About Me

I work for HMRC in Nottingham. I am a current member of the National Executive Committee (NEC), Vice Chair of the PCS Midlands Regional Committee, and the Equalities Officer for the Revenue & Customs East Midlands Branch. I have also served on the Revenue & Customs Group Executive Committee (GEC) as a committee member and lead negotiator, and am standing for re-election in 2025. I have been an active trade union member and activist since the late 1980s with over 29 years’ experience as a union representative, with PCS and legacy unions, supporting, defending and representing members’ interests and campaigning for improvements in pay, terms and conditions, equality and equity. I’m a dedicated trade unionist and have been active in multiple campaigns to defend and further the interests of our members across all sectors of our community and am active in the anti-racism movement.

Cost of Living and Pay

The cost of living crisis presided over by the last Government, and not yet ended by the current one, has continued to see thousands of our members struggle to make ends meet. Increasing numbers of our colleagues continue having to claim in-work benefits and use food banks. Thousands of our members will receive a pay increase in April just to prevent their salaries dropping below the national minimum wage, again.

In 2024, the majority of our members received an above inflation pay increase, due in no small part to the action members took on the national campaign. While this was above the inflation rate at the time, this did little to restore our member’s pay to pre-austerity levels and fell significantly short of our demands. Therefore, we must continue to hold the Government’s feet to the fire with the aim of achieving improvements in pay, to protect and improve our terms and conditions, and to make good on their pre-election promises.

National Campaign and Levy

As part of the national campaign, PCS built a fund by collecting a levy from our members. This levy was then used exclusively to fund targeted and sustained action taken by our members. The collected levy cannot be used for any other purpose. While we are not actively taking action on the national campaign, the continued collection of the levy has disillusioned members and has resulted in hundreds of members voting with their feet and leaving our union due to the additional cost of membership. I believe that the levy should be paused, and only reinstated once we have a mandate from the membership to continue the national action. I also believe that we need to consult all members, and not just the PCS Representative base, on the continuation of the campaign and how we do that. The current majority grouping on the NEC does not share this belief and have voted against pausing the levy on more than one occasion.

What next?

We did not win everything we demanded last year, which is why we need to develop our strategy and continue to fight for meaningful real terms increase in pay, and the restoration of our salaries to the level they should be at, had they only kept pace with inflation. Also to continue to defend our redundancy terms and pension rights, and to challenge the employer’s attitude that attendance in an office for at least 60% of the time is the only way we can do our jobs. As stated above, this strategy should be built in full consultation with all members, and it is my belief that this can best be achieved under a Democracy Alliance led NEC that will keep the impact of the campaign on members as low as practicably possible, while demonstrating the value of every single Civil Servant.

It has been proven that under a Democracy Alliance leadership, we can and have successfully challenged the Government. Through our campaigning and legal challenges, we have prevented vulnerable refugees from being deported to Rwanda and have won further cases in the courts against the ending of Check-Off, the method by which our subscriptions were collected. Compensation is now due from the Departments that have been proven to have unlawfully ended the Check-Off arrangements with PCS, at significant cost to our union.

As a Socialist and member of Left Unity I am proud of all our union has done, and should continue to do, to support, defend and further our members’ interests. PCS is not affiliated to any political party, and I strongly believe that no political party should be permitted to take control of our union.

I am standing for re-election to the NEC so that I can continue using my experience, as part of the Democracy Alliance team. To continue the fight to improve members’ pay terms and conditions, fight against the pensions robbery, and job cuts, defend jobs against privatisation and outsourcing, fight to keep our workplaces safe, and for the equality and equity every one of our members deserve. To continue to build our union by recruiting more members, recruiting, training and supporting more union representatives right across the entire Civil Service and in the commercial sectors.

I encourage you to use your vote in these elections and to vote for the Democracy Alliance candidates.