Universal Credit Expansion
Universal Credit (UC) for single unemployed claimants only has now been rolled out across the North West region. In addition UC claims from families and lone parents are being tested in six sites with the intention to expand these claims too. The government also intends to expand UC claims for unemployed singles across the country between February 2015 and February 2016.
It has already been announced that four additional sites (Basildon, Makerfield, Grimsby and Dundee) will transfer to UC to support this expansion. Other site transfers are likely to be announced as well.
UC Staffing
820 staff currently work in the four UC Service centres currently up and running. This number is planned to expand to 3,700 by March 2016. 780 of these will come from external recruitment of FTA’s on 18 month contracts. The rest will come from the offices transferring into UC.
There is no doubt that UC needs additional staff urgently, as arrears of work are starting to accrue, however PCS fears that the numbers being exported to UC from Benefits and Contact Centres are leaving those parts of the business under-staffed. DWP should instead focus more on large scale recruitment of external permanent staff, as is happening now in some other departments, to supply the additional staff needed to support UC and the rest of DWP.
IT
The current IT being used on UC is beset with problems, which is why management are currently developing a completely new IT system for UC. However the expansion of singles claims across the country is going to be done using the current IT despite its many problems. PCS fears that the IT will not be able to support the large expansion of UC claims and may be a recipe for disaster.
New digital IT system
DWP have begun the first testing of the new digital IT system on a handful of live claims at Sutton job centre. This system is designed to automate much of the UC processing work and to enable claimants to contact DWP primarily online. The current plans are to begin the roll out of the digital IT system from May 2016.
Ways of Working In UC
PCS is currently in discussions with the employer over working arrangements in UC. These discussions cover important day to day issues such as flexible working arrangements, annual leave, breaks and scheduling, etc. The feedback that PCS has received for members working in the service centres so far has not been positive.
There was nearly a dispute in Glasgow Service Centre at Christmas over the issue of access to festive leave and all sites, including ex-contact centres are reporting that working arrangements have deteriorated since moving into UC. This is unacceptable and PCS is determined to ensure that we negotiate decent working conditions that are at least as good as anywhere else in DWP.
Members’ concerns
Members are also reporting concerns over other issues. The training is not perceived as adequate and there is a lack of fully trained and experienced mentors to help staff as they come out of training. Pressure is being exerted on members to meet daily benchmarks. None of this is helped by the inadequate IT system, the constant changes to procedures and instructions that members are having to cope with and the apparent unwillingness of senior management to acknowledge that there is a problem at all.
Universal Credit is the biggest overhaul of the benefits system in decades but PCS has grave concerns about how it is being implemented. We believe that it is imperative for the future of UC that our members who work on UC enjoy terms and conditions that are, at the very least, no worse than anywhere else in DWP.
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