The High Court has rejected a challenge by a trade union (the Public and commercial Services Union and others) to the government’s reduction of compensation payments that will be received by redundant civil servants under the Civil Service Compensation Scheme (CSCS). The citation of the case is EWHC 2041 (QB).
The court held that while rights under the CSCS prior to the government’s changes amounted to a “possession” for the purposes of Article 1 of Protocol 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), the reduction in benefits was justified as they were reasonable and commensurate and did not go beyond what was reasonably necessary to achieve the government’s legitimate aim of reducing the national budget deficit.
This justification also defeated the union’s argument that the changes breached civil servants’ legitimate expectations at common law.
The implications to this judgment are far-reaching and as such there may be a groundswell for an appeal.
Philip Henson, Partner and Head of Employment Law @bargatemurray
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