Getting a different view on things

This morning we had a big meeting with the reps of the PCS union, effectively launching the campaign in response to the Land Registry Board’s proposals. I’ll not go into too much detail here, but it certainly gave us a lot to think about. In summary, don’t believe everything you may have heard. For example, where we may have been told that there’ll be no compulsion to move to other civil service jobs, and that the board will do everything they can to ensure that any redundancies are under the current, more generous, terms, this in fact is not shown to be the case when you look in detail at what’s been published.

PCS members gather at Stevenage Office

The union’s campaign is based on opposing pretty much everything in the proposals. They’re saying that the propsals are based on a fundamental misinterpretation of how the value of Land Registry is calculated. Land Registration are not a business; it is a public service. By proposing an entirely different vision for Land Registry based on a return to civil service values, they’re pushing for no office closures and no need to lose staff. Yes, they agree we have too much office space but would look at other ways of addressing that like moving to smaller offices or using some of our excess space to house other parts of the business. (File storage was mentioned, for example.)

So, two opposing poles. Management at one end, union at the other. I guess what happens will be somewhere in between.

I’ve also done a bit more reading about the possibility of training to become a driving instructor. Always worth doing a bit of online research! There are comments on blogs and forums that will make me think very carefully about embarking on such a path. Some of these give serious pause for thought:

Driving instructors’ association:
http://www.driving.org/becomeadrivinginstructor.html

UK Instructor training:
http://www.uk-instructortraining.co.uk/index.htm

Blog:
http://www.ukadi.co.uk/2008/06/becoming-driving-instructor-dont-do-it.html

Squidoo:
http://www.squidoo.com/driving_instructors

(I note a lot of the comments on some of these pages are focused on the RED driving instructor training school. The AA don’t get many mentions, but some of the same applies.)

So, in both areas, opposing views with the truth somewhere in the middle. Much like life, I guess.

One possibility for a new future.

Well, it looks like this didn’t become an exclusively cycling blog for a while. Something cropped up. What was it? Oh, yes: losing my job.

Yes, yes, I know. I haven’t actually lost my job yet. But chatting to folk around the office it’s clear that no-one has the remotest confidence that the consultation period will make the slightest difference to the proposals. Or, “proposals”, as people say, with quote marks indicated by raised pairs of fingers.

Now, the union (PCS, if you’re wondering) tell us that it’s worth campaigning, and that nothing is set in stone yet. But do you know what? In the two weeks since the announcement was made I’ve got so used to the idea of finding something else and starting afresh, that the last thing I want to hear when the consultation period is over is that Stevenage Office will in fact stay open. I’d personally rather the union spent their time campaigning to ensure we get a decent redundancy than trying to stop the office closing. We’ve a big union meeting tomorrow. Let’s see what it is they’re planning.

For the time being I’m working on the assumption that I need to find a new job some time in the next two years. And if we decide to relocate, we’d want to do so before January 2011 as that’s when our son starts nursery. I’ve only had a cursory glance at the local job pages so far, but one or two things are beginning to go around in my head as possibilities. 

The only one I’ve actually looked at in any detail is the thought of training to become a driving instructor. (And I know I’m not the only one to have considered that as an option.) As far as I can see, it’s the sort of job you can choose your hours to fit in around family life, and it’s the sort of job you can take anywhere. I’ve had a look at the AA driving school and according to the quiz on their website, “it looks like I’d make a good AA driving instructor”. (And I promise I tried to answer the questions honestly!) On the down side it would mean running my own business (even the AA instructors are in fact running a franchise) which seems to me pretty daunting but plenty of people manage it, so why not me? 

If anyone has any other suggestions, please do let me know!

 

A subdued mood in the office.

Sometimes when I write on here I spend far too long thinking about it, editing, re-composing and so on, so this time I’ve just copied something I wrote in reply to an email, which was much more spontaneous. A friend had asked for a bit more detail about the announcment and how the news had been recieved. Here’s what I wrote:

Thanks for thinking of us. We knew a big announcement was on the cards, and that it would involve office closures, but there is a sense of shock that not only is Stevenage due to close but also four other offices all based in the south-east, which cuts off a lot of options for many people. Relocation to a remaining office is theoretically possible, but places are likely to be few and far between as there are 1100 staff in the offices they’re proposing to close and the published intention is to lose 1500 staff (with the closures and other measures).

This is my first day back since the announcements, but I understand that the mood here has been rather subdued, and people are generally spending as much time discussing their options, and moaning about the board, as doing any actual work. A lot of people are angry, a lot of people upset. In several cases it will affect whole families – it’s the sort of office where people have met their partners and married, with both couples employed here and children in local schools, and also the sort of office where people have stayed a long time. I’ve done 21 years, for example, but there are many who’ve been here 30 years plus and for all of us to be thrust into the job market with no recent experience of what’s it’s like “out there” is a daunting prospect. 

We understand that we’ll get a lot of support once the proposals are confirmed after the consultation period. We’ll get assistance with job hunting, CV writing, gaining qualifications and so on (even time off for interviews) and we’re also lucky enough to have a two-year period before the office is set to close and we should benefit from the generous terms of the current civil service redundancy scheme.

Examining my options

So, having said a fair bit about what’s happening to Land Registry, and to Stevenage Office in particular, the big question is: what am I going to do in response?

In the build-up to the announcements, I’d assumed that if Stevenage Office was to close I’d most likely be looking to transfer to another office, and we’d relocate as a family. My wife’s a primary school teacher with a good reputation and she should have no difficulty finding work, and my son is yet to reach school age so moving isn’t going to interfere with his education.

Moving would be a big step for me. I have lived in Stevenage my entire life, so have never had to go through the whole thing of establishing myself in a community, making new ties, finding friends, learning my way around and so on. And the thought that I’d have to move to a new office, although daunting, was actually quite exciting because although I’ve never moved, I know it’s something I need to do at some stage on my life.

Yet when it became clear that the chances are I won’t be moving to another office, and I’d actually have to find another job, for some reason I simply asusmed that I’d be looking locally. But do you know what? There’s no need for me to do that at all. I can look anywhere. Having begun to get excited about the prospect of moving and starting all over again, there is no reason to restrict myself to this region.

But still there is much to consider. Do I look for something similar? A straightforward office job that I can get on with, and leave behind at the end of the day. Or is this the chance I need to do something utterly different? To reinvent myself? Most friends I’ve spoken to tell me to treat this as an amazing opportunity to finally start doing something I actually enjoy. To find a new career; to retrain. But there’s a problem with that. Since being sat down at school at the age of 13 or 14 and asked to think about what I wanted to do for a living, and having no ideas, I still  have no ideas.  Look at me. I’m the sort of person who’s stayed 21 years in a job I’ve never really enjoyed all that much. If I was the sort of person who had ideas about what to do, and the motivation to do persue them, I wouldn’t still be where I am. And the Land Registry is full of people just like me. Few of us really wanted to be there. But even fewer had the motivation to do anything about it.

Now’s our chance. If only we’ll grasp it.

 

Composing some thoughts about impending redundancy.

Nearly a week after the announcements, nearly a week to think things over, to talk though things with a few people, and read up on exactly what’s being proposed in detail. I’ve not actually been at work since the day of the announcement, so there may be a whole load of other stuff being spoken about at the office that I’ve yet to catch up, but for now here are my thoughts so far.

A message to all staff.

When the announcements were first made I guess I latched on to the thought that there would theoretically be opportunities to transfer to one of the remaining offices, and didn’t stop to actually do the sums. I’ll quote from the document we were all given after the announcements: “We will reduce our staff numbers by around 1500…”. Now let’s see; they’re closing five offices. Total staff in those offices? 1100. The reduction in the RA/RO grades is from 600 to 125. So that’s 475 staff. So 1575 posts disappearing, when the board want to lose 1500 staff. So in theory there might be around 75 posts available in other offices.  In other words, there may well be chances to transfer, but they’ll be few and far between.

On Thursday afternoon I went to the first of our Area Manager’s meetings in which the proposals are gone through in more detail. A video message from the chief executive (rather brilliantly telling us all what a great place Land Registry will be in the future) and a slideshow full of figures detailing the criteria they used to choose which offices to close, followed by an opportunity to ask questions. We asked questions. One of the main things on everyone’s mind is the redundancy package, but they’re not able to give definitive calculations for anyone yet until the consultation period is over at the end of January. But the good news is that we will almost certainly benefit from the more generous terms of the current Civil Service Compensation Scheme rather than the new terms to be introduced. And, once the consultation period is over, people in the offices that are closing will immediately have access to the redundancy package, so an ideal scenario would be to find another job, and walk straight from Land Registry into something else with a hefty sum in the back pocket – quite possibly enough to pay off the mortgage in my case. (Mainly because we have a small mortgage.)

I don’t think anyone has any expectation that the proposals will change as a result of the consultation period, or at least not in any major way. We’re all working on the assumption that we’ve all just been told we are being made redundant. And most of the talk I’ve heard (online, because as I’ve said I’ve not been there to hear what’s going on) has been about career changes and finding something new. I’ve a few thoughts of my own, but this post has got too long now so I’ll just have to do another one tomorrow about what’s been going round my head so far…

Land Registry proposals announced. And they’re huge.

Along with all staff in all Land Registry offices across the country this morning, everyone at the Stevenage Office assembled at eleven o’clock this morning to hear the board’s proposals.

Our area manager removed his jacket, stood on a box, and surprised us all with the severity of the proposals.

Five offices to close:
Croydon, Tunbridge Wells, Portsmouth, Peterborough… oh, and Stevenage. You’ll notice they’re all in the South East. The reason behind the choice of offices was given as the value of the estate, and the amount of surplus space we have in these offices. Croydon and Portsmouth marked for closure February 2011; Stevenage, Tunbridge Wells and Peterborough September 2011.

Head Office to be sold off:
Land Registry Head Office is a historic building in Lincoln’s Inn Fields: the heart of Central London’s legal district. Our most valuable asset. And I for one, though sad to see it go, feel that selling it off is exactly the right thing to do. Head Office staff will vacate to smaller rented offices in London, and there will then be a review as to whether Head Office needs to stay in London at all.

Land Registry Head Office. Photo by John Linwood.

Lowest grade staff to be reduced massively:
We currently have around 600 staff at grades RA and RO. (Civil service equivalent: AA and AO.) These will be reduced to 125. Some compulsory redundancies inevitable. (I miss this cull by one grade.)

Outsourcing:
Several functions identifies for outsourcing (out of a list of 189 possibilities). External file storage; central print facilities; Head Office reprographics; facilities and estates management; IT system management; IT desktop support.

And then more in 2011:
And then, to cap it all, in 2011 there will be a further review that is likely to lead to reduction of staff numbers to 3750 (from 7,700 at present), and the closure of two further offices.

For those of us in closing offices, it looks like we’ll have the opportunity to express an interest in moving to a remaining office, and if we aren’t able to do so we’d be made redundant on the closure of our office. This is much better than we’d expected: the union had indicated that it could be more like “your office is closing, your job is now elsewhere, if you don’t move with it then you’ve left voluntarily”. Thankfully that doesn’t look to be the case. And the board have said that they’re making a case to the cabinet office for any redundancy offers made as a result of this announcement to be on the current civil service compensation scheme, rather than the proposed, much reduced, new one.

Well, anyway, that’s what I’ve gleaned from our Area Manager’s speech. He didn’t stick to the Head Office “script”, so I may have missed some details, and I’ve not yet read the staff brief that was issued at the end of the meeting. There’s been a press release, too. Looks like most of the details are available on the government news distribution service here.

Not sure how much work anyone’s expecting us to do today. As our Area Manager said in conclusion:

“It’s going to be a crap day, and a crap two years to be honest.”

 

(I guess for the sake of accuracy I’m obliged to mention that these are proposals that are subject to a consultation period until the end of January 2010.)

A rather different kind of cycle ride today.

A different kind of ride today: just meandering around town with my son as a happy passenger in his child seat, stopping off at a couple of places on route. Riding with a child seat is a very different kind of exercise. The sheer weight makes a big enough difference, but what really threw me the first few times I did it was the change to the centre of gravity. I’m used to carrying weight on my bike (I often ride with laden panniers as I’d much rather have the weight on the bike than on my back) but having a weight high up makes the bicycle feel like an entirely different machine. Standing up on the pedals feels decidedly unstable, and you feel like you’re using different muscles than normal at times.

Anyway, here’s the route I ended up taking:

Schwalbe Marathon Plus.
£30 each.
Maybe not, then.

Our first stop was at a playground where we ran and climbed and bounced and slid and spun for about 40 minutes. The second was at Halfords. I know, I know, better bike shops are available (even in Stevenage), but I was only looking and researching and they do have quite a good range of stuff and a couple of knowledgeable staff, and also lots of things to keep a two-year-old occupied while his dad’s busy. On the advice of a good friend, I’m planning to change my tyres to a proper road/touring tyre rather than the hybrid ones I have on at the moment, and I’m also planing to mount some proper mudguards. There may be a couple of other changes before my ride to Paris (fancy pedals, maybe?).

And I also need some proper clothes for cycling in. Especially shorts. But for that, I really need to go to a proper cycling shop.

The surprising thing was that just a happy morning pootling around town added up to over ten and a half miles. Who’d have thought it?

Distance: 10.9 miles
Riding time: 1 hr 7 min
Average speed: 9.6 mph (Much slower with a wobbly load!)
Top speed: 21.8 mph

Here comes the first delay…

Surprise surprise, an all-staff email from one of the Land Registry directors this morning.

I am sorry to have to tell you that the announcement planned for next Tuesday (20 October) cannot take place that day.

We hope that we will be able to make the announcement on Thursday next week (22 October) and we will do all we can to achieve that.

We know the level of concern and anxiety that there is in every part of Land Registry, and we really have done everything we can to hit the timetable that we set ourselves.

We have made considerable progress and are in the final stages of discussions with Ministers and others. We cannot be certain that we will have everything in place for Tuesday, and therefore we have to put things back. We are sorry about that.

If there is any further delay, I will let you know next week. 

Word on the street is that the delay is caused by “ministerial intervention”. Someone in government thinks the proposals are too servere, or not severe enough. Or something.

We’ll find out Thursday. If they’re ready by then.

All change for Land Registry.

On 23rd May 1988, I walked into the Stevenage Office of Land Registry for the first time as an employee of Her Majesty’s Civil Service. And pretty much every working day of my life since.

Needless to say, in twenty-one years, I’ve seen a fair few changes. But none so big as the one we’re all expecting to be announced next Tuesday. Well, I say expecting. The fact is, all we really know is that on 11 o’clock on Tuesday 20 October, all staff in all Land Registry offices will be gathered together for The Big Announcement.  The Land Registry board have been working on a programme of major changes, and that’s when we’ll all be told the proposals.

Proposals that are likely to involve outsourcing many jobs, and are certainly going to involve office closures.

And so we’re all on tenterhooks. About eight thousand of us, if I remember rightly.

Here’s what we know (off the top of my head):

• We still have office space for around 12000 staff.
• We currently has around 8000 staff.
• In the future, we could probably do the work on 3-4000 staff.
• The last two years have seen unprecedented losses.

And so the board have been pretty open about some things. The Chief Executive has openly said that it would be unthinkable for Tuesday’s announcement not to involve office closures.

Needless to say, in the build up to the announcement, rumours and speculation have been rife, and are growing and changing every day; inevitable in the circumstances. There are so many constantly changing rumours flying around that it would be impossible – and perhaps misleading – to mention them here.

At a local level, the Stevenage Office is in a prime site – a large chunk of freehold land in the very heart of the Town Centre. A couple of years ago it would have been worth a lot of money, especially as Stevenage Town Centre was due a massive, and much-needed, redevelopment. Unfortunately the same recession that has led to such a huge drop in Land Registry intakes has also scaled back the potential redevelopment. Our land might not be quite such a draw for potential developers as it was. As many people seem sure we’re closing as seem sure we’re staying.

In truth, none of us will know until Tuesday. And the chances are there’ll be a whole lot of new rumours flying around tomorrow.

And as for how I’ll respond if Stevenage is to close? That’s a subject for a whole new article.

Biggleswade to Stevenage is mostly uphill, I’ve discovered.

You remember I said that the nice thing about going uphill is that you always know a downhill stretch is on its way? Well, that only applies if you’re on a circular route. Today’s ride was not a circular route. 

We were going to Biggleswade this afternoon (for an NCT Nearly New Sale, as it happens) so I popped the bicycle in the back of the car with the plan to ride it back home. The nice weather stayed with us, so my plan went ahead.

I didn’t want to just come down the A1, so planned out a route beforehand and very nearly managed to stick to it. Here’s the route I actually took: 

And as you can see from the altitude chart, it was a lot more up than down. The climbs were never too steep thankfully, and apart from a refreshment stop after ten miles (a very tasty apple!) I made it all the way without getting off.

A couple of things I’ve learned today: 

• Some cars just like to drive too close. 
• When you put your bike in the car, and remember at the last minute to put your helmet in too, it’s easy to forget to take your helmet out before your wife drives away.
• I could do with some proper cycling shorts.

And here are the boring stats:

Distance: 18.6 miles
Riding time: 1 hr 20 min
Average speed: 13.8 mph
Top speed: 30.6 mph (very briefly!)

This evening my legs are aching.