We were elected by you to be the PCS National President and Deputy President. That means we’re here to defend the democracy of our union and to make sure that the union delivers for you.
The new NEC has hit the ground running, and has already put in place plans:
- To build a serious national campaign on pay, jobs and hybrid working
- To put a claim to the Cabinet Office including for a 10% pay rise, £18p/h minimum wage, progression and a job security guarantee that protects our civil service members in the context of planned 15% staffing cuts.
- To coordinate ongoing strike action between those areas already in dispute – and to seek routes for private sector and devolved sector members to join in the fight.
- To defend trans rights in the face of the new EHRC guidance.
This is the first step towards a radical overhaul of the union.
Unfortunately, the General Secretary of PCS, Fran Heathcote, is content with the status quo and opposes real change in our union.
The General Secretary believes that the 3.5% pay remit published by the Cabinet Office last month is evidence of progress in talks. She agrees with the Cabinet Office that the minimum wage will be rate for the job of AAs.
We disagree, and the union’s National Executive Committee disagrees. The union’s Annual Delegate Conference gave us clear instructions as to pay, terms and conditions, defending trans rights, and on many other matters. Your NEC intends to follow those instructions.
In contrast, the General Secretary seeks to ignore these demands and instructions. She believes she knows best.
The NEC and we do not accept this.
We are fighting to build a national campaign in the UK civil service over the pay remit. Your NEC wants to sort out the decades-long problems faced by you, including real-terms pay cuts over the last 16 years, threats to tens of thousands of jobs, major office closures, escalating workloads and increasing restrictions to hybrid working, where it exists at all.
If the General Secretary was content to disagree, but otherwise to carry out the democratic decisions of the NEC, then this would be just a debate at the NEC as to how we progress union business.
Instead, the General Secretary is obstructing and delaying any action that might build towards a national campaign.
- The General Secretary has failed to pass along contact details for our key representatives in areas the NEC has instructed the President to contact.
- The General Secretary has failed to pass along correspondence from Group Executive Committees that have written to the NEC about the national campaign.
- The General Secretary has persistently issued major papers the night before NEC and National Disputes Committee (NDC) meetings, meaning that elected members are always under pressure of time to respond to her latest delaying tactics, instead of getting out to build and organise amongst members. NEC members do not have 100% facility time, nor a large staff of paid officials to write up our proposals. We have to do this ourselves, in non-work time.
- The General Secretary has provided no update on progress towards giving representatives access to members’ data in line with A226 carried at ADC 2025, despite repeated requests.
- The General Secretary has failed to comply with the instruction to issue communications to members explaining the decisions and actions taken by the NEC so far, including writing to the Cabinet Office to submit a pay claim and demand national talks.
Instead of doing these things, the General Secretary claims her contract gives her powers that it does not. Her contract of employment is clear – she must follow the instructions of the NEC.
NEC meeting of 11 June 2026
On 11 June 2026 the General Secretary and a minority of NEC members ‘walked out’ of an online NEC meeting, that had been convened and proper notice given to all.
The General Secretary or one of her staff then closed the Zoom meeting, attempting to de-rail a scheduled NEC meeting which was still quorate.
To be clear that there is nothing in the rules that allows her to end NEC meetings. Nor is walking out an adult thing to do.
Before the Zoom meeting was shut down, the General Secretary cited rules that she believed were being broken. These were related to the NEC’s democratic decision to agree standing orders which would facilitate the ability of the NEC to implement conference decisions. The paper to move the standing orders is always in the name of the President.
Extraordinarily, the General Secretary did not issue the paper put by the president but replaced it with her own, that ignored the ruling by the President. When the President permitted the moving of an amendment to that paper, the General Secretary and 12 out of 35 NEC members walked out.
It is not the role of the General Secretary to interpret the rules. This power under Supplementary Rule 11.6 is reserved to the President (on matters of interpretation) and to the NEC (in cases where the rules are silent). Instead, when the General Secretary could not get majority support for her approach, she sabotaged the NEC meeting, and had it closed when she did not have authority to do this.
As President, Bev Laidlaw instructed that the NEC reconvene in a different Zoom meeting room to continue with business. The majority of the NEC did so and at that meeting, we agreed important actions, including a national Cost of Living campaign and a response, in line with Conference policy to the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s Code of Practice for services, public functions and associations, and the danger in which it puts some of our members.
We and the elected majority on the National Executive Committee now call on the General Secretary to cease acting against the democratically elected leadership and to work with us to action the policies agreed by our Conference.
We want every single member to know that this NEC answers to Conference and it answers to members, as per the rule book. We are fighting hard to do the work of members and call on the General Secretary to do the same.
We want Fran Heathcote to urgently meet with us to discuss and agree a way in which we can work together in the interests of members and for the elected NEC to retain the “management and control of the union, and the handling of its whole affairs,” as provided for Principal Rule 8 of the union’s rules.
This is your union and you deserve better than the General Secretary’s power plays. We have serious work to do, and we hope that the General Secretary can act in a serious manner and that together we work to achieve what you deserve and need.
Bev Laidlaw PCS President Dave Semple PCS Deputy President
PCS Broad Left Network 