The federation's origins lay in the Civil Service National Whitley Council, a joint bargaining organisation consisting of trade unions and representatives of the civil service as an employer.
As a result, in 1980, they formed the independent "Council of Civil Service Unions".
[1] The founding members of the federation, with the number of seats they initially held, were:[1] The council led a campaign against the government's prohibition of staff at the Government Communications Headquarters from joining a trade union.
With many of the council's functions having been delegated to other bodies, it agreed thereafter to proceed only on the basis of consensus among all members.
By 2010, the following unions held membership of the council:[2] The consensus-based approach led to dissatisfaction, the PCS complaining that decisions were subject to the veto of even very small unions.