Last year, the PCS said members in 124 government departments across England, Scotland and Wales have reached the 50 per cent threshold and voted for strike action.
This includes the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), The Leaseholder Advisory Service and Land Registry to name a few.
The PCS said this would be the largest civil service strike for years and signals a “significant escalation” of industrial action.
The union is calling for 10 per cent pay rise, pensions justice, job security and no cuts in redundancy terms.
“Industrial action is a last resort. But so far, the government has refused to discuss our demands. 100,000 PCS members on strike on 1 February will increase the pressure on the government,” it said.
A Cabinet Office spokesperson said: “The Minister for the Cabinet Office, Jeremy Quin, met with representatives from civil service trade unions today to listen to and understand their concerns. This forms part of the government’s commitment to engaging with unions across the board.
“The meeting included discussions to help ensure fair and affordable public sector pay settlements. We regret the PCS decision to call further strike action, but discussions will continue and we have comprehensive plans in place to keep essential services running and to minimise disruption.”
Following the meeting, PCS’ general secretary Mark Serwotka said the meeting was a “total farce”.
He continued: “Despite being well-trailed by the government as a chance to resolve the crisis, it was nothing of the sort because the minister had nothing to offer.
“He didn’t deny our members were being offered less than anyone else, he didn’t deny tens of thousands of our members only get a pay rise because of the rise in the National Minimum Wage but he refused to give us a pay rise now.”
Serwotka said despite what the union told him and the alternative would be “sustained industrial action”, Quin “still refused to budge” saying he could only talk about 2023 to 2024.
“We will not stand by and watch our members be condemned to low pay. We’ve tried talking but it appears the only option open to us is to force them to change their mind, and the only way we can do that is to escalate our strike action.
“Because of the minister’s refusal to help us now, the one-day strike we announced yesterday will go ahead as promised on 1 February, and we shall look to escalate our action further, calling more members out on more strikes until the government listens to us.”
Land Registry
A HM Land Registry spokesperson said it noted the decision of PCS’ national executive committee to call for industrial action.
They added that the PCS is required to formally write to employees to give them 14 days’ notice of strike action and to date it had not yet received this.
“We have successfully mitigated the impact of industrial action on our services in the past and have robust contingency plans in place. We will prioritise time-critical services required for property transactions to continue, including pre-completion searches (the majority of which are automated) and urgent applications that have been expedited.
“We will closely monitor any impacts and respond as necessary to deliver the essential services required to support the property market,” the spokesperson noted.
A Leeds Building Society spokesperson said there were many players in the house buying process, all of whom play an important role.
“The Land Registry is one of these players, so the recent announcement that they will start industrial action in February will be of great interest to many people – particularly conveyancers who deal with them on a daily basis,” they said.
The spokesperson said it would follow progress closely, but it was important to note that the Land Registry have confirmed they expect “minimal disruption to customers”.
“Organisations such as these will have tried and tested plans in place so that they can reduce the impact of any potential disruption,” it added.
