Jobcentre Staffing 2014/15

1. Staffing Allocations 2014-15

PCS have now received details of the staffing allocations for the current year. Contrary to reports from some Managers that the staffing situation is “comfortable” it is clear that there is a need for promotion exercises at both the HEO and EO grades in order to rebalance the grading situation. Overall we are starting the year at the levels to be achieved by March 2015 before forecasted departures.

This raises doubts about the capacity of our Jobcentre members to deliver the SR13 / Help to Work Schemes and provide assistance to other sites for Universal Credit expansion without impacting upon workloads for those remaining. The Branch believes that we need more not less staff.

2. Managed Moves

Concerns were raised by some members that the District request for “managed move” volunteers to transfer to other offices was presented in a coercive manner more akin to a threat of Compulsory Transfers. The DWP Selection Policy is clear that “managed moves are always voluntary, by agreement between managers and a member of staff”.

It has been clarified with the District Manager that the intention is to seek only genuine volunteers. However should Compulsory Transfers be under consideration at a later date then PCS will be fully consulted. The Branch Committee, at its meeting on 15^th May, restated its commitment to oppose any Compulsory Transfers.

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Vote ‘yes‘ in PCS ballot for fair pay

We are asking our civil service and public sector members to vote ‘Yes’ in a ballot to support our campaign for a fair pay rise, including a strike with other public sector unions on 10 July.

On 12 June ballot papers will be sent out consulting members about potential coordinated strike action to break the public sector pay cap and force the government to negotiate with us on pay and other national campaign issues.

We all need a pay rise
More than a million union members in the public sector in England and Wales are preparing to take strike action on 10 July as part of a campaign to break the government’s pay cap.
Our members have seen their pay fall by an average of £2,300 as a result of 4 years of pay freezes and caps, which have limited cost of living rises to a total of 2% over 4 years. They are facing the tightest living standards squeeze for nearly a century.
The government has announced that the pay cap will continue in 2014 and 2015 and possibly beyond that time. Pension contributions for many have increased, further reducing take home pay.
Back our pay claim
We have submitted a pay claim to the Cabinet Office, which seeks:
a £1200 or 5% pay increase.
We have sought central talks on our claim. Unless we are able to force the government to end the pay cap, there is no chance of real negotiations on this claim.

Consultative ballot
We balloted members in March 2013 to take action to force negotiations over our national campaign demands on pay, pensions, job cuts and other issues. This ballot gives us the legal mandate to take action.
During the summer of 2013 we consulted branches about the next steps in the campaign and branches told us that we should continue with our campaign. We now plan to consult members about our campaign plan, which includes taking part in joint action with other unions to break the pay cap. Our plan will also include the launch of a levy to support targeted strike action aimed at putting pressure on our employers to have meaningful negotiations on pay, and other national campaign issues.

Day of activities
To launch our pay campaign we are asking branches to organise a "We all need a pay rise" day on 12 June, including workplace activities such as members holding "We all need a pay rise" red cards and using our new pay squeeze calculator, where members can see what their level of pay should be if it had kept pace with inflation, available at www.pcs.org.uk/pay
As part of the pay campaign we will be continuing to work on ensuring our financial independence from employers by collecting direct debit mandates.

Sign up for direct debit.
We need a serious challenge to the government's pay policy. Our members need a pay rise.
#WeAllNeedAPayRise

Future Work for AA Members

PCS is in discussions with DWP management to seek to ensure that every effort is made to provide future work for our AA members.

DWP management maintain that there are decreasing volumes of work for AA’s. While they expect to need AA’s in significant numbers for a number of years, they argue that the traditional AA role is gradually being displaced by new technology and new ways of working. PCS believes that there is still a considerable amount of work for our AA members. While the nature of AA work may have changed as a result of new technology, work that is appropriate to the AA grade remains.

AA Exit Scheme

As part of their ongoing strategy to reduce the numbers of AAs, DWP allowed 711 AAs to leave DWP at the end of March under the voluntary exit scheme. This immediately created serious shortages of AAs, particularly in Benefit Centres where the AA role is still an essential part of the business model. In one office management have even resorted to seeking to compulsorily transfer AA staff in to replace those allowed to leave on the exit scheme. After the exit scheme around 1,800 AAs remain in DWP.

Document Destruction Work

Members and branches have recently been raising concerns about the JSA document destruction work coming to an end. This work has largely been carried out by AAs across different parts of DWP and concerns have been raised that it may result in some of these members being declared surplus.
There also concerns that new operating models in some directorates could lead to AAs becoming surplus as AA work is effectively up-graded and more senior staff are expected to do their own AA work as part of their job, as has been the case in Job Centres for some years. Management claim that this reduces handovers and helps to achieve their current preference for what they call a ‘Once and Done’ approach. PCS’ view is that where AA staff remain then AA tasks should be done by those members and higher graded staff should not be expected to do AA work.

Talks with DWP management

As a result of these concerns the GEC has been engaging with DWP management to ensure everything is being done to avoid any AA member being declared surplus. The GEC has compiled a paper listing the main areas of AA work that remain in DWP and have sent this to management as the basis for a strategy for avoiding surpluses. Following this, constructive discussions have taken place with management with both parties working together with a view to maximising future AA work and avoiding surpluses.
PCS is not arguing that DWP should abandon its operating models that have designed out AA roles. Instead our position is that DWP can and should ensure that these models are adjusted to provide meaningful AA work where there are AA members still working for DWP. We believe that this could be done relatively easily if there is a will on the part of management to make it happen. Even where AA members are present in very small numbers new technology enables many AA tasks to be moved to them.
PCS’ discussions on this are continuing with DWP management. DWP have assured PCS that they will explore all options before declaring anyone surplus. It is a welcome reassurance that DWP state that they will continue to need a significant number of AA’s for several years. However, although no AAs are being made surplus at present, management they have also said that they are not able to rule out that some AA members may be made surplus at some point in the future. The GEC is committed to doing everything possible to avoid that and to defend the jobs of our AA members. As soon as more information is available further briefings will be issued.