We believe in quality public services for everyone, but also that you cannot have good services unless those employed to deliver them are treated properly.
PCS has launched a campaign to halt the Conservative government’s latest attempt to privatise sensitive work in our justice system. On 1 August, civil servants employed as civilian enforcement officers (CEOs) were told that the work they do enforcing financial fines for the criminal courts, will be put out to tender. This see around 150 staff outsourced…
England’s maternity services are desperately short of midwives. In October 2015, health secretary Jeremy Hunt told the House of Commons that ‘we need more midwives’. But since then, the number has increased by less than 0.7%. Across England, we have a shortage of around 3,500. Of the midwives we do have, the latest figures show…
Over the last two days, we’ve seen wall-to-wall coverage of what the BBC’s leading lights get paid. That’s not surprising. Few stories offer such a perfect mix of celebrity gossip, financial drama and political intrigue. Of course journalists are going to jump on this one. But more than 20,000 people work at the BBC — and this…
David Chrimes is a Crown Advocate employed by the Crown Prosecution Service. He writes about why, after a seven-year squeeze, public sector workers deserve a pay rise.
Boris Johnson has now u-turned on his own rebellion on public sector pay. On Monday, sources close to the foreign secretary said he supported a better pay deal for public sector workers, and “strongly believes the rises can be done in a responsible way and without causing fiscal pressures.” But by Thursday, that strong belief…
The cabinet may be divided, but public sector workers shouldn’t be. Having learned the hard way that cutting public sector pay is unpopular with voters, Conservative cabinet ministers are finally changing their tune. In the last few days, Boris Johnson, Jeremy Hunt, Michael Gove and Justine Greening have all spoken out against the cap. Recent…
Will she, won’t she? Theresa May’s position on pay for public service workers has been all over the place this week. On Wednesday we had a surprise announcement that the government might be considering an end to its policy of capping public sector pay. But hours later, a spectacular double-u-turn saw her whip her MPs…
Privatisation has cost the taxpayer over £50bn in unnecessary costs. A joint study by Essex University and Queen Mary’s University has confirmed what unions and passenger groups have been saying for years. Privatisation has been a colossal waste of money. The conclusions are damning. The “hugely damaging” breakup of British Rail in the 1990s is…
Now the Conservative party have published their manifesto we are in a position to look at the approach of each major party to funding social care in England. Conservatives The Conservative policy is abandon the Dilnot reforms the party committed to in the 2015 manifesto. Originally Dilnot set a ceiling on what a person could pay for…
The current system of rail franchising leaves much to be desired. Passenger satisfaction is very uneven, and the system is not well aligned with the needs of the economy. Today, Campaign for Better Transport (CfBT) published a report on the state of Rail Franchising in the UK. Since 1995 a range of private Train Operating…