Public and Commercial Services Union

HMRC Job Security Agreement Ballot, 13 August – 3 September

All PCS members will shortly receive ballot papers to vote for the national job security agreements. In addition, PCS members in HMRC will be asked to vote to endorse the HMRC Job Security Agreement (link to agreement). Sections 1-3 constitute a formal agreement between HMRC and the unions and will be subject to a membership ballot from 13 August.

PCS delegates to national and group conferences this year voted overwhelmingly to endorse both agreements. Both conferences decided that the national and departmental agreements should be subject to membership ballots. The national ballot begins on 6 August. The HMRC agreement ballot begins on 13 August. PCS members in HMRC are urged to vote ‘yes’ in both ballots.

Following the national agreement reached with the government earlier this year, we also concluded talks on a further Job Security Agreement with HMRC.

Both the National Protocols and the HMRC Job Security Agreement put in place a series of measures that management must follow to avoid making any member compulsorily redundant or having to move home. The National Protocols are reinforced and complemented by the HMRC agreement.

You will shortly receive your ballot paper on the National Protocols. The national ballot will start on 6 August and run until 1 September.

From 13 August to 3 September we will also be asking all PCS members in HMRC to endorse the HMRC Agreement.

Your national and group executive committees are urging all members to vote ‘yes’ to both agreements. Please use your vote to endorse both agreements.

The HMRC Job Security Agreement is designed to deal with the consequences of the civil service cuts agenda as it impacts on HMRC. The Agreement sets out the specific steps that HMRC will take to avoid declaring any member either compulsorily redundant or making a compulsory move of home.

PCS at all levels will have a clear right to be informed and consulted throughout the process. These steps should ensure that any member who is declared ‘surplus’ or who is working in an office currently under threat of closure but who wishes to continue to work in HMRC or the civil service will be made a reasonable alternative job offer that fits individual skills, experience and circumstances.

Under the terms of the national and departmental agreements, all reasonable and practicable measures will be explored to ensure that no member will be made redundant or face a compulsory move of home.

Local and national union representatives, through negotiation and discussion, will play a key role in determining where work can be moved to offices threatened by closure, and where PCS members can be moved it will be to offices which suit individual members’ skills, experience and unique circumstances.

However, we reserve our right to take industrial action if the processes set out in either the Protocol or the HMRC Agreements are not adhered to.

PCS will respond robustly if the department or the government fails to comply with either the HMRC Agreement or the National Protocols. If compulsory redundancy notices are issued, if staff are forced to move to offices outside reasonable daily travelling (RDT) distances or if the department closes offices that impact detrimentally on staff or public service delivery, immediate consideration will be given to a ballot of appropriate members.

We recognise that both agreements represent a significant step forward in our campaign and have been secured thanks to PCS members’ determination and willingness to take action.

However, we also recognise that neither the national agreement nor the HMRC agreement offers an absolute guarantee of job security. The HMRC Job Security Agreement does not halt job cuts or office closures - it provides a mechanism to avoid compulsory redundancies or compulsory moves of staff. In conjunction with the National Protocols, the HMRC Job Security Agreement provides important, additional protection for all our members.

We remain vehemently opposed to the government’s efficiency agenda and we will continue to campaign and organise to defend local jobs in local offices. We do not believe that either the civil service as a whole, or HMRC in particular, will be able to continue to deliver a quality public service whilst pressing on with job cuts and arbitrary office closures. PCS members are urged to get involved in the campaign to reverse the job cuts programme and protect public services.

Copies of the HMRC Job Security Agreement can be obtained from your local PCS reps and can be downloaded from these pages (see link in paragraph one above). Copies of the Agreement can also be found on the HMRC Intranet under the ‘About You’ section.

PCS meetings have been arranged in workplaces to provide further information. Please attend the PCS meetings arranged in your branch.

You will have already received your ballot paper to vote on the National Protocols. The ballot on the National Protocol closes on 1 September 2008.

The ballot on the HMRC Agreement will run from 13 August to 3 September 2008.

Your Group Executive Committee is unanimously urging you to vote ‘Yes’ to endorse the HMRC Job Security Agreement.

Vote 'yes' for job security in the HMRC.