The long-running row over government plans to slash civil service redundancy terms took a dramatic twist last week, with five trade unions now attempting to reach a settlement with ministers without the support of Whitehall's largest staff body.

The Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union, which represents 300,000 rank and file civil servants, revealed on 1 October it was potentially alone in opposing the Government's proposed cuts to the Civil Service Compensation Scheme (CSCS), prior to an expected staff cull through the Comprehensive Spending Review.