division_name: Enterprise Bill [Lords] &#8212; Bodies excluded from the restrictions on public sector exit payments
motion: <p class="indent" pid="b172.2/3" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;those earning less than &#163;27,000 will be exempted to protect the very small number of low earning, long-serving public servants.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b172.4/4" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;What we do know is that there is a very small number of workers&#8221;&#8212;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b172.4/6" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;in the public sector on about &#163;25,000 who could be caught by this&#8230;But those are extremely rare conditions.&#8221;&#8212;[Official Report, <phrase class="date" code="2016-02-02">2 February</phrase> 2016; Vol. 605, c. 886.]</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b176.6/4" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;I should like to start with a definition quoted from the Oxford English Dictionary, the dictionary that has sat on my desk for the duration of my career within the Nuclear Industry which has spanned over 20 years. The question I had was, what does the term a fat cat infer? The answer: A Fat Cat&#8212;a wealthy person, a highly paid executive or official.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b176.6/6" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;I, and many of my work colleagues employed by Magnox Ltd, are likely to be &#8216;caught&#8217; in the proposed Exit Payment Cap of the Enterprise Bill, to which I, and my work mates across the board were shocked to discover, as we are ordinary working class people and do not consider ourselves to be Fat Cats by any stretch of the imagination.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b178.0/5" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;Paying my taxes&#8230;Saving hard&#8230;Avoiding debt&#8230;Obeying the law&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b178.0/7" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;in spite of this&#8230;I have received below inflation pay rises since 2004&#8230;My pension contributions have doubled&#8230;My retirement age has increased from 60 to 67...My redundancy terms &amp; conditions have been degraded significantly&#8230;My pay is now 20% lower than MOD colleagues outside of Dstl&#8221;.</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b178.0/9" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;We understand that staff retention is difficult in the mid-career stage. We were surprised that Dstl are able to retain staff (let alone good staff) given the comparative low-pay offered.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b180.4/3" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;end taxpayer-funded six-figure payoffs for the best paid public sector workers.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b180.4/5" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;The current civil service redundancy terms were agreed by Prospect and other civil service unions and the last Minister for the Cabinet Office&#8221;&#8212;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b180.4/7" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;just four years before the Conservative party&#8217;s announcement that it would seek to renege on that agreement. The minister stated at the time: &#8216;what the new scheme shows is that constructive negotiations with the unions can work and the result is a package that is fair for civil servants and fair for other taxpayers&#8217;. He also said: &#8216;I believe we now have a scheme which is fair, protects those who need the most support, addresses the inequities in the current system and is right for the long term.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b180.4/9" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;right for the long term&#8221;,</p>
  
  <p class="italic" pid="b186.9/4" pwmotiontext="yes">The House divided:</p>
  
  <p pid="b186.9/5" pwmotiontext="yes">Ayes 266, Noes 291.</p>