on the public sector.

This Labour government stood for election in 2024 on a manifesto that included the following: 

“Labour will learn the lessons from the collapse of Carillion and bring about the biggest wave of in-sourcing of public services in a generation. A Labour Government will end the Tories’ ideological drive to privatise our public services, extend the Freedom of Information Act to apply to private companies that hold contracts to provide public services, exclusively with regard to information relevant to those contracts, to ensure any outsourced contracts are transparent and accountable for delivery. We will also extend the Freedom of Information Act to publicly funded employers’ associations, where not already covered.”

This manifesto promise – like many others – has been ignored. Along with disgusting attacks on migrants, pensioners, the disabled and the watering down of it’s promises to the trade unions, Labour is once again affirming it’s position as a representative of bankrupt British Capitalism. 

Fight back! 

This threat to members’ jobs and conditions cannot be allowed to go unanswered. So what can be done? Here is what the BLN says:

The HMRC GEC should publicly call on HMRC to end the ‘Next Generation’ FM contracts and bring the services in-house.

Current staff at Sodexo and Mitie working in HMRC offices need to be offered roles in HMRC – earning the rates of pay and terms and conditions negotiated by PCS and expected for all HMRC staff.

Every PCS branch in HMRC Group needs to recruit the hard and soft FM staff in their office into PCS. Union membership is their best protection against exploitation.

Every PCS branch in HMRC Group should organise meetings of HMRC and FM members. The meetings should be used to fully brief members about the situation in FM, and gather the views and the fighting ideas of our members.

While the ‘Next Generation’ FM contracts remain in place, the HMRC GEC must organise to seek recognition rights with Sodexo and Mitie for the staff working at HMRC offices.

At this year’s PCS Annual Delegate Conference, delegates voted to carry Motion A383 which called on the NEC to “proceed to a ballot by no later than mid-September 2025 if there is not satisfactory progress made to meeting our demands”.

The Left Unity controlled NEC has deliberately undermined the demands of motion A383 – instead of delivering a campaign, the NEC has caused even more damage to members’ hopes of a genuine campaign on pay.

There is action taking place in every part of PCS for campaigns related to the national campaign – including the Left Unity controlled DWP – and yet Left Unity have been very clear that the NEC does not consider this action to be evidence that members will support a national campaign. Members are actively campaigning and winning on pay and yet the NEC is using the fact that not enough members turned up to hastily arranged activist forums during a peak leave period as justification to once again effectively cancel any effort to build a national campaign.

The Broad Left Network has said throughout this period that Left Unity never intended to fight a campaign on pay and while they are in control of the NEC, the campaign will remain “paused” as it has for the entire duration of Fran Heathcote’s tenure as General Secretary.

Left Unity-controlled NEC capitulates to the employer

An article published on 01 August 2025 on the PCS website states the following:

“The union is not balloting members on offers within the limits of the remit, as the NEC has already determined that offers at this level will not be sufficient to protect members’ living standards, provide restoration for the erosion of pay levels in recent years and address the structural problems associated with low pay.”

In the September pay meetings arranged by branches, NEC speakers advised members that despite their awareness that the pay remit was not satisfactory, they instructed talks at delegate level knowing that negotiators could not accept the offer. Pay negotiators instead worked to achieve the best deal with the little they had to work with. This was an unnecessary capitulation to the Labour government by the Left Unity-led NEC. PCS could win much more in national talks and through direct action, yet the Left Unity-led NEC does not show a willingness to fight a Labour government for better pay.

A return to national bargaining is necessary and the pay remit should have been formally rejected – in action, not just words, and the leadership should have prepared for a serious dispute. Talks at delegated level result in vast inequalities across the civil service, where each department negotiates its own pay and terms of conditions. This has been in effect for more than three decades since Thatcher’s Conservative government waged its war on the civil service unions.

If the timeline of A383 was followed, PCS branches nationally should now have already balloted for strike action but the message coming from the leadership of the union is one of defeat. It is the same old tired excuses that members aren’t up for the fight, that they can’t afford to strike and aren’t willing to ballot. We heard the same in 2023 when again the Left Unity-led NEC capitulated and accepted a pay award with a one-off pro-rata payment of £1,500. This effectively ended the hard-won gains by reps and members on the ground to achieve a strike ballot in their workplaces. It did not provide a significant increase in pay, nor did it achieve pay restoration for the sharp drop in wages since 2010.

An end to the national campaign could be the start of action for HMRC.

HMRC Group conference Motion A45 states the following:

“Develop a campaign utilising bargaining, political leverage and industrial leverage to achieve our pay demands. Hopefully this will be as part of a reinvigorated civil service wide national campaign, but our Group must be prepared to ‘go it alone’ on pay if the National Campaign remains “paused” as it has been throughout the tenure of the current General Secretary”

It is clear from the decision in October that the NEC has no intention to win the desperately needed increase to the 2025/26 pay remit. In both the October and November NEC, Left Unity majority voted not to reopen the debate on the national campaign, preventing the BLN motion to build for a ballot in 2026 being heard. In both the October and November papers, the General Secretary provided no plan or comment whatsoever on how to prepare members for a ballot – it seems the leadership are content to pronounce members unready and leave things as they are. HMRC GEC, and our members, are not.

At the December GEC meeting, the Broad Left Network took the position that the GEC must agree to carry out the demands of A45 and conduct its own ballot on 2025 pay. This included the GEC to urgently submit a claim to the National Disputes Committee (NDC) to engage in a ballot of its members on 2025 pay. This position was agreed as part of the campaign and communications paper, setting the stage for a renewed battle on pay in 2026.

The Broad Left Network continues to demand:

Pay

• A fully consolidated pay rise of at least 10%
• £18 per hour minimum wage
• Pay restoration for money lost since 2010
• London pay entitlement of at least £5,000
• All fully funded centrally and not at the expense of jobs or conditions.

Jobs

• Oppose privatisation – End the planned pilot of the Managed Service Provider;
• End the use of Brook Street labour and give permanent posts to all those that want one.
• Insourcing of Facilities Management and Security staff;
• No cuts to the CSG headcount.

Working conditions

• Implement a four day working week with no loss of pay;
• End mandatory office attendance expectations;
• Ensure correct grading – we should all receive the proper remuneration for the work we do;
• End the long hours culture – ensure all workloads are manageable;
• Introduce a collective agreement to protect members from micromanagement;
• Introduce a collective agreement for ethical use of Artificial Intelligence in HMRC, ensuring any benefits will advantage members such as through reduced workloads and a shorter working week;
• Rebuild Employee Relations in HMRC – ensure meaningful consultation with PCS at all levels.

Security staff in the Houses of Parliament who are members of the PCS took strike action last week on Budget Day. These members do essential work keeping Parliament, and everyone in it, safe 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, yet face vicious attacks on their pay, conditions, and rights from the same institution they keep safe. Last week marked their fourth day of industrial action, demanding the restoration of their original 8-hour shifts and the return of six days of annual leave lost when management imposed 12-hour shifts without consultation. They are also fighting for a fair pay rise after years of stagnation and for action to tackle a widening ethnicity pay gap. Members were forced into industrial action because the employer refused to come to the table or engage in serious talks with the union.

This comes at a time when the cost of living is being driven through the roof, with energy, water, rent, food, and transport all hitting record highs while pay stagnates. Meanwhile, MPs’ pay has risen much faster than the average public-sector wage (many also with extremely lucrative second jobs), exposing the glaring inequality between those making the decisions and those keeping Parliament running. Workers are expected to accept these attacks quietly, endure longer hours, lower real terms pay, reduced leave, and growing workloads.

The strike on Budget Day sent a clear message. Workers refuse to stay quiet while governments of all parties push through austerity, cut pay, and attack public services. As the Labour government stood in Parliament announcing its budget, workers were out on the picket line, taking industrial action showing the fight against the politics that attack their working and living conditions.

I am a member of the sister PCS branch in Parliament and stood on the picket line, alongside other members and MPs in solidarity with their dispute.

The challenges faced by Parliamentary security staff are not unique. PCS members across the civil service and public sector are facing the same attacks on pay, conditions, and rights. Parliamentary security staff are part of a wider wave of industrial disputes across PCS. Civilian staff at the Met police, workers at the Tate Modern and Britain, British library and others are taking strike action demanding an end to pay stagnation, casualisation, and attacks on terms and conditions.

The growing wave of industrial disputes shows the mood to fight is there!

PCS needs a fighting, coordinated approach that links the many disputes breaking out across the union into a single, coordinated national campaign capable of fighting against austerity, real-terms pay cuts, and attacks on conditions. Members are showing, and telling us, that they are ready to organise and take action and we need leadership who can harness and build that mood rather than hold it back!

No new dates for strike action have been announced, though there are plans for action on New Year’s Eve. You can support your fellow PCS members by joining any future picket lines.

As an increasing number of workers move into dispute, the need for a bold national campaign under a fighting, democratic leadership is even more pressing. If you want to join us in fighting for that, join BLN.