Staff responsible for administering the pensions of 1.5 million serving and retired civil servants have voted for industrial action, a move which seriously threatens Francis Maude's plans to create ‘a ground-breaking mutual joint venture.'

In April, the minister for the Cabinet Office outlined plans to establish My Civil Service Pension (MyCSP), which employs about 400 staff, as the first major ‘spin out' of a central government service giving employees the opportunity to take a stake in their business. Mr Maude is on record as stating his wish that up to one million government employees, one-sixth of the entire government workforce, work for public service mutuals.