The Council of Civil Service Unions (CCSU) has written to Commons Speaker John Bercow asking him to prevent a bill to amend redundancy terms for civil servants being rushed through parliament.

The legislation, published by Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude in July, would cap compensation payments at one year’s pay for compulsory and 15 months for voluntary redundancies.

Maude hopes the bill to pass through the Commons in two weeks after its second reading on 7 September. He also wants it to be certified as a “money bill”.

A money bill cannot be amended in the House of Lords, and must pass through the Lords within 28 days. If the legislation is certified as a money bill it would receive Royal Assent in October and take effect from 1 November.

The decision on whether to class the legislation as a money bill rests with the Speaker of the Commons.

The letter from CCSU secretary Charles Cochrane, describes the legislation as “a blatant attempt to influence current negotiations on reform of the Civil Service Compensation Scheme and coerce the unions into reaching an agreement which would be against the best interest of our members.”

He raises particular concerns over “the attempt to short circuit due parliamentary process” by using the money bill certification, which has previously only been used for legislation implementing Budget proposals.

Cochrane said unions believe the bill does not meet “criteria for which the Money Bill process was intended” and “there is no precedent for the use of such a parliamentary device to detrimentally change the terms and conditions of civil and public servants”.

“We would urge that very careful consideration is given before such a precedent is set,” he said.

Dave Penman, head of operations at the FDA, told CSW  the threat of a money bill would “clearly” influence negotiations, and described the plans as a tactical move as well as an attempt to cap compensation payments.

“We don’t believe a money bill is the way to deal with this,” he said, “it should be through a negotiated process – they should negotiate a successor scheme and then legislate depending upon the outcome of those negotiations.”  

Penman said the unions had not received a response from Bercow, but would not expect one yet as he can only make a decision on whether the legislation is a money bill after it has been through its Commons reading stages.

The PCS says a protest is planned for 7 September to coincide with the Bill’s second reading.

Written by Suzannah Brecknell, CSW