Author: pcsbln

Following the Emergency NEC which met on the 29^{th of} May -Report here – further meetings took place during June and most recently on the 23/24^th July. The next NEC begins on the 2^{nd of} September. Significantly this year, the National President has stopped ruling BLN motions out of order, even though they are directly contradicting papers from the GS – could this be because they now have a majority?

This report sets out the key discussions which took place. If you want more detail, then please get in touch with any BLN comrades on the NEC.

National Campaign

Three months of sleepwalking into Starmer’s cuts

Reps and members would be forgiven for wondering what is happening with the union’s national campaign. Annual Delegate Conference, meeting in May, determined that the union needed to get serious to fight against the cuts raining down from Starmer and Reeves’ Labour government.

Since Conference concluded at midday on 23 May, the Labour government has announced a below-inflation pay rise for hundreds of thousands of civil servants, with a pay remit of 3.25%. Further job cuts – including 25% job cuts at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office – have also been announced.

The outcome of Labour’s Spending Review, SR25, has also been announced. This covers government spending plans up to 2030. Departments are expected to find 15% savings in their “administrative budgets”; this is where most of the staffing budget for each department sits, so it inevitably means swingeing job cuts.

Faced with this onslaught, one would expect the leaders of the largest civil service union to be ready with a plan, including preparation for an urgent national strike ballot. With a bit of fight, a Labour government whose support in the last election was a mile wide and an inch deep could be decisively fended off and concessions won. Look at the U turns they’ve had to do on PIP, when Disabled People Against Cuts stood against them – our union could and must do the same.

PCS Leadership complacency since May

Instead of immediately engaging with reps, putting the employer of notice of a pending strike ballot and preparing organising materials asked for by the former NEC majority back in January 2025, general secretary Fran Heathcote and president Martin Cavanagh seem far too enamoured of talks with the senior leaders in the civil service, with lip service only to the idea of a much-needed strike ballot and campaign.

In a paper to the July NEC, the general secretary describes how “discussions with the Cabinet Office should give us some cause for optimism” on the questions of pay and reward. Worse, the general secretary goes on to suggest that pay restoration “be funded through finding efficiencies within the civil service”, i.e. job cuts. In the context of a government that is not hiding its preparations for attacks on the civil service over its term of office, there is no reason for optimism.

The general secretary seems lost in a fantasy by imagining that Labour Ministers are sympathetic to a return to national pay bargaining and were blocked from making progress during the Blair years only by the Permanent Secretaries (the most senior civil servants in each area). She seems to hope that now there’s a new mood at the top of the civil service and is more interested in discussing possible future changes than any movement for members right now. This kind of delusion is dangerous and disarms the union, encouraging members to put their faith in enlightened managers instead of their own power.

In fact, no progress on a return to national pay bargaining was made from 1997-2010 for a lot of reasons – but one was that Labour’s leadership bought fully into the idea of cutting public services. Starmer and Reeves still do. The language has changed slightly since the Cameron and May governments – “we’ve all got to tighten our belts; there’s no magic money tree” etc – but the basic approach to the public sector is the same. Cuts are taken to mean efficiency, and efficiency is taken to mean cuts – it’s always workers expected to pay the price by nobly accepting cuts to living standards and public services, never the profits of big business and billionaires.

Heathcote and Cavanagh appear overawed by the willingness of the Cabinet Office to meet with and speak to them, when previously the senior leaders of the civil service barely bothered even with this. However empty talks are not worth much more than no talks at all and are in fact serving as a smokescreen for no action.

This is not the first time they’ve been a little too credulous. In July 2023, Heathcote – then national president, with Cavanagh her deputy – presided over the dismantling of our national strike campaign based on a £1,500 one-off payment to members and a promise of talks on pay. They balloted members to accept the £1,500 based on these offered talks – which predictably went nowhere.

But we have also been here before with the current Labour government, during the Facilities Management dispute across a dozen sites in London and East Kilbride from late 2024 into mid-2025.

Only after months of determined strike action by privatised facilities workers in government offices did Labour’s Georgia Gould step in. Action was paused to allow for talks, but progress quickly stalled, and a victory only finally came after further ballots and action even after the intervention by Gould and the Cabinet Office. The lesson here should be clear; Labour will only step up if forced.

All this underlines that there is no room for complacency or credulity, which seems to be about all that is on offer from the Left Unity-led PCS NEC.

Will there actually be a national campaign? July NEC’s decisions

So, several months on from Conference, what has been decided?

The NEC agreed to demand an agreement on pay, jobs and flexible working across the civil service, which really is just a restatement of Conference policy with fewer added extras.

A “ballot-ready strategy” has now been endorsed, although this seems to be heavy on arranging administrative tasks such as phone banking, and light on things reps actually need for worker-to-worker conversations, like well-crafted leaflets putting the union’s case that a fight can win or support with members meetings. Delivering a successful ballot requires a campaign to reassure members that their efforts won’t be wasted this time, not just endless cold calls. Furthermore, there’s no reason any of this couldn’t have been agreed in May – why the delay?

Heathcote recommended branch members’ meetings to run mid-August to mid-September – why not immediately following the July NEC at least, but more importantly why not from the end of May? Could it be that the average LU NEC member wouldn’t have a clue what to say unless they had Paul O’Connor writing them a speakers’ brief? Or that the later they start, the less likely they are to deliver a successful ballot turnout and force Heathcote et al to have a fight on pay at all.

National PCS-run activist meetings have been lacklustre affairs so far, with no serious attempt to set out a strategy of build a serious campaign capable of winning.

Levy refund – weakening of Left Unity’s apolitical election promise

A levy refund plan has been agreed by the NEC majority, to repay the six months of levy payments which members paid from September 2024 to February 2025.

Meanwhile the creation of a “sustainable fighting fund” has been punted to the National Disputes Committee and a future consultation with branches, to conclude by the end of November 2025 – two months after the statutory ballot on pay members demanded at ADC 2025 is supposed to kick off. Presumably LU needs the extra time to work out how they can phrase asking members for money to support strikes, at the same time as paying some back because their entire election campaign was based on repaying money which should be used to support strikes and to fight the employer.

And that is pretty much it. That’s the whole plan. If that leaves you underwhelmed, and feeling like the heart of the NEC isn’t really in the idea of a strike ballot in September 2025, then you wouldn’t be alone.

Broad Left Network supporters, and allies in the wider left coalition for change – 7 out of 35 NEC members this year – opposed the above as not remotely going far enough or fast enough, and proposed a motion here that would have set PCS immediately on a “war-footing”, with preparations to match the urgency of such a posture – and the urgency of our position vis a vis a cuts-making Labour government. This motion complimented and continued the similar, highly detailed motion we submitted to the May NEC (which can be found here). Both were rejected by the NEC majority in favour of Heathcote’s delays and pleasantries.

The current situation – delegated pay, and where do we go now

Delegated pay bargaining, which negotiators were quickly instructed to enter by Heathcote immediately after the Civil Service Pay Remit was published in May, is at different stages in different areas. Major employers such as DWP, HMRC and MOJ have now concluded talks. Other areas remain outstanding with some submitting business cases for more money – but nowhere is making sufficient progress for most members.

If we’re not to simply waste all this work – negotiating on behalf of members, keeping them informed during talks, holding consultation meetings to vote on rejection of the pay award, building up pressure on the employer by mobilising members – then we need a national campaign now. That is not the course set by the current NEC.

If the NEC majority and PCS leadership remain this complacent, BLN supporters across PCS will have to come together to discuss what to do on pay in each area. We cannot rule out the need to submit employer-specific trade disputes and to build a campaign amongst a coalition of PCS branches and groups prepared to override the inaction of the National Executive Committee.

If you aren’t prepared to wait indefinitely, while the NEC tries to bury a serious national campaign in mud and confusion, join the PCS Broad Left Network and work with us to build a fighting, democratic PCS and the campaign members deserve.

Other issues to note from July NEC

Current Disputes:

Updates were given including:

• Sacked Activists at HMRC Benton Park View
• MyCSP striking for union recognition
• Ofgem
• Land Registry

Organising and Education update: Membership 187, 297 as of 25/8/2025.

Political Fund Ballot: timetable agreed, and ballot will run from 6^th October. (Separately the BLN will produce material explaining why a yes vote is required and linking this in with broader political and industrial developments).

TUC Congress motions and NEC delegates agreed

The following affiliations were agreed:

Alternative to Asylum and C4C Affiliation

Strike Map

NHS

4-day week movement

Devolved Nations update which included Scotland and Wales but not NI. This provided detail on workplans for the next period. Scottish Government pay campaign was discussed, a fuller article on the BLN position can be found here.

English Devolution: a paper was agreed, despite BLN comrades raising reservations to the direction of travel, without a clear analysis on proposals across the piece.

FM Dispute: this has now been settled with members voting to accept the final offer. BLN raised reservations about the way in which this dispute had been handled whilst acknowledging the magnificent work from local reps, and particularly the strikers.

FM Workers Democracy: a paper was carried setting up an Association for FM members. BLN NEC members argued the paper should be “kept on the table” as it was clear members, reps, branches and groups had not been consulted. BLN are concerned this could be used to avoid current democratic lay structures which have been critical of the union’s handling of the FM dispute.

Supreme Court Trans Ruling presentation: – Thompsons Guest Speaker and barrister presented on the ruling, in a session which was announced just beforehand to be covered by legal privilege and therefore not for sharing to any member, branch or group despite keen interest. BLN NEC members were left unimpressed by the presentation, and without any sense that the BLN approach (shared by PCS Proud and indeed the vast majority of the union) of condemning the unjust ruling and fighting to defend Trans, intersex and non-binary (Trans+) workers is illegal, or should change whatsoever.. BLN moved that their motion on Trans+ liberation (which can be found here) should finally be taken after being pushed to the next meeting by the Cavanagh in his capacity as Chair in May and again in June. Cavanagh and the NEC majority opposed this, and it was once again pushed to September, where Heathcote is expected to bring a paper on what in her view PCS needs to do in light of the ruling.

Finally, several Rule Ten complaints were heard (See rule 10 here). This is the rule that deals with very serious complaints and are subject to oversight from the NEC.  The detail is understandably confidential and the BLN respects and understands this.  However, we raised – yet again – several points regarding errors in the process, the lack of detail given to the NEC and therefore the lack of meaningful oversight. This includes refusal to show the NEC the actual complaint to decide whether it should use its power clearly stated under Rule 10 to decide whether to commission an investigation. Instead, Heathcote reads out her own summary of the complaint and informs the NEC “for noting” rather than decision that she has already instructed an FTO to investigate. These points have all been consistently ignored by Heathcote, Cavanagh and NEC majority but we will keep pushing.

In conclusion there continued to be a lot of business not reached including new constitutions for groups, motions from the BLN on trans rights and political representation. Importantly our motions setting out an approach in the context of political developments around Jeremy Corbyn was not reached, here nor our motion on trans rights, referenced above.

In solidarity

Fiona Brittle
Marion Lloyd
Rob Ritchie
Bobby Young

HMRC has now published its pay offer. The employer has chosen to limit pay to stay within the Civil Service Pay Remit Guidance for 2025. This gave HMRC a ‘pot’ of around £90 million for pay rises, made up of 3.25% plus the option of a further 0.5% “to be targeted at specific departmental workforce issues”. 

Such a low remit doesn’t address low pay, doesn’t address the cost-of-living crisis and doesn’t address pay lost as a result of government imposed pay freezes and pay caps over years. RPI inflation was 4.4% in June 2025 when the HMRC pay settlement date fell. It means that most HMRC members will suffer real terms pay cuts again this year. This reinforces the importance of building a serious campaign across HMRC and the whole union to win our national pay demand for a 10% pay rise and pay restoration to reverse the erosion of members’ wages.

We need a national campaign on pay. A strategy to build this campaign was agreed at the PCS Annual Delegate Conference 2025 – motion A383. This called on PCS to “proceed to a ballot by no later than mid-September 2025 if there is not satisfactory progress made to meeting our demands”.

The current Left Unity led National Executive Committee (NEC) has no interest in building a campaign. June and July were wasted by the NEC. Instead of preparing members for a fight, pay negotiators were instructed to enter pay discussions at departmental level, therefore immediately diluting our ability to go back to the Government nationally to demand more money. Despite the NEC agreeing that August should be used to speak with activists and members about a campaign, there is little sign of much activity and even less signs of the serious work required to build support for a national ballot in September.

The HMRC Group Executive Committee (GEC), which includes members of the Broad Left Network, must continue to provide the leadership required to build the necessary campaign to win on pay in HMRC. In July, the GEC agreed to run a “multi-stranded union campaign” on seven major issues affecting members, including pay. The GEC are taking steps to be prepared on each of these. Broad Left Network members on the GEC supported this approach.

However, it is crucial that the GEC learn from the mistakes of Left Unity and do not repeat them. Yes, we must organise meetings to discuss with members but it is vital that we use these meetings to set out proposals for a serious campaign, capable of winning and test this approach with members. This will give confidence to members.

The Broad Left Network calls on the HMRC GEC to agree a fighting strategy to win. The GEC needs to set clear activities and a timescale to ensure we can win a statutory ballot in 2025 if HMRC is unwilling to agree to PCS demands, which are to fight for:

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;
• Rebuild Employee Relations in HMRC – ensure meaningful consultation with PCS at all levels.

We call on branches in HMRC to organise member meetings to discuss these demands and the campaign required to win them. We must  prepare PCS members for the battle ahead.

Join the Broad Left Network (www.bln.org.uk) and stand with us.

The Scottish Government (SG) have now published their pay offer. Scottish Government announced their Public Sector Pay Policy (“the pay policy”) 7 months ago in December 2024, and is the equivalent of the UK Government pay remit guidance. Scottish pay policy covers PCS members working in the Scottish Government and Scottish Devolved Sector Groups, as well as other Scottish public servants in other unions. All unions, including PCS, rejected the pay policy immediately.

The offer is a three-year deal of 9% over those three years – 3.75% in 2025/26, 3.25% in 2026/27, and 2% in 2027/26. The GEC has unanimously rejected this offer.

This offer, which does nothing to address crippling low pay across Scottish Government, is no higher than the original pay policy. All they have done is move from spreading it equally to front loading it in years 1 and 2. This is despite talks with PCS, ongoing since April 2025.

The Office for National Statistics puts CPIH inflation (including housing costs) at 4.1% for June 2025, and RPI at 4.4% – and it is steadily rising. A pay offer of  3.75%, for year 1 is therefore already well below inflation and does nothing to restore the value of SG wages lost since 2008. In fact, it makes it worse.

The offer means that all staff not yet on the grade maxima (around 42% of SG staff) will go up a further step. Whilst this would give large increases for those staff in the short term, PCS argues the max is the rate for the job – anyone still on a progression journey is, by definition, currently underpaid for their role. The nearly 60% of staff already at the max (and those reaching it shortly) will return to real-terms pay cuts almost immediately unless we win at least inflation-proofed pay awards.

Disgracefully, the offer  requires PCS to sign up to job cuts and trade pay for jobs. PCS does not and will not acknowledge that pay is funded from restructures, “productivity” measures, and a drop in the delivery of public services. Once again, SG and Scottish Ministers seek to lay the blame for lack of investment in public services at the feet of the ordinary worker, rather than their own austerity measures and cuts budgets.

What’s not  in the offer

The offer does not:

• Meet our demand for an above-inflation pay rise and steps towards pay restoration.
• Include a break clause to enable us to reopen negotiations, e.g. if there are inflation spikes. While these clauses are never a guarantee, the lack of one shows bad faith and a total disregard for our members.
• Protect jobs. In fact it has significantly diluted the no compulsory redundancy guarantee that has been in place in SG Main for 17 years.
  • Recent experience of the concrete reality of the Ministerial statement is apparent, having already betrayed Scottish Sector members and approved compulsory redundancies in Visit Scotland ( a non-departmental public body subject to the same pay policy.)
  • These cuts have come after voluntary exits and redeployment efforts failing to slash enough jobs for their CEO’s liking. There is no reason to believe therefore that SG won’t be treated in the same manner, including agencies and NDPBs whose budgets are already straining after cuts.
• Include any mention of a shorter working week with no loss of pay
• Include any improvements to leave entitlement (annual or parental)

What’s next?

The SG Group Executive Committee (GEC) met on 16 July and unanimously voted to reject the offer and move to a campaign and ballot of PCS members to leverage pressure on an intransigent employer.

Less than an hour after this decision was made the GEC was told that the National Disputes Committee (NDC) Secretary insisted we deliver a consultative ballot first. Given the Left Unity majority on the NDC, while the GEC have agreed to complain and demand we receive permission to enter dispute, we are now building the campaign necessary, including a consultative ballot to leverage the employer.

Subsequently, when challenged at the NEC on 23-24 July and in writing, the NDC secretary confirmed that he had not had a formal request about SG pay nor was he making a formal recommendation. Unfortunately this was not how it was presented to the GEC and could have cost valuable time.

SG members are primed for a fight on pay, having waited 7 months for a below inflation, paltry pay offer. This is simply not acceptable. Members meetings tell us that pay is a huge issue and low pay in particular. Pay is consistently linked with hybrid working and a key reason why members oppose enforced office attendance.

BLN members in SG have full confidence that our members will vote yes in a ballot and therefore it is crucial we act quickly to put everything in place. Given the lack of movement from Scottish Government we have no choice but to escalate to a ballot to increase pressure to make the employer reconsider.

40% forced office attendance

As well as pay, SG have a dispute brewing on hybrid working. The employer announced on 7 May 2025 (without union consultation) a mandatory office attendance of 40% for staff in Core SG from October 25 and the intent to increase this further. PCS representations, including the particularly negative impact on staff with disabilities has been ignored and no Equality Impact Assessment has been forthcoming.

Incredibly what has also been revealed is huge contempt for union representation across the most senior layers of SG. An FOI on Director General emails from April 2024 showed just how deep this contempt goes  with some DGs arguing to implement 60% now and consult PCS as a tick box exercise. Everything indicates that a forced return to offices is what SG wants – unless we stop it.

Social Security Scotland are already under a compulsory 40%, with Disclosure Scotland and Transport Scotland indicating they’ll do the same. Now, with Core threatening likewise, almost all SG members will be subject to compulsory office attendance. Social Security members have also experienced attacks on flexible working and reasonable adjustments, more in line with DWP than what was badged as a “progressive” new benefits agency for Scotland.

The 2025 Scottish Government Group Conference carried policy on hybrid working. This mandates the GEC to lay demands which mean no mandate for all areas of SG – core and NDPBs. Any campaign and fight must be Group-wide, and must not let agencies remain in a worse position than Core staff. Therefore a united campaign right across the Group is needed, and it is clear from members meetings and polls that action to win this is overwhelmingly supported.

We must fight on ALL demands – linking pay and hybrid

BLN members on the SG GEC moved a motion to the June GEC meeting, calling for an escalation of action to achieve our demands on hybrid working and to build a single campaign covering hybrid with pay and conditions. The motion called for members’ meetings to consult members on this approach and then bring this back for further discussion at the next GEC including plans for a consultative ballot.

Unfortunately this position was not supported, rather a petition has been launched to gauge support for our hybrid demands and willingness to fight on them. The GEC is currently considering an options paper on whether to seek support for action on both pay and hybrid in the upcoming consultative ballot – the BLN GEC members have voted to do so, and to ballot on strike and action short of a strike.

The petition launched at the start of July and runs until 1 August. At the time of writing, a rough estimate of turnout sits at over 40% – this is huge for a simple petition that isn’t even a consultative ballot. Respondents’ support for the demands is 90%+, and willingness to take action is 80%+. 200+ respondents have volunteered to get more involved in the campaign.

There is a clear desire to fight on hybrid. The publication of the SG desultory pay offer will only increase the appetite to fight. And if this proves to be the case surely the right thing to do is to fight on all our demands – pay and hybrid – simultaneously and as part of a single battle.

It appears that members support this approach. In Leith, West and Central Scotland, South of Scotland and Highlands & Islands branches, members were asked and overwhelmingly supported acting on both pay and hybrid. Meetings of members working in Transport Scotland and Disclosure Scotland also voted for this approach.

Members at meetings on pay consistently ask about hybrid, and at hybrid meetings link it with pay. As members are forced back into offices, their travel costs will increase and so too will any childcare or other care costs incurred by such a large change for some members. For members already attending 40%, these costs will have been compounding the impact of the cost-of-living crisis and a win on removing % attendance for them would increase the real value of any pay award we could achieve.

Workers spread across the entire nation of Scotland, including in very remote and rural locations, but most roles are contractually linked to offices in large cities – primarily Glasgow and Edinburgh. Many staff were recruited during COVID, when most roles were undertaken 100% at home. SG have previously spoken about how good our hybrid working offer is to protect rural communities and improve accessibility to government jobs for people not living in Scotland’s central belt. But this will cease to be the case if staff are forced back into offices they cannot reasonably travel to.

The majority of the SG GEC remain to be convinced about the need to have one fight linking the issues of pay and conditions including hybrid.  It is clear that when asked, most members think differently and support the approach that BLN supporters have consistently argued for. One fight, one campaign – that will strengthen our ability to win.

We know from successful ballots across the union in 2022/23 that joined up campaigns can win concessions – we must now build to force the employer back and build the campaign capable of doing so.

If you agree with the above and want to help build fighting campaigns across the whole union,  join the Broad Left Network. If you’re an SG member, make sure to sign the hybrid petition and look out for the consultative ballot on pay (and hopefully hybrid!) coming soon.

Despite Left Unity’s victory in the recent DWP elections, which closed on the 13th May, the Left Opposition won the floor at the PCS DWP Group Conference that took place 19th and 20th May 2025.

LU DWP group leadership gave up building any campaign on pay after the national campaign was abandoned in May 2023, whilst LU senior officers on the National Executive Committee (NEC) blocked any campaign on pay, pensions or conditions over the last 12 months through the use of Chair’s rulings, as this website has reported on.

BLN member Reece Lawton moved the only pay motion on the agenda – Motion A1, produced below. Despite opposition from the LU leadership, who asked for it to be remitted or opposed due to its criticism of the GEC for not building on anger around last year’s 5% pay remit, the motion passed through a hand vote. Motion A1 instructed the Group Executive Committee (GEC) to recognise the necessity of moving towards a strike ballot; to build the mood for a serious campaign for a 10% pay rise, for a £15-an-hour starting wage, and for a sliding scale of wages. A fighting strategy on the national campaign was also carried at ADC which further updates the PCS demands to £18ph.

Delegates have made it clear that low pay- which has left AA/AO grades on minimum wage for the third year in a row, with other grades sliding increasingly closer – must be seriously combatted.

Delegates also voted for to support Emergency Motion 3 on hybrid working, which laid out a timeline for moving towards industrial action over the recent announcement that DWP members who currently work hybrid will be required to attend the office at least 60% of the time from September, and criticised the GEC for engaging in embargoed talks which achieved little for members but allowed management to suggest PCS accepted the change. The instructions of the motion are below.

Conference instructs the GEC:

● To write to the Secretary of State and Permanent Secretary demanding the rescinding of the 60% office attendance mandate. 

● Encourage all staff to raise a concern about the current office attendance mandate, providing a template concern that members can submit to their work line manager and providing guidance for manager members on how they should handle concerns in a way that supports the campaign.

● To provide a brief to branches to assist with members’ meetings by no later than 2nd June, in order for branches to hold members’ meetings throughout June, prior to peak school vacation and annual leave periods and provide feedback to the GEC.

● To assess the feedback from members’ meetings at a GEC meeting no later than July and set out a clear plan for building a campaign to reverse these attacks, including action short of strike and up to and including an all-out strike action, to a meeting of DWP Branch Secretaries, Chairs and Organisers by no later than 10 August 2025.

● Prepare to ballot members on strike action and action short of a strike – an example of which may be to instruct members to go into an office on the same day to delicately exceed the office capacity. The timeline for a ballot will need to take account of any national ballot (eg the National Campaign on pay, pensions and jobs) to ensure we deliver the turnout in this ballot.

The GEC is instructed to produce a Members Briefing by no later than 31 August 2025 to set out the campaign strategy and to provide a report on the campaign to branches by 31 December 2025.

Motion A4, which attempted to “relaunch” ED was opposed by conference. The passing of this motion would have watered down existing DWP Group policy from 2022, with still no serious attempt to negotiate improvements to the Collective Agreement. This means PCS in DWP is still committed to the ending of compulsory Saturday working, the reduction of operating hours to 5pm, the reduction of the working week to 35 hours and to secure funding to end the two-tier ED/non-ED pay system.

PCS Broad Left Network members will keep fighting for our DWP Group to adopt a fighting programme which is essential to stand up to the key attacks facing our membership.

Motion A1:

This conference notes nothing was done to build on the anger over pay shown in the members meetings organised on the pay offer at the end of 2024.

This conference recognises: −

• The key role our group should be playing in the PCS national campaign on pay given our size and low pay rates even further behind other groups and a significant proportion of DWP staff in the lower grades with huge numbers facing going back onto the minimum wage in April 25 or sliding closer to the minimum wage.
• The vast bulk of DWP staff are in the grades AA−EO with latest published figures showing

– AAs & AOs FTE 21457.34

            EOs FTE 43928.47 

   Total DWP FTE 83,002

• Scandalously three quarters of DWP staff, all those in AA−EO grades would directly benefit from the PCS demand for starting pay of £15ph with additional money to sustain London weighting above this.
• A serious campaign on pay would help build the strength of the union and rebuild confidence in the Group that we can win on pay and all the other issues our members are facing and give a lead to branches which have been demoralised with the lack of support.
• The government floating pitiful 2.8% pay rises in 2025 for public sector workers.

This conference instructs the GEC to: −

• Recognise the necessity of building towards a successful strike ballot as an integral part of the pay campaign as it is clear the new Government will not deliver the pay rise that is needed without being forced.
• Work closely with branches and regions/nations to coordinate campaigning to meaningful national pay bargaining and sliding scale wage structure that would stop our wages falling below cost of living rises and keep our members’ pay above the minimum wage. As well as pay restoration to address the years our members’ pay has been driven down.
• Mobilise pressure on DWP senior management that we are not prepared to accept pathetic attempts to dress up the mandatory minimum wage rises and voucher schemes as something they are doing to address low pay and that they must act decisively to get the full funding to address the huge pay issues in the DWP.
• Recognise we need to unify all our membership to fight together for all members to have a pay rise, pay restoration and genuine pay progression to get the rate for job and involve our PMA members in drafting specific campaign material for our higher-grade members.
• Oppose any attempts by management to sacrifice jobs for pay
• Work with the national union and coordinate support to ensure that DWP members are fully involved in the national campaign but in the absence of a national strike ballot that our group popularise PCS demands amongst DWP members about the need to stand up and fight for 10% pay rise, £15ph starting pay, mobilises to ballot our members on pay.

PCS Conference took place last week and despite the usual chicanery, delegates across PCS declared their determination to fight against cuts to pay, cuts to jobs, closures of offices and restrictions to flexible and hybrid working.

However, there was a stormy start to ADC on the first afternoon. 25 emergency motions on trans rights were removed from the agenda following spurious legal advice on the back of the Supreme Court ruling. This was on top of General Secretary Fran Heathcote and President Martin Cavanagh taking it upon themselves to issue an offensive and inflammatory “statement” to delegates about the use of toilet facilities and a premature, biased interpretation of what the law requires.

These motions if carried, would have reaffirmed PCS continued support for trans rights, supported members, and given a clear response of opposition to the Supreme Court ruling unifying our members against the attacks. And a further decision was made very late before the ADC opened to also exclude motion A57 which had already been published in the conference agenda. 

Again and again, conference refused to adopt standing orders attempting to get the motions back on the agenda. President Martin Cavanagh continued to use “legal advice” to block the repeated majority votes by conference to disregard this spurious advice and put the motion back onto the agenda. After over two hours of votes, a majority eventually agreed to adopt standing orders via a card vote.

Delegates later voted against one of the few emergency motions on trans rights that had survived the censorship, A385. If carried, it would have given licence to the new NEC to make decisions on what it would issue based on “legal advice”. Fiona Brittle, Broad Left Network NEC member gave a powerful speech on behalf of the NEC on why the Left Unity leadership of our union could not be trusted to implement the motion to support members given their deliberate exclusion of the better worded motions on trans and non-binary rights at ADC. Even the mover in her right of reply acknowledged there was no trust in the leadership and understood why delegates were going to oppose.

The cynical nature of the exclusion of motions, justified by President Martin Cavanagh as “protecting the union”, has since been exposed by other unions, including the National Education Union and University and College Union, adopting policy that does not shy away from criticising and demanding the overturn of the EHRC interim guidance that promotes policing toilet use by employers.

License to fight Labour cuts: A383 passed

Despite efforts by the general secretary, Fran Heathcote, to talk down a “shopping basket of demands”, referencing motion A315 that passed the previous year, Conference doggedly passed motion A383. This laid out most clearly the attacks on civil servants, and the consequences for devolved government workers and our privatised members working on facilities management contracts.

Of central importance, the motion set a deadline of mid-September to start a ballot for strike action if the lack of progress in talks continues. Westminster departments face 15% cuts, and these have already begun to land. In the Cabinet Office, 1,200 job cuts have been announced. The government has announced renewal of efforts to cut London jobs by 12,000. A “review” of arm’s length bodies means cuts are also likely there.

A campaign on these issues is vital. Broad Left Network members on the union’s National Executive Committee (NEC), together with left allies, have been making this point for a year. Flattered by personal discussions with ministers, the general secretary has done nothing to prepare the union for a fight, despite motions calling for this being carried at the NEC in July 2024 and January 2025.

We do not believe the attitude of Heathcote or Cavanagh will change now that they once again have won a majority on the union’s NEC, in this year’s elections in May. Their inability to lead a fight with the government was proven in the 2022/23 strike wave; they waited for five weeks before calling any action, they called only three days of national action and, at the first offer, in June 2023, pulled the plug on the campaign.

Collusion with Labour?

Barely an hour after PCS Conference closed on Thursday 22 May, the government announced the civil service pay remit. This is guidance which sets out the pay parameters and covers all UK government departments and agencies. It provides a percentage figure by which each area can increase their total pay bill – meaning that, as a rule of thumb, pay rises mirror this figure. The figure set for 2025/26 is 3.25%, with leeway up to 3.75% for the low paid.

The timing of the announcement is suspect – and of course Cavanagh and Heathcote, on behalf of the ruling Left Unity faction, claimed 3.25% as a success, even though it falls short of the 4.1% 12-month rolling average for inflation, and does not represent additional funds for government departments that are already facing punitive cuts of 15%. Pay rises must be found within existing budgets.

All that can be said for certain is this. This announcement was not made without discussion with representatives from the trade unions. Yet the union’s NEC was not informed of any such discussions, and nor was PCS Conference. Conference instead heard re-heated Labour propaganda, that “headcount reduction targets have been abandoned”, from the general secretary. This is a concerning pattern.

Decisive left victory in Conference block vote

Elections to the union’s NEC are by individual ballot and were held before Conference convened. Radically reduced turnout saw all vote counts fall, but the opposite happened at the block vote elections. Not only did the left vote increase, this election returned all left candidate and of particular significance is winning two seats on the union’s National Standing Orders Committee (NSOC). This Committee is responsible for the unions’ conference agenda i.e. which motions will be discussed. Winning two seats is a vital step in re-opening PCS to democratic debate.

For years, a majority of NSOC have been supporters of the president and general secretary meaning that motions setting out an alternative are either not placed on the agenda or buried at the end of sections.

Against years of practice, motions submitted to conference by the NEC were not reached because of this bias. The difference this year is the president, and general secretary did not have a majority on the NEC and therefore motions were agreed that they did not support. To have discussed these, would have given an opportunity to set out an alternative by the left majority on the NEC, to the disadvantage of the president and general secretary.

More centrally to the democracy of Conference, NSOC rushed through the abolition of the guillotine section this year on the Wednesday morning. Attempts to “reference back”, i.e. to discuss a disagreement with this move, by DfE Y&H branch, were brushed off by Cavanagh, sitting as chair of conference.

The guillotine section allows motions missed due to time, to be put back on the agenda and discussed – this limits the scope for the president to play games by calling dozens of delegates in on uncontentious motions, to talk out anything they do not want heard.

It also limits the power of NSOC to put low down the agenda anything their pals the president and general secretary do not like, as it can still get into the guillotine section. This has happened a few times in the last few years, resulting in defeats of and embarrassment for the ruling Left Unity faction.

Tactics to bury motions were in full evidence this year, particularly motion A226, on giving branches means to contact their own members directly. First it was D-marked (can be cleared by correspondence), then X-marked (out of order) and finally A-marked (for debate) but buried below a dozen other motions in the hope it would not be reached. Thankfully, Conference delegates overturned this on Tuesday afternoon.

For more than a decade, (up to 2019 and the split in the left engineered by Mark Serwotka, Fran Heathcote and Martin Cavanagh), bureaucratic, obfuscatory techniques like this were not employed, and Conference developed a confidence in the National Standing Orders Committee to make sure key issues were debated at the top of every section, regardless of who they embarrassed.

Conference is gradually waking up to the fact that they can take nothing on trust and that, if delegates are not to lose control of the direction of the union, they will have to keep watchful control of Conference agenda papers and over everything else besides.

Build a fighting, democratic PCS to defeat austerity

The last year has been disorientating for activists across PCS. A left NEC was elected in May 2024 – and quickly found that, without the post of president or two-thirds of the seats (we won 19 out of 35), their majority could be and was ignored by the president and general secretary. Indeed, the institutions of the union – including branch briefings – were put to factional use by the president and general secretary to try and discredit the NEC.

Expecting a serious campaign, PCS activists were left holding on for another year while the union’s leadership argued amongst themselves. Anger from members over the levy was another complicating factor, as demonstrated by the censure of the NEC through motion A85. In absence of a campaign that justified collecting the levy, low paid members understandably wondered why they were bothering to pay it.

None of this changes the struggles that we will face over the next year. Cuts are coming. We must build a campaign across the whole union defeat these – if we don’t, cuts will continue. Inextricably linked to this is the battle to ensure PCS is accountable to its members and to their elected representatives at all levels – the battle for a fighting, democratic PCS. To all PCS reps and members fighting the cuts and fighting for equality at work and in the community, we urge you to join the PCS Broad Left Network and join with us to help rebuild the fighting strength of our union to stop the attacks.