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Media myths about civil and public services

Media myths about civil and public services

Although the chancellor chose his words very carefully in his 2009 budget announcement, what is contained within it is a savage attack on the public sector with cuts and a squeeze on public spending tighter than the Thatcher era.

Public spending growth will be cut from 1.1% next year to 0.7% from 2011-12. Alongside this real term spending cut, the government also announced further ‘efficiency savings’ of £9 billion across the public sector in addition to the £5 billion announced in November.

PCS members know all too well the disastrous impact on services that past so called “efficiency programmes” have had. Over 80,000 civil and public service jobs have already been axed, with offices closed in their hundreds and outsourcing and privatisation a continual threat.

It is against this backdrop that the media and some politicians are trying to create a division between the public and private sectors.

Divisive myths about job security, pay and pensions in civil and public services have been voiced in an attempt to portray the public sector as “having it easy” compared to the private sector.

The notion that people working in the civil service and its associated bodies are somehow immune from the recession and enjoy gold plated pensions and comfortable salaries is completely false.

Civil servants are amongst the lowest paid in the public sector and have faced pay freezes and pay cuts in real terms. Job losses and job insecurity has been a fact of life as has outsourcing and privatisation.

Our members deliver services touching everyone’s day to day lives, from issuing passports and driving licences, getting people into work and administering tax credits, to intercepting drug smuggling and people trafficking. Civil and public servants keep this country running.

As the recession deepens and further savage spending cuts loom it is important that we continue to challenge the myths and misconceptions about civil and public servants. In this briefing you will find information giving an overview of the reality on pensions, jobs, pay and privatisation.

The union centrally counters the misconceptions about civil and public servants where it has the opportunity to.

Reps and members should not be afraid of setting the record straight themselves and are encouraged to use the information in this briefing in their workplaces, in traditional media such as local newspapers, and also via online technology where possible.

This could be through letters rebutting inaccurate stories or through engaging online by leaving comments on blogs or news sites.

If you need further information or help doing this then please contact national press officer Alex Flynn on alexf@pcs.org.uk

If you would like further information on any of the subjects covered in this briefing please contact cathyc@pcs.org.uk

Myth 1: civil and public servants are well paid

The myth

Some people think that civil and public servants are well paid and have enjoyed better pay rises than the private sector.

The facts

Civil and public servants are amongst the lowest paid in the public sector and wider economy. They have seen their pay cut in real terms with large numbers suffering pay freezes in the lead up to the recession.

The notion that civil and public servants have enjoyed and continue to enjoy bumper pay rises is false. PCS members like other low paid workers elsewhere continue to bear the brunt of the recession in terms of pay.

Facts and figures

  • Civil servants average earnings growth has lagged behind other sectors for 10 years.
  • Over 100,000, almost 20% are paid less than £15,000 a year.
  • In the culture sector the vast majority of staff earn between £12-£17,000 a year
  • Nearly half of the civil service or approximately 250,000 people earn less than £20,000 a year.
  • More than half the civil service earn less than the national average UK salary which is over £23,000.
  • Coastguard watch assistants who assist in co-ordinating search and rescue earn just above the minimum wage.
  • In the last three years pay in the civil service has increased by 6% whilst the cost of living has increased by 12.8%. Fuel and lighting rose by 35% last year, fares and travel went up by 10.2% and food costs rose by 10%.
  • Approximately 40,000 people working for the Department for Work and Pensions, which includes jobcentres and benefit offices received no pay rise at all.
  • Apparent differences in average earnings between public and private sector in the annual survey of hours and earnings is explained by structural changes in the public sector such as the transfer of lower paid support roles to the private sector resulting from patterns of privatisation.

Myth 2: civil service pensions are ‘gold plated’

The myth

Parts of the media have pushed the idea of an ‘apartheid’ between public sector pensions and private sector pensions has grown with the public sector enjoying generous pensions which are gold plated. Public sector pensions need to be reformed as a result, it is claimed.

The facts

Pensions in the civil service are far from generous and have been recently changed to a career average scheme.

  • In 2007/8 the average civil service pension was £6,500. For dependents this was £2,900.
  • Excluding high earners this average drops as low as £4,200.
  • The average civil servant accesses their pension at roughly the same time as the public at large i.e. 62/63 years of age.
  • A civil service pension of less than £1,000 per year is being received by 40,191 pensioners.
  • A gross pension of between £1000-£2000 per year is being received by a further 60,830 pensioners.
  • The average length of service for the majority of civil servants is 15 years.

The civil service is covered by a collection of several different pension schemes which have developed over the years. These are:

  • 1972 scheme (now called Classic) - As at 31 March 2008 there are 334,600 members.
  • 2002 scheme (Premium) - For new entrants from 1/10/2002. There are currently 207,720 members.
  • 2002 scheme (Classic plus) – A hybrid between Classic and Premium and only available to those staff in post 1/10/2002. This covers 17,310 members
  • 2002 scheme (Partnership scheme) – A money purchase scheme available as an alternative to premium/nuvos, from 7,000 members.
  • 2007 scheme (nuvos) - a defined benefit whole career base scheme for new entrants from 30/7/2007, 17,310 members.

Myth 3: civil and public servants are secure in their jobs

The myth

There is a misconception that civil and public servants are immune from the recession and have safe and cushy jobs.

The facts

The picture across the civil service has been one of job cuts resulting in a deterioration of services since the Gershon review in 2004. 80,000 jobs have gone under Gershon with more to follow in some areas as a result of the comprehensive spending review in 2007.

As a result of this year’s budget and the publication of the ‘Operational efficiency programme’ the government have announced a further round of ‘efficiency savings’ totalling £9 billion. This is bound to result in more job losses.

For example there are plans for the Land Registry to be halved over the next 5 years at a cost of up to 4,000 jobs.

Examples of job losses and their impact

Past experience has shown that ‘efficiency savings’ have resulted in cuts. With more and more people relying on public services it makes no sense to pursue further cuts.

The government should not be putting people on the dole, but stimulating the economy through increased investment.

Myth 4: privatisation

Our members are now facing the following privatisations or “efficiency cuts”:

  • The Royal Mint The chancellor announced that the Royal Mint will be "vested" in to a company structure. It will be operated as a private sector company owned by the government, There are no valid operational or commercial reasons to vest the Royal Mint to the private sector- all ministerial targets have been met and a profit of £10 million made in 2007-08.
  • The Land Registry There will be a large programme of "rationalisation" and much of the operation will be subject to “estate and operational restructuring and market testing of support functions”. This will undermine the core operation. About a third of staff may be shed.
  • QEII Conference Centre is currently an efficient operation with secure bookings and income that is set to continue to generate revenue for the government so it is shortsighted madness that the intention is to sell this asset off to the private sector by 2012.
  • The Met Office is to be subject to much more commercial pressure, it will have to further refine its “business model” and seek partnerships with the private sector. 
  • Defence Storage and Distribution Agency is to be restructured to make it much more of a commercial operation. This includes partnering, the disposal of so called surplus assets, and looking at “alternative methods of ownership to fund capital requirements”. All the necessary groundwork for eventual privatisation.
  • The defence training rationalisation programme is the largest privatisation ever embarked upon by the Ministry of Defence. With a price tag of £19 billion it seeks to privatise the work of over 1100 civil servants and puts at risk a further 1900 posts through cuts in support and admin grades. Not only does this raise the spectre of mass redundancies, but also of the collapse of defence training at a time when British forces are serving in at least two theatres of war.

There are endless examples of privatisations where the government has had to bail out private companies or concerns as privatisation simply didn’t work, including the national air traffic control scheme in 2001.

Transport - The fiasco of rail privatisation has had far reaching effects on service, safety and cost of travel.

Health - Privatisation and PFI has routinely led to job cuts, a reduction in the number of beds and massive budget deficits.

Water - Privatisation has led higher bills, job losses and serious infrastructure problems with massive water leakage problems.

Scotland and Wales

Following the chancellor’s budget on 22 April, the budget of the Welsh Assembly Government will be reduced by £416 million in 2010/11.

This is made up of a £216m annual reduction in the revenue budget, due to the assembly’s block grant being reduced in accordance with cuts to UK government departments, under the Barnett Formula; and a £200m annual reduction in the capital budget (due to £120 million of capital investment being brought forward from 2010/11 to 2009/10).

The UK budget includes forced spending cuts of £500 million on the Scottish government. This has serious implications for our members in Scottish devolved areas.

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