DWP Staffing Crisis

PCS is clear that staffing is at crisis point in DWP.

For the financial year ending in March 2018, DWP had a business case approved by Treasury to recruit 8,200 staff. However, they only managed to actually recruit fewer than 5,900. With natural wastage the overall number of staff in DWP went down slightly during the year.

PCS met with the business lead for staffing resources in DWP operations on 30th April. The department’s resource allocation model suggests that DWP operations is currently in a position of being nearly 5,000 overstaffed. By the department’s own calculations more than 4,000 people are expected to leave the department in the next 12 months.

Understaffed and overworked

The GEC is consistently told by our reps and members that across all the operational arms of DWP members are under significant pressure due to high workloads, and that there are insufficient staff in huge swathes of the department.

PCS negotiators made it clear to Management that the numbers described in their staffing model bear no resemblance to the experience of our members on the ground, and that unless action is taken to improve the situation that there is a very real risk the DWP’s ability to deliver a decent service to the public in the vitally important roles our members undertake.

Well-being survey results

The results of the Wellbeing survey show that 54% of DWP staff have suffered from work-related stress during the last 12 months and only 55% of staff believe that they have an acceptable workload. This has contributed to only 36% of staff having felt happy in work in the past week (of the survey).

PCS believe that this is hard evidence which shows that our members are seriously overworked, suffering from work related stress and unhappy with their experience of working in DWP.

Fixed-Term Appointment members (FTA)

The DWP currently has approximately 1,500 FTA staff. PCS has consistently campaigned for all of these to be made permanent and while the department have not yet agreed to this, due to the pressure from PCS, extensions to the contracts of many of these FTAs are now being considered. PCS will continue to fight for these members to be made permanent.

Future recruitment

The department has told PCS that it does not intend to undertake any permanent recruitment in the current operational year with the exception of some specialist roles. PCS remains concerned about the effect this will have on the ability to recruit and retain staff in vital parts of the business.

GEC negotiators raised particular concerns about there being no planned recruitment into Universal Credit and jobcentres in this operational year despite UC representing the most significant change to the benefit system in a generation. It was made clear by us that such a huge change in the Welfare system had no prospect of being delivered without significant investment by the department.

PCS urgently calling for more staff

PCS are calling for the DWP to urgently recruit more permanent staff across operations to address the problems our members are experiencing on a daily basis which are hampering their efforts to deliver a decent service to the public.

Members are encouraged to provide examples of where staffing shortages are causing problems to Leeds@pcs.org.uk

Theresa May has questions to answer over Windrush scandal

Amber Rudd's resignation as home secretary should not distract people from insisting the prime minister Theresa May answers questions about her key role in the Windrush scandal and the immigration policies that the government has pursued. 

Our union has urged the prime minister to answer serious questions about the immigration policies she pursed as home secretary which have led directly to the Windrush debacle.

Following Amber Rudd’s resignation yesterday and the multiple failings of the Home Office, the PCS which is the largest union that represents workers in that department, is insisting that the prime minister must take responsibility for the hostile environment she created, the reactionary “Go Home” vans and the discriminatory treatment of staff while doing their job under difficult circumstances.

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: “Theresa May was home secretary from 2010 to 2016. She orchestrated the shift in culture, viewing people wanting to this come to this country with suspicion and hostility. She set arbitrary targets on immigration and rolled out the hated “Go Home” vans which stalked our streets sowing division within our communities.

“This climate created a situation where people from the Windrush generation and the wider Commonwealth who were invited over here to live and work, have been treated disgracefully, denied access to basic services and in some cases, holed up in detention centres.

“Ministers have already attempted to deflect blame by pinning responsibility wrongly on Home Office staff for this crisis. Now the prime minister must come clean and take full responsibility for her part in setting this train of events in motion.”

Telephony improvements for staff on UC Full Service

Please let us know if this isn't happening at Makerfield.

Universal Credit senior leaders have announced significant improvements for members working in telephony in Universal Credit Full Service. These improvements followed strong indications by members in Walsall of a determination to take industrial action if there were no improvements in the working conditions of Case Managers.

Telephony problems

PCS members in UC Full Service Service Centres have reported to the GEC that they were being asked to staff the telephones for far longer periods than they could manage. As a result important case management work was being neglected. This in turn meant that claimant journal entries were not being dealt with in good time leading to frustration with the service offered and claimants making even more calls.

Case managers were originally led to believe that they would be working the equivalent of one day per week on the phones. However the two half days that they were scheduled for turned out to be two 5½ hour periods. Additionally they were being called up on to telephone duties several times per week in addition to the two 5½ hour periods. This had a serious impact on the levels of stress experienced by members working in this area who felt they were not able to offer a reasonable level of service to claimants.

Car park meeting

24 members in Walsall Service Centre sent testimonies to the GEC relating the impact of spending far too much time on the phones. These statements were sent to UC management. The members made it clear to their PCS representatives that they were prepared to take strike action. Of the 92 originally canvassed 85 said they would take industrial action over the telephony issues. The site reps called a very well attended car park meeting. At that meeting there was a show of hands where 86 of the 88 members in attendance indicated that they were prepared to take strike action.

Improvements in telephony

Following the car park meeting in Walsall UC senior management have announced that case managers will no longer be required to be on two “half” day rotas and that they should spend no more than 7 hours 30 minutes per week on telephone duties, adjusted pro rata for those working part time. Telephony duty will now be organised in shorter slots of between 30 minutes and 2 hours on a Monday, and between 30 minutes and 1 hour 30 minutes from Tuesday to Friday. In addition it was announced that 130 FTE of staff ring-fenced for telephony would be released back to Case Manager duties.

Update your contact details and you could win an iPad

We need all PCS members to update the details we hold for you.

As your trade union it is important that as well as being able to communicate with you effectively, that any data we hold about you is compliant with changes in law.

We are urging all members who do not receive regular email froms PCS to fill in our simple online form which will enable us to communicate with you directly and effectively.

Please provide us with your:

• First name
• Family name
• PCS membership or  National Insurance number
• Ballot/correspondence address
• Home phone number
• Mobile phone number
• Personal email address
• Work email address
• Grade
• Current employer
• Current workplace
• Date of birth.

If you do this before the deadline of midnight on 7 May you will be entered into a prize draw where you can win an iPad and a range of other great prizes. The prize draw will be made and announced on Tuesday, 8 May. 

National Executive Committee 2018

Each year, PCS members vote to elect the union’s National Executive Committee.

It is important that you vote in these elections.

The NEC is the governing body of PCS, responsible for running your union in line with the policies established by you and other members through National Annual Delegate Conferences and membership ballots.

Members are entitled to the following votes:

President – one vote.

Deputy President and Vice-Presidents – four votes

The candidate securing the highest number of votes shall be elected Deputy President and the three candidates securing the next highest number of votes shall be elected Vice-Presidents. It is intended that each of these shall be employed by a different employer.

NEC Ordinary Member Seats – thirty votes

At least two seats are intended to be filled by black members and no more than eight seats are to be filled by candidates from the same employer.

The number of branch nominations received for each candidate is listed with each election
address. Which branches nominated each candidate is shown on the PCS website,
www.pcs.org.uk. Please return your completed ballot paper in the envelope provided as soon as you can. It must be received by the Independent Scrutineers no later than 12 noon on Thursday
10 May 2018. Ballot papers received after then will not be included in the count of votes.

The regulations covering these elections have been sent to every Branch Secretary. They
are also available on the PCS website or by contacting the PCS balloting office.
I urge you to take up your democratic right to vote in these elections. It’s your union, have
your say in who runs it.

Mark Serwotka                General Secretary

Are you registered to vote in the PCS DWP elections ?

Do PCS have a non-work email address for you ?

The only way to vote in PCS Group elections is electronically .

When the elections open you will receive an email to your personal address with a link .

Check your details

Keeping your personal details updated will help PCS to contact you in line with your preferences.  

Log onto the PCS Website now using your Membership or National Insurance number to check your name, address, telephone numbers and personal email address are all correct via personal details screen.  

Utilising the tabs, you can check and amend your death benefit nominee, your ballot address and equality information including any accessibility requirements. 

To create a new account, go to the member’s area and register online today with the information listed above.

If you need your membership number please email us - MAKERFIELD.-PCS@dwp.gsi.gov.uk .

Stay part of the democratic process.

Changes of contractual working hours and adoption of a ‘Notice of Change’ clause

DWP Working Hours and Working Patterns Procedure 36 advises employees that they should make themselves aware of the impact of moving to a non-standard contract including a ‘Notice of Change’ clause for all new working patterns.

• Notice of change clause – where they have not already done so, employees will adopt a Notice of Change clause as part of their move to a new working pattern

This Notice of Change clause will be the 2016 ‘reasonable notice of change’ clause published in Collective Agreement Appendix 2.

Non-contractual limitation to using the ‘notice of change’ clause

DWP Working Hours and Working Patterns Advice Q12 confirms a non-contractual limitation to using the ‘notice of change’ clause up to, at least, 1st July 2020, for those employees who opted out of the employee deal with the 2014 notice of change clause:  The limitation is that managers must not use this ‘notice of change’ clause to change the employee’s working pattern to any hours outside of the operating hours in the employee’s legacy/original contract

The same non-contractual limitation to using the ‘notice of change’ clause also applies to employees who opted out of Employee Deal, or were not in scope of Employee Deal because they are grade SEO to Grade 6, but have since adopted a ‘reasonable notice of change’ clause in their contract because they have changed their working pattern since 1st July 2016.

2014 Notice of Change clause guidance

PCS Briefing DWP/BB/021/18 provides guidance for members who opted out of the Employee Deal with the 2014 Notice of Change clause.