Birkenhead Land Registry and Child Support Agency staff in two-day walkout

Mar 10 2010 by Matt Hurst, Heswall News

“It’s about redundancy payments and with our members in danger at the moment, anyone who is made redundant could lose tens of thousands of pounds.

“Some have worked here for quite a long time, but they also wanted to stand by their colleagues across the region.”

The workers are protesting at government plans to limit redundancy payments.

Due to come into effect in April and estimated to save £500 million nationwide, the scheme would cap payments at £60,000.

Redundancy is currently calculated on length of service, with a month’s pay for every year worked.

PCS, Britain's fifth biggest union, says an employee with 20 years’ service earning £24,000 a year could lose as much as £20,000 as a result of new caps.

But the government says those earning £30,000 or less, around 80% of all staff, would still get up to between two and three years’ salary.

Birkenhead Land Registry staff are currently in a consultation period with management over plans to strip 60 jobs from the site, just a year after the organisation’s Old Market office was closed at a cost of 100 jobs.

Dave Lunn said: “This is the kind of force we can mobilise, members won’t take it lying down.”