Did You Know?

Rishi Sunak aid says Northern workers should 'accept lower wages'

Tim Leunig, the Chancellor's economic advisor, said there is "no realistic prospect" the rest of the UK can catch up with the South East. Click here to read the full story of how Tories continue to write us off at the Liverpool Echo website. [February 2022]

Efforts to move civil servants out of London are ‘going backwards’

Since 2018, one in three civil servants has been recruited in the capital according to The Independent. Click here to read the full story. [February 2022]

Is working from home banned for civil servants, and where are we now on hybrid working?

As usual with this incompetent government mixed messages are being put out into the public sphere while failed ex-ministers see fit to criticise and demean public servants for simply doing what the government asked of them. Click here to get some answers from Civil Service World. [January 2022]

PCS to meet Cabinet Office over workplace return plans after media attacks on civil servants

PCS condemns the disgraceful, manufactured political attack that has been launched on civil servants over the weekend. Find out what this government really thinks of you. Read the story here at the PCS national website. [January 2022]

Civil service jobs rising faster in London than anywhere else in England despite levelling-up agenda

The data comes in the wake of the government’s pledge to move civil service jobs out of London as part of its “levelling-up agenda” which has been blighted by the twin crises of Brexit and the pandemic. Click here to get the full story at the I. [January 2022]

Permanent Secretaries told to produce 'concrete plan' to free up civil servants to volunteer for booster rollout

Registered healthcare professionals across the civil service to get "unlimited" volunteering leave until the end of January. Click here to read the story at Civil Service World. [December 2021]

MPs sound alarm over Home Office’s £1.1bn police IT programme

Department’s “miserable record of exorbitantly expensive digital programmes that fail to deliver” continues, says Public Accounts Committee. Click here for the full story at Civil Service World. [December 2021]

High Court backs PM’s decision on Patel bullying report

But union says ruling on handling of Home Secretary’s conduct still boosts civil servants’ workplace rights. Click here to read the Civil Service World report. [December 2021]

Changes to Civil Service Pensions under Remedy

Click here for the latest update from Civil Service Pensions on the mess that the government caused when they introduced the Alpha scheme and what it means for you. [November 2021]

New police law could undermine trust and 'exacerbate' violence, ex-chiefs warn

Priti Patel has been urged to rethink the bill by former police chiefs - who have warned it could "undermine the work police colleagues are doing to prevent and reduce serious violence". Click here to get the full story at The Mirror. [October 2021]

Iain Duncan Smith has been "slammed for 'ahistorical drivel' after saying home-working officials fall short of 'wartime generation'.

Ex-work and pensions secretary compared to "old man on a park bench screaming into the wind". Get the full story at Civil Service World. [October 2021]

Windrush activists ‘disgusted’ after being turned away at Tory conference

Anthony Brown and Julia Davidson ‘humiliated’ after being shut out despite paying £225 for full access. Click here to read the article at the Guardian website. [October 2021]

Departments take cautious approach on return to office

Ministries trial hybrid-working plans but fears remain about staff being pressured back to desks. Click here for the full story at the Civil Service World website [September 2021]

Hybrid working is here to stay, Chisholm says

Flexible and home-working options for civil servants will remain available for the long term, Alex Chisholm has suggested, calling the greater flexibility that has come about during the pandemic a “huge positive. Click here for the full story at the Civil Service World website [September 2021]

Your immune system is not ready for the office

Stuffy, cramped offices and poor sick leave policies mean that workers could be about to experience a wave of post-lockdown colds. Get ready to have a cold. That’s the message from doctors, immunologists, virologists and architects as England emerges from lockdown. Click here for the full story at Wired UK. [July 2021]

The immigration watchdog has set out his inspection plan as report calls barracks asylum housing 'dispiriting' and 'dirty'

Border Force assurance, family visa processing and the deportation of foreign national offenders are among the areas of the Home Office’s work set to come under scrutiny from the new immigration inspector this year. The topics are three of the 14 new inspections planned by the independent chief inspector of borders and immigration. Click here to find out about all of the planned inspections for 201/22 at Civil Service World. [July 2021]

Bullying can cost a pretty penny

Revealed: The amount the Home Office spent on settling senior civil servant’s bullying claim. And it's a lot. Constructive dismissal claims are notoriously difficult to win so an out of court settlement tells a story all of it's own. To find out how much the Home Office has shelled out to former Permanent Secretary, Philip Rutnam, to settle his constructive dismissal claim click here to go to the London Economic website. [July 2021]

Boris Johnson and his Cabinet of millionaires are considering increasing the age for free NHS prescriptions to 66

The government are testing the water for increasing the age for free NHS prescriptions. The consultation is seeking views from the public, healthcare organisations and staff on options for implementing a change in the age at which people in England become eligible for free prescriptions from the current age of 60, to 66 years of age. Click here to get more information and to contribute to the "consultation". [July 2021]

Ex-chief inspector of borders and immigration David Bolt has given his views on the challenge of overseeing the Home Office

As independent chief inspector of borders and immigration, David Bolt spent six years shedding light on the Home Office’s work. He tells Beckie Smith about inspecting Napier Barracks, post-Windrush reforms, and the challenge of changing the department’s culture. Click here to read the full story at Civil Service World. [June 2021]

The government wants to sell your personal medical data

The Government’s plan is to copy your entire GP medical history and make it available for third parties to apply for and buy access. There has been very little publicity about this plan other than a few notices on GP noticeboards which you have probably not had the opportunity to see due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Click here to find out how to stop your data being released. You only have until 23 June so don't delay. [June 2021]

Confidential Civil Service documents are being turned into toilet paper

Civil Service World have reported that "mountains of confidential documents generated by the Northern Ireland Civil Service are being recycled into toilet paper". Social enterprise Ulster Supported Employment and Learning facility are "shredding thousands of bags of paper waste a month, with the unreadable results then baled up and sent off to mills to be turned into toilet roll and other paper products as part of a new contract". Click here to read the full story at Civil Service World. [June 2021]

Cruel, Paranoid, Failing: inside The Home Office

The Guardian has published a Long Read by journalist Daniel Trilling criticising the Home Office and placing significant emphasis on the "hostile environment" which the article claims "took away discretion from the people who were taking the decisions and insist that they follow the rules to the letter” that in turn led to a situation where “once you take away that discretion to interpret the rules, you get injustice”. Click here to read the full Guardian article and here to see the response from Home Office Permanent Secretary, Matthew Rycroft. [May 2021]

Civil Servants from working class backgrounds less likely to progress now than in the 1960's

A report from the Social Mobility Commission found that working class people remain “significantly under-represented” within the civil service. Those who do begin to progress struggle to get further up the pole due to unwritten rules favouring those from more affluent backgrounds. The report found that the senior civil service has become more exclusive. Just 18% of the SCS are from working-class or “low social economic backgrounds”. Compare this to 1967 when the figure was 19%. We're going backwards. Click here to read the full story at Civil Service World. [May 2021]

High Court rules that the Home Office unlawfully refused Windrush citizens status over minor criminality

The Home Office was found to have incorrectly applied “good character” requirements in Windrush cases leading to people who had been in the UK for many years refused citizenship due to minor convictions. The judge ruled that it should not have been applied because it undermined the intentions of the Windrush Scheme. It is not yet known if the Home Secretary will appeal the decision. Click here for more in The Independent. [April 2021]

Disclaimer: All of the articles on this page are published by external sources. PCS Home Office Merseyside Branch accepts no responsibility for the accuracy of the content.