In response to the first formal government offer for a new scheme for 600,000 civil and public servants, Prospect also said it would not call for further industrial action while the negotiations on a new scheme are under way.

The ‘heads of agreement’ offer from the Cabinet Office spells out 15 ‘main parameters’ for change on which it is seeking agreement from all the civil service unions. These include proposals for a new long-term scheme and immediate increases to member contributions, starting in April 2012.

Dai Hudd, Deputy General Secretary, today agreed to put the main elements of the new scheme to the next meeting of the union’s Civil Service Sector Executive Committee in January.

“This is with a view to resolving the outstanding detailed issues in early 2012, the intention being to reach a comprehensive agreement about the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme for service from 1 April 2015 which will be subject to a ballot of Prospect members.

“While we will not call for further industrial action while these outstanding issues are being resolved and we are consulting members, we reserve the right to do so if the discussions fail to produce an acceptable outcome.”

Hudd said that it had taken almost a year of talks to obtain a formal offer from the Government. “This is the first time we have been able to put the detail of the Government’s proposals to members for them to consider, together with a clearer focus on the design of the new scheme.

“The November 30 action clearly persuaded ministers that they had to come up with concrete improvements to their earlier proposals. This they have now done, though we remain deeply concerned at the impact of their proposals on our members at a time of pay freeze.”

Among the improvements contained in the new offer are: a faster accrual rate for employees; a floor below which the employer’s contributions will not drop; further negotiations on the increase in contributions and their impact in Years 2 and 3; and extension and improvement of Fair Deal pensions protection for workers TUPE-transferred out of the public sector.

Prospect's response to Cabinet Office

For Prospect, I can confirm my response to your letter of 15 December containing the Government offer for a new pension scheme for the civil service.

In the light of the progress made to date, I agree that I will take back to the Civil Service Sector Executive Committee the main elements of scheme design, which the Government has made clear sets out their final position as the best that can be achieved in negotiations. This is with a view to resolving the outstanding detailed issues in early 2012, the intention being to reach a comprehensive agreement about the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme for service from 1 April 2015 which will be subject to a ballot of Prospect members.

It will be appreciated that these issues are important to Prospect and that while we will not call for further industrial action while these outstanding detailed issues are being resolved and we are consulting members, we reserve the right to do so if the discussions fail to produce an acceptable final outcome.