Civil Service redundancy ruling back in the spotlight as government returns to High Court for clarification

The government will return to the High Court today to seek clarification over a ruling that found changes to civil servants’ redundancy payments were unlawful.

Last month, the High Court found the government’s reductions to the Civil Service Compensation Scheme (CSCS) were unlawful and the changes must be renegotiated with unions.

The High Court judge ruled the government could not legally reduce the rights of staff accrued over time without having the agreement of the union.

The government and the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) will attend court today to hear the judge clarify certain legal points in the ruling.

It is expected that the government will appeal the decision made last month.

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The government had hoped to impose the revised CSCS from 1 April in a bid to make up to £500m worth of Whitehall savings in the next three years.

The intention was to change the scheme so that Whitehall severance pay would be capped at a maximum of two years’ salary for employees earning £25,000 or more (civil servants who have worked in Whitehall for 20 years are currently entitled to three years’ pay), while people who rejoin the Civil Service after receiving a severance payment will be required to pay some of the money back.