Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude confirmed today that the Government intends to press on with changes to the generous terms and conditions in the redundancy package for civil servants, where some civil servants are entitled to payouts equivalent to six years’ salary.

Plans to reform the Civil Service Compensation Scheme (CSCS) are a high priority of the Coalition Government, faced with the extent of the deficit and the 600,000 job losses expected in the public sector.

In April this year a previous attempt by Government to impose changes to the CSCS was overruled in the High Court following a judicial review brought by the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS).

The High Court ruled that the Government had acted unlawfully when it introduced, without the PCS’s agreement, a new redundancy scheme removing or reducing payments based upon age and length of service and ordered that changes to legislation be redrafted.

The Coalition Government has set out plans to limit compulsory redundancy payouts to civil servants to 12 months’ pay.  Civil servants taking voluntary redundancy would be limited to a maximum of 15 months’ salary.

A Cabinet Office spokesman said:

“As outlined in the Coalition Agreement, we are looking at ways to reform the CSCS to bring it more into line with good practice in the private sector.

“Our intention would always be to seek to reach a negotiated agreement, which would include protection for lower-paid civil servants.”

If agreement on reform cannot be reached, ministers could have to amend the 1972 Superannuation Act, which established the redundancy rules.

Unions have threatened strike action if plans to change civil service redundancy payments go ahead.