PRESS RELEASE : PCS to support Clarence House staff facing redundancy [September 2022]

The press release issued by the PCS trade union on 14 September 2022.

PCS has called for proposed redundancies at Clarence House to be halted and pledged to support every member of staff following the announcement, during the period of mourning for the Queen, that around 100 jobs are at risk.

We believe the decision to announce redundancies in the Royal Household during the period of national mourning is nothing short of heartless. Up to 100 employees at King Charles’ former official residence, including some who have worked there for decades, received notification that they could lose their jobs following his accession to the throne. This is a significant majority of the household and many of these staff will be the same people who have so diligently supported the new king during this period of mourning, working extremely hard over recent days only to be given redundancy notices as thanks.

We are working to ensure that staff have full job security and to ensure that they receive the information on their legal rights, the redundancy process and what support is available to them. We continue to support other royal staff concerned that their futures will have been thrown into turmoil by this announcement at this already difficult time.

PCS General Secretary Mark Serwotka said: “While some changes across the households were to be expected, as roles across the royal family change, the scale and speed at which this has been announced is callous in the extreme. Least of all because we do not know what staffing the incoming Prince of Wales and his family might need. We therefore call for an immediate halt to the redundancy process.”

We will be visiting Clarence House as soon as possible and ensuring that every member of staff receives the information on their legal rights, the redundancy process and what support is available to them.

We believe that the change will have a knock-on effect across the royal family’s estates, with Prince William now adopting the role of Prince of Wales. It seems highly unlikely that he will be able to manage the additional workload of the Prince of Wales without extra staff, and so the announcement is not only callous in its timing but also premature in the extreme.

The staffing changes are also likely to directly affect the Royal Households themselves, although to a much lesser extent. While, of course, we will resist any compulsory redundancies in the Royal Household, where we are the recognised trade union, it is also noteworthy that the RH has not made any formal announcement of redundancies during a period of mourning.

The Royal Household is exempt from a number employment laws, including the Equality Act, but it does not appear that Clarence House is, so we will be ensuring that all measures are taken to protect any staff, who choose to join PCS, under the act. And we would urge the new king and government to reverse the exemption on the Royal Household.