Public and Commercial Services Union

The Department for Communities and Local Government and Government Office group covers members working in the following areas:

• Department for Communities and Local Government
• The Government Office network
• Planning Inspectorate
• Fire Service College
• Queen Elizabeth II conference centre
• Ordnance Survey
• Standards Board
• Government Equalities Office (mainly consisting of staff recently transferred from CLG)

Aims of the group

The aims of the group are discussed and decided at each annual conference. Currently they include:

• Departmental pay. Shocking differences in pay have arisen in the few years of delegated pay bargaining, the group is committed to removing the unfair divisions between members who are being paid different rates for the same work inside the same department.
• Increasing membership across CLG, its agencies and NDPBs (non-departmental public bodies). The department itself is a new one, with differing inherited levels of membership, especially in the smaller areas.
• As part of the national campaign, responding to CLGs plans to cut staffing in its HQ and admin budgets for agencies and NDPBs.
• Developing a stress assessment methodology to provide a clear evidential basis for challenging the long-hours culture which is rife in this Department.

“Looking across our department, there is an absolute jumble of pay rates and conditions, these add up to clear and unacceptable disparities between members. We want to see real pay increases for all staff and your group is looking at all options to make this happen.”
Martin Kenny, group president.

The group has a quarterly magazine sent out to members, giving more information on the progress towards these aims, together with the newsletters from individual branches and sections on local issues.

The elected group officers and committee help to co-ordinate the work of members across the branches and agree on the best way to use its own additional, but limited resources, based on the reports and feedback it gets from them.

Get involved

The easiest way to get involved is just to ask a colleague if they are already a member and if not, would they like to join PCS. Or spend half an hour helping to give out recruitment leaflets to people in your office.

All PCS members across the department can take part in deciding the work of the group, through being involved in their local branch, standing for the group executive committee and by attending conference.

New or potential members are encouraged to contact the group office to find out their local representative. The group secretary is Linda Weatherhead and can be contacted on (020) 7801 2645 or email: Linda.Weatherhead@pcs.org.uk