Redundancy row going to court

The Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union will take its case to the High Court in London on Thursday following a series of strikes across the country, including one on Budget Day last month.

The union said imposed changes will see staff "robbed" of up to a third of their entitlements, worth tens of thousands of pounds, when they are made redundant.

The PCS will argue that the Cabinet Office was wrong to make "detrimental" changes to the Civil Service Compensation Scheme without agreement.

Officials said they believed that, under the 1972 Superannuation Act, the Government needed to implement the cuts to the redundancy scheme with the agreement of Civil Service trade unions representing the majority of staff.

Tens of thousands of workers took part in the strikes, which hit JobCentres and benefit offices, courts, ports, driving tests and Whitehall departments.

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: "Legal action is another tool in our campaign against these cuts, which will rob loyal civil and public servants of their entitlements if they are forced out of a job.

The Government said it had reached agreement with other trade unions over the changes.