Long-running industrial action has ended after Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) members won major concessions over office attendance, individual performance data and plans to downgrade work, the union has announced.
Members have voted 86.4% in favour of accepting a settlement negotiated by union officials with Land Registry management, ending the formal dispute at the Land Registry which began on Christmas Eve last year.
Last year, managers imposed a mandatory 60% office attendance policy which PCS members said reduced existing flexibility, extended working days due to travel, brought financial impacts, and led to a detriment in personal wellbeing. Following a successful ballot, members commenced indefinite action short of a strike on 21 January.
Ending its action, the PCS union said managers have now agreed to improved flexibility, with office attendance being measured over three-month periods instead of weekly. There is also a firm commitment for prompt consultation should government back down on its current 60% attendance instruction. Further measures have been negotiated to prevent and tackle micromanagement through access and misuse of staff data. Management have also scrapped plans the PCS said would have downgraded work and could have damaged promotion opportunities.
PCS general secretary Fran Heathcote commented:
“This successful dispute has been won through the determination of hard-working staff. Their commitment to delivering a good service at the Land Registry is as strong as their fight against arbitrary and interfering management decisions. We welcome these outcomes, we hope that government takes note of the damage that office attendance policies can have on individuals, and I applaud the members who so successfully organised for justice in their workplace.”
HMLR have responded to the end of the industrial action saying it was ‘pleased’ the formal dispute has ended with a spokesperson saying
“While the impact to customers and our service was negligible, we are pleased that the formal PCS dispute has now ended. We remain committed to ensuring that our workforce can deliver services effectively and efficiently which includes adhering to civil service attendance policies.”
HMLR said it is focused on improving the speed of service with the goal to be processing 95% of applications within 12 months of their submission by March 2025. The agency said it has already hit that goal with waiting times for 95% of each application type decreasing from 17.6 months to 11.9 months during 2024/25; reflecting the ‘impact of working more closely with customers and our sustained investment in our people, technology and processes.’
Any applications waiting to be processed that need urgent completion, for example holding up a chain or for remortgaging purposes, can be expedited free of charge with over 95% actioned within 10 working days.
