Public and Commercial Services Union

PCS represents members working at ONS sites in Newport (south Wales), Titchfield (Hampshire) and London. ONS is a non-ministerial department led by the UK Statistics Authority, an independent body accountable to parliament. ONS’s role is “promoting and safeguarding the quality of official statistics in the UK”.

We have a PCS union branch at each of the ONS locations and a group executive committee consisting of representatives from each branch. The group president is Gez Kirby and group secretary is Siân Wiblin.

Current issues at ONS

The threat to our pensions

Like other PCS members across the civil service, ONS staff face the threat of having to work longer and pay more into their pension pot for a smaller pension, if the government's plans are introduced.

The PCS ONS group fully supports our union's national pensions campaign.

Pay cuts

Not only are members at ONS subject to the government's pay freeze - which, with inflation, means an effective pay cut for all staff - but ONS has also refused to pay staff the two progression steps to which they are contractually entitled, according to our union's legal advice. Our PCS ONS group is determined to achieve a fair deal for members on pay progression. Our solicitors are presently pursuing this case.

Budget cuts

As a result of the comprehensive spending review, ONS/UK Statistics Authority is making spending cuts of over 18%. While this has not yet resulted in redundancies, many posts and statistical outputs have been cut. The PCS ONS group says that the government deficit is due to a recession caused by the financial sector, not by public sector workers. We must not be expected to pay with our jobs for the bankers' irresponsibility.

Attacks on our terms and conditions of service

Besides attacking ONS members' pay progression entitlements, the employer is also seeking to erode hard-won terms and conditions of service. In the last two years, both sick absence and flexible working hours provisions have been worsened. ONS's rhetoric is all about 'engagement' with staff and 'valuing' their contribution. But clearly the reality is that ONS sees its staff only as a cost to be cut.