PCS - the civil service union

📢 PCS MEMBERS: IMPORTANT BALLOT UPDATE

With our national ballot expected to open on 20 October, PCS General Secretary Fran Heathcote answers members’ questions about our campaign for better pay, pensions, job security, and rights at work.

Watch the video and get ballot-ready
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Stop the Privatisation of the British Library!
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🚨PCS PRESS RELEASE:
Scottish Government workers to be balloted for industrial action over hybrid working

PCS members across the Scottish Government and 4 other employers are to be balloted for industrial action in a dispute over plans to enforce office attendance with punitive measures and undermine already-agreed flexible working arrangements.

The ballot will involve members working in the Scottish Government, Social Security Scotland, Community Justice Scotland, Transport Scotland and Disclosure Scotland, amid growing opposition to the imposition of mandatory office attendance targets.

The Scottish Government has introduced a requirement for staff to spend at least 40% of their working time in the office, with the threat of disciplinary action for those who fail to comply.

PCS believes the move represents a significant attack on previously agreed hybrid working arrangements, replacing a job-based approach with an entirely arbitrary attendance target.

The union argues that the Scottish Government has failed to demonstrate how compulsory office attendance will improve the delivery of public services and is instead pursuing a policy that risks damaging staff morale, work-life balance and the progress made towards a more inclusive workforce.

The dispute also raises concerns about the wider future of hybrid working across the Scottish Government and its executive agencies, several of which already enforce office attendance requirements.

PCS is calling on the Scottish Government to reverse the new mandatory targets and rule out the use of office attendance as a measure of individual performance or as grounds for disciplinary action.

The union is also seeking a consistent and fair approach to hybrid working across the Scottish Government and its agencies, recognising that some roles require a physical presence while protecting flexibility for staff, including those working in rural and dispersed locations.

The decision to move to a statutory ballot follows a consultative ballot in 2025, in which 70% of participating PCS members backed industrial action over hybrid working.

PCS maintains that decisions about where staff work should be driven by operational needs and the effective delivery of public services, not rigid attendance quotas. The union remains committed to securing a negotiated resolution that protects members' terms and conditions and preserves the benefits of flexible working.

Ruby Gibson, PCS national officer for Scotland, said:
‘The Scottish Government has provided no convincing evidence that forcing staff back into the office for at least 40% of their working time will improve public services, productivity, or outcomes for the people of Scotland. Instead, the Permanent Secretary and employers have chosen to impose an arbitrary target and threaten disciplinary action against workers who do not comply.’

‘This is an unacceptable way to treat the people who helped keep Scotland's public services running through the Covid-19 pandemic and have continued to deliver vital services in challenging circumstances ever since.’

‘The pandemic demonstrated what civil servants and their employers already knew: that public services can be delivered effectively through flexible and hybrid working. It opened up opportunities for a better work-life balance, improved productivity and a more inclusive workforce, including for disabled workers, carers and those living in rural and remote communities.’

‘Rather than building on those gains, the Scottish Government is determined to turn the clock back. It is replacing trust with surveillance, flexibility with rigid targets and constructive employment relations with the threat of disciplinary action.’

‘This is not about opposing office working. It is about ensuring that working arrangements are determined by the needs of the job and the services being delivered, not arbitrary targets imposed without proper evidence or meaningful agreement with staff and their representatives.’

‘This ballot is about protecting the future of hybrid working across the Scottish Government and its agencies and making clear that PCS members will not simply accept decisions that undermine their working lives. PCS is ready to negotiate a sensible, evidence-based solution, but we will not stand by while hard-won protections are stripped away.’

Notes: The PCS ballot will run from 9 November 2026 until 14 December 2026.

PCS members working on the outsourced Sodexo contract at HMRC sites in Belfast, who have been taking industrial action since June, have secured a significant victory in their campaign.

pcs.org.uk/news-events/ne…

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