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Proposed agreement on Land Registry reached

18 March 2010

PCS announced that it had reached a proposed agreement with the Land Registry that saves jobs and stops the closure of offices in Croydon and Peterborough. This also guarantees a smaller local presence in Portsmouth until March 2013.

The proposed agreement, which will be put to PCS members for approval in a ballot, follows a hard fought campaign over Land Registry plans to close offices in Peterborough, Portsmouth, Croydon, Stevenage, and Tunbridge Wells.

Staff in the Stevenage and Tunbridge Wells offices, which are due to close in June 2011, will have the right to redeploy to Croydon, Peterborough or other Land Registry offices where there are vacancies.

In Portsmouth the office is set to close in February 2011 but a local presence will be retained with up to 50 staff moving to local authority accommodation until 2013. The union has vowed to carry on campaigning to keep a Land Registry presence in Portsmouth after 2013.

The revised plans which will see the head office in Lincoln Inn Fields re-locate to Croydon. It will also see 325, the vast majority of jobs in the lower grades saved.

Members will be balloted on the proposed agreement between 22 March and 9 April. If members reject what is on offer, a ballot for industrial action will commence with a view to securing further concessions.

Commenting, Mark Serwotka, PCS general secretary, said: "Over the coming days members will be able to have their say on the concessions which have been won from management after a hard fought campaign.

"We will continue to resist any further plans to downsize the Land Registry and do everything we can to ensure that there are sufficient vacancies for staff wanting to transfer from those offices affected by closure.

"We remain opposed to outsourcing and privatisation and will continue to campaign for Land Registry work to remain in the public sector where it is accountable to tax payers."

 

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