Public and Commercial Services Union
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First civil service mutual suffers further setback .
The move to impose mutualisation on My Civil Service Pension - the government agency that administers the pensions of 1.5 million working and retired civil servants - was first planned for July 2011, and then put back twice before finally being set for the end of this month.
Staff, who have already taken strike action against the plans, have now been told it will not happen until the next financial year. Added to the further legal and financial complications this brings, it will mean massive upheaval as MyCSP attempts to oversee the government's imposed changes to civil service pensions from 1 April - which the union is also opposing.
The union says the plan has been ill-thought out from day one and is clearly flawed, not least because it has been presented as a way of giving employees more control, yet it does not have the backing of employees, who can see no benefits in it.
In a survey of all staff conducted by the union last year, 94% of respondents said they did not agree with Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude's claim that turning MyCSP into a mutual would "empower employees and drive up performance". More than 95% said they wanted to retain their civil service status - a request the government has refused.
Of the four original bidders to be the private sector 'partner' taking a 42% stake in the agency, two now remain and the winner will be confirmed shortly.
Mr Maude has already indicated that public sector mutualisation could lead to full privatisation.
PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: "Far from being done by mutual consent, the government's plans rest on imposing unpopular ideas on an unwilling workforce.
"The minister has already confirmed this could lead to full privatisation, the history of which is marked by failure and public money lining the pockets of executives and shareholders."
