I am standing for re-election as Group President because my record shows that I am the best person for the job. 

I was first elected to the GEC in 2005 when HMRC was created. I quickly became involved in key negotiations  for what became the 2008 Job Security Agreement and I then progressed to AGS, then Vice President.

As President  I have led the group since 2014, facing an attempt at Union Busting by HMRC in my first year as HMRC tried to prepare the ground for Building our Future. During the time I have been president , we have faced serious challenges, with mass office closures and the Pay and Contract Reform talks, and I have worked to make sure that even in the hardest times, our Union works as a team to get the best it can for members.  

Over the last year, I have:

1. lead the strategy for our successful re-ballot- working with Claire Keenan, we offered to meet all Branches to develop our plan, used what branches told us and worked closely with our Group Organiser and organisers throughout the ballot to make sure we were doing everything we could to deliver a goods result.  That re-ballot delivered a turnout that was 10% higher vote than we did the previous autumn. 

• worked closely with our pay lead, Marianne Owens, to highlight the scandal of low pay in the Civil Service.  We were the first to talk about the fact that a third of HMRC had to have an NMW uplift in 2023, and during talks on 2023 pay, we argued for a spot rate set higher than the predicted range for NMW from April 2024.  Within 24 hours of us highlighting the numbers at NMW, that stat was in front of cabinet office and at the forefront of the national campaign.  We are maintaining pressure on HMRC to meet it’s commitment to use the civil service wide 42 hour calculation for NMW purposes, as they agreed to do during PacR talks, not only is that essential for them keeping good faith with their staff, evidence shows that HMRC will lose significant numbers of existing staff to better paying departments.  Our national campaign has brought these issues out into the spotlight, and is taking our strategy to fix them out to members in the consultative ballot, and if members, agree and we need to move to action to make more progress, into a statutory ballot ready for the 2024 pay round. 

 3) We were at the forefront of exposing the  real impact low pay was having on our members lives.  Marianne Owens & I worked to gather evidence from members showing some had little or no benefit from the pro-rata’d £1500 direct to HMRC and on to the national union to raise with Cabinet Office and Ministers.  Although we couldn’t persuade them to pay without the pro-rata, that evidence has helped expose the reality of life when the Civil Service is a minimum wage employer. 

4) I’ve been there to support our lead negotiators and muck in where needed.  I was heavily involved in getting the 121 process working when HMRC decided to shut the Hayes IPC at short notice, and have worked closely with the IPC and pay leads to make sure our members got the right to make their own decisions when HMRC closed the site and protecting London pay for those who moved temporarily to MK, and to fighting for shift workers to get shift pay for Hayes and MK where we have won thousands of pounds of backpay for our members.  I have also been working closely with Colette Smith on the CSG annualised hours pilot.

• I have worked to build our Group, pushing for the recent Young Members seminar to happen to help support the leaders of the future.   

5) I take accountability seriously. I urge everyone to look at our Group annual report and see who has made the reports they should make to members, both through briefings over the year and making a final report to members,

6)  I am committed to working with the national union, and to supporting the national campaign, because I want to win for members. Members have just chosen a general Secretary and an Assistant General Secretary to lead our Union for the next 5 years.  I want to lead a Group that works to support them to make those 5 years a success as that is how we will win for members.   

Those who argue for change within PCS currently have a majority among the senior officers, and have offered no alternative approach to how we go forward at the GEC.  With a change at the top of PCS, and a change of government looking likely this year, members need experienced leadership at the top of our Group. I have a proven track record as Presuident and I have shown over the last year that my leadership continues to deliver for members.  I ask for your support to take our Group forward