Parky's Promise - £100 donation

PCS Wigan Branch made a donation to Parky's Promise of £100, which was money raised for the AGM raffle.

Parky's Promise

Founded in March 2014

Parky's Promise 'To raise 10k for charity in 12 months' - Target Date - March 2015.

My name is Christine Parkinson.

I was diagnosed with breast cancer in March 2013 and during the last year I have undergone 2 operations followed by chemotherapy and radiotherapy. I am still undergoing some treatment. This treatment would not be available without funding.

I have made a promise to 'raise 10k for charity in 12 months.'

I have three chosen charities, 'Cancer Research UK', 'Wigan & Leigh Hospice' and the ''Three Wishes Foundation.'

Thanks for visiting Parky's Promise facebook page. Please dig deep and support my 'promise' - it's quick, easy and totally secure.

Cancer Research UK

 

Three Wishes

 

Wigan & Leigh Hospice

The Switch to DD begins - The campaign goes on

Important information for branches and members.

PCS will begin the first stage of the process of switching DWP members to Direct Debit this week. The first impact of this will be that the reports available to branches on commix imembership will change. Members who have completed a switch to DD will now will appear in the DD column only and not the Check Off/DD (co dd) column.

Deadline 12 April

The deadline for switching DWP members to DD with uninterrupted membership is now 12 April (though we will have till noon on 13 April to make last minute changes). This slightly earlier date is to make sure we meet all deadlines at Unity bank.

Letters to members

Members will soon begin to receive letters in the post confirming their DD payment dates, the account PCS will make deductions from, the amounts and a reminder of the terms of the PCS DD guarantee. If they see any errors in these letters please ask them to contact the PCS HQ membership department using the phone number or email that is in their letter. A sample copy of the letter can be found in the Document Library.

Every member needs a valid ballot address or email

Any member without a valid ballot address will not be written to. Any member with a ballot address that is their work address should be mindful that post may be wrongly opened. If members wish to change their ballot address they can do so by emailing or phoning the DWP Leeds group office , any regional office or PCS HQ membership department.

Branches should take all possible steps to contact members with invalid ballot address and get them updated.

It is important to note that under DD regulations we may only make deductions regularly if we are able to correspond with individuals. If PCS are not able to contact a member for at a ballot address or an email address for 12 months we must stop making deductions. If we are forced to stop taking DD payments PCS will have to lapse members. Having up to date contact information for every member now becomes much more important.

Make sure every member is asked to switch to DD now

Today we have gone over 70% of our DWP members DD ready. There is a massive amount of activity planned for the next couple of weeks as the teams of PCS reps, regional organisers, PCS full time officers and staff visit branches to help and support them getting members DD ready in over 40 DWP sites. Let us know if you need help.

All branches are asked to make sure that talking to members between now and 12 April and asking them to get DD ready is your number 1 priority over the next 2 weeks. Some members have repeatedly said I will switch to DD when check off stops. Now is the time to go back to them and get them DD ready.

What happens after 12 April

The normal PCS rules will apply and members that have not switched to DD by 12 April will still be PCS members and will remain so throughout the normal 3 month lapsing process. A final lapsing letter is sent out after 3 consecutive missed payments in accordance with supplementary rule 3.6 of the PCS national rules, which in this case will be around the middle of July.

Continuing to ask members to stick with the union and pay by dd during this period between 12 April and mid July will be a very important part of our campaign.

In other departments this period has seen a significant increase in the number of members committing to stay with the union and pay by DD. For example in the Home Office when DD ended about 65% of members where DD ready but by the lapsing date that had improved to nearly 80%.

Recruitment of non members

Alongside our work to get members DD ready branches should also be using this as an opportunity to ask non members to join the union. A DWP specific membership application form can be found here. If you want copies please contact leeds@pcs.org.uk 

After the lapsing of any members not switched to DD in mid July the focus of our organising work will move into being a recruitment campaign designed to win all DWP staff to PCS membership. The GEC is already beginning to discuss this next stage with your DWP regional organisers and will be producing recruitment materials.

Let’s keep building a strong union

The work done by reps and branches in the DWP has been fantastic. The ending of check off is a political attack on PCS by the government. They hate us because our union has campaigned against austerity and we are a block on cuts in jobs and services. The government hope that ending check off will cut our members and cut our income. The work you do between now and 12 April and then up to mid July to get members to pay by DD and to recruit non members will prove them wrong and mean that PCS is not only stronger but independent of the employer. 

Wigan Branch currently stand at over 94% of members switched.

If your one of the remaining few yet to, please come and speak to us - make sure you don't loose your union rights.

Work Services Directorate Update

PCS met with WSD national management on 2nd March.

Staffing Levels

Management did not have finalised headcount allocations for 2015 -2016 yet but were able to share indicative figures with us that suggested once the staff had left on the Voluntary Exit Scheme (VES), headcount would be approximately “on target” to be just under 27,000 nationally by the end of year.

PCS continued to express concern about the impact on service delivery and workloads following the 3000 staff exits in June. In most areas PCS members working in Jobcentres are reporting that they are already struggling to deliver the service they believe they are meant to with staffing at current levels. The push on daily or weekly signing, along with the Universal Credit training requirement and roll out means that whilst unemployment may be decreasing, the pressure on staff to deliver more work with less support is increasing.

The GEC believes that the (Zeus) allocation model does not work, as currently there are necessary activities being delivered that are not accounted for in the model. We will be meeting the analysts soon to make this case.

However, the primary driver behind reduced staff allocations is the year on year “efficiency savings” which has seen DWP staffing reduce by nearly 30,000 overall since 2010. Whilst future plans for work services or DWP policy won’t be determined till after May, the GEC believes that fighting for better staffing levels for a decent publicly resourced employment service remains a key element of the Group campaign to be taken forward.

AOs

The majority of those leaving on the VES are in the AO grade, leaving doubts on how work currently and previously carried out by AOs will be delivered. We reiterated our position that there are, and should still be, roles for AOs in Jobcentres even after the introduction of Universal Credit. WSD management agreed to consult with PCS on the development of the future operating model, which may see more standardisation of processes within jobcentres again. The GEC will continue to resist any compulsory moves and compulsory redundancies that could arise from these changes, though none are expected in the immediate future.

Job Evaluation and Grading

Management are keen to press on with the Job Evaluation and Grading (JEGs) exercise for the Assisted Service Coach and anager roles (ASC, ASM) as indicated in the previous bulletin DWP/BB/204/14. This will be done with PCS involvement in the JEG process.

Hardship Claims

It was reported in the previous bulletin that management had agreed our position that Hardship Interviews should be conducted in a screened area or by telephone. However, management’s current view is that only adverse decisions that need to be communicated in this way, not the interview/data gather, although the Hardship Officer still has the discretion to use screens as a precaution. The Operational Excellence Directorate (OED) is reviewing Hardship Payments guidance; management agreed to a separate discussion with PCS so we can raise our concerns and ensure we have an understanding on how this work is conducted safely.

35 Hour Weekly Jobsearch

Following a Freedom of Information request which referenced a PCS circular, management confirmed our view that 35 hour weekly job search is not a legal requirement within the JSA Claimant Commitment. It is therefore unreasonable for members to be penalised through performance improvement plans or marked down on their performance at the end of the year for not including 35 hour job search as part of the JSA claimant commitment.

Work Experience / Movement to Work

PCS made it clear to management that in many areas there is inappropriate work being carried out by people on Movement to Work (MtW). In particular some of the MtW participants in Jobcentres have been working with claimants unsupervised and with very little or no Keeping Safe training. This is unacceptable because this is work that should be rightly done by paid DWP workers and that it puts both Work Experience and DWP workers at risk. WSD management confirmed that in order to work alone with the public, the keeping safe part 2 must be completed which MtW will not have done. The “Assisted Service Front of House principles” also states the public must be supervised by DWP employees whilst using jobcentre computers. The GEC is currently awaiting for the DWP guidance to be updated following issues raised by DTUS, a full briefing will then be issued to branches.

Conditionality and Sanctions

PCS Group Vice President Helen Flanagan and PCS General Secretary Mark Serwotka gave evidence to the recent Parliamentary Select Committee on sanctions. A full briefing on conditionality and sanctions will be issued after the Committee’s report is published.

We are aware that pressure is still put on our members working in Jobcentres to refer claimants to decision makers for sanctions and that end of year performance markings can be affected by the numbers referred for decisions. DWP Management and government ministers have been keen to state publicly that there are no targets for sanctions. If there are no targets for sanctions then it is not appropriate for PCS members to be told they have not referred enough claimants to a decision maker on a purely numerical basis.

Advice for members and branches

Branches need to raise issues with local management and use escalation routes where appropriate if it is not possible to reach a resolution locally. Issues that may have national consequences need to be communicated to national negotiators via leeds@pcs.org.uk

Union Busting at the heart of government

Conservative ministers have launched a campaign of union-busting at the very heart of government, the UK civil service. Their actions show how the Tories will attack union rights across the whole public sector if they form a government after the election. But their actions also give the green light to employers to go on the offensive against unions across the UK. 

Our movement represents millions of voters and their families and communities. We all need strong unions and need to put our rights at the centre of the 2015 general election. 

Please support our campaign – write to your MP and ask them to commit to support trade union rights in under this and the next government.
 

Action for branches to take:
 

• You can take part in the campaign by writing to your MP. Please sign the e-action.
• Circulate this information to all members (see attached letter to MP Annex A and model motion Annex B]
• Circulate the attached letter to union branches, trades councils and campaign groups (accompanied with letter to MP Annex A and model motion Annex B)
• Put the model motion to your own branch
• We will be circulating further campaign materials for use over the coming months

Sign members up to pay their subscriptions by direct debit

Led by Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude, government departments have cut facility time by 60%, and are trying to end “check-off”, the decade’s old method through which employers collect union subscriptions direct from a member’s salary. These actions are an attempt to undermine the organisation, membership and finances of the civil service unions and in particular the largest union, PCS.

In HM Revenue and Customs a leaked management memo showed that there were plans to marginalise PCS and deal only with more compliant unions. This is clearly part of an agenda to weaken unions in order to put through more cuts more easily. Recently the Home Office served an injunction on PCS, on grounds of national security, to prevent the union publicising the effects of government cuts in the UK Border Agency.

Taken together these actions are an attempt to union-bust at the heart of government, and in particular to undermine PCS, a union which has consistently opposed cuts to jobs, pay and pensions, and resisted privatisation.

Dispute unfair 'Must improve' ratings

Performance ratings must not be changed or forced simply to fit the distribution guide.

Balanced consideration of performance

Your end-of-year rating must always be based on a balanced consideration of your personal performance over the reporting period. DWP People Performance Procedure supports performance improvement but this cannot be achieved by misuse of ‘Must improve’ ratings.

The ‘Achieved’ rating encompasses the widest span of performance and may include performance that is verging on needing improvement or exceeding in some areas or is generally satisfactory (Procedure 9.6).

Ratings must meet equality standards

Newness to the role, Disability, Part-time Working are examples of circumstances which may legitimately influence the level at which objectives should be set and failure to do so may result in an unfair end-of-year rating. Where there has been a failure to make adjustments for such circumstances the end of year rating may need to be adjusted to ensure that the rating is fair and reasonable. DWP provides guidance in the guide for ‘How to: Set Performance Expectations Consistently at the Start of the Year’. PCS guidance is provided in PCS Briefing DWP/MB/005/15 Managers must focus on equality not quotas. A new People Performance Advice Q Q28 (Can a work objective be agreed retrospectively?) also confirms that a manager cannot unilaterally set a retrospective work objective but it is possible to do so in agreement with the employee.

Must improve ratings must be justified

The terms for the Must Improve rating under People Performance Procedure 9.7 are:

9.7 The Must Improve rating includes employees whose performance requires improvement and those employees who are being managed under formal unsatisfactory performance procedures. This rating may also be appropriate for others whose performance has required improvement during the reporting period, where this is a proportionate response. Mid-year and end-of-year ratings will always be based on a balanced consideration of the employee’s personal performance over the entire period and decisions must be transparent, fair and reasonable.

Must improve ratings must be proportionate

The use of the Must Improve rating as a ‘proportionate response’ means that the rating is not predetermined where improvement has been informally required during the reporting period. It should not be an unfair, disproportionate response to a relatively minor or isolated issue or given for petty/trivial issues.

Managers must not apply quotas

DWP People Performance has a procedural requirement that ratings must be consistent with known performance expectations (Procedure 12.1). DWP procedures for rating performance do not require managers to meet the guided distribution ranges but do insist that ratings will not be changed or forced simply to fit the distribution (Procedure 9.3). Managers must not co-operate with any local misuse of the guided distribution as ‘box mark quotas’. Managers must comply with DWP policy not to do so.

Dispute unfair ratings

It is best practice to try to resolve disagreements informally but you have a right to raise a formal grievance and appeal under the normal Grievance and Appeal Procedures should you want to challenge any unacceptable decision. People Performance Procedure 13.2 confirms the grievance process:

13.2. Employees are expected wherever possible to progress their issue using Employee Action or Manager Action in the Grievance procedures. Managers are required to engage constructively with employees to ensure the Employee Action and Manager Action procedures are meaningful and effective. Should the issue remain unresolved and, upon further reflection, the employee believes it is reasonable to do so, employees may have their grievance dealt with under the Management Investigation procedure

Timescale for raising a formal grievance

A complaint for investigation under the formal process of Management Investigation should be raised within 30 working days of the disputed decision. Where informal action, using Employee Action or Manager Action, does not resolve the issue care should be taken to put a formal complaint within 30 working days of the date of the original decision.

PCS support and representation

You have a right to a grievance and appeal hearing and the right to be accompanied by a PCS Representative. Contact your local PCS Representative for advice, support and representation. 

#BelieveInHer - A campaign to empower women of Wigan

#BelieveInHer

A campaign to empower women of Wigan

The campaign aims to:

•  Raise awareness of the issue of gender inequality and encourage people to take action
•  Create a platform to highlight role models in the community, males that are taking a stand against gender inequality
•  Inspire schools, colleges and other organisations to use this campaign to help address gender inequality issues

Women should be equal in our homes, our societies, our governments, and in our workplaces.

Act now!

Believe in her is supporting a change for gender equality. We want to encourage men and women to join the conversation; and bring down the boundaries and limitations that gender inequality puts up.

Join our efforts and be a part of the conversation!

Sign up to the pledge to take action against the discrimination facing women and girls.

#BelieveInHer commitment

Gender equality is not only a women’s issue, it affects everyone, men included.

It affects the young who’ll shape our future and the men who have hopes that their daughters will grow up in a world where they are safe and treated as equals.

It affects the men that want to show a sensitive side as much as it does the women who want to be strong.

For the campaign to succeed it needs your commitment.

Sign up to pledge and then share the message with your family, friends and colleagues.

http://www.wigan.gov.uk/Council/Projects/Believe-in-her.aspx

News from the North West

PCS DWP North West Region                                             

The DWP North West Regional Committee is made up of reps from all the branches in the North West.

Improvements Negotiated in Contact Centres

Contact Centre TU reps from all North West branches said that members had had enough of management ignoring the Contact Centre Agreement and introducing local arrangements which were unacceptable.  

Regional TU representatives met with North West CCS Group management on 27th January and secured agreement in the following areas:

Access to leave – it was agreed that site managers should not be imposing restrictions on the discretion of line managers to authorise leave, and that the leave should be authorised in line with national instructions.  National restrictions on access to leave, including network days, need to be dealt with by national TU representatives.

Performance – it was agreed that line managers should be approaching the use of after call work, break times and medical appointment credits in a reasonable manner.

Agency workers – it was confirmed that there were no plans to recruit more agency workers in the North West.  All staff employed by agencies had been given the opportunity to apply for FTA posts with DWP with a view to permanency.

Fixed term appointment staff – our position on the need to retain FTA staff, and offer them full time permanent postings was acknowledged.  It was agreed that this needed to be dealt with urgently by national TU.

Flexibility – it was agreed that better planning was needed to maximise the number of staff who wished to work until 18:00 hours, in order to minimise the number of staff who did not wish to do so.

AA staff on former transformation sites – it was agreed that the majority of AA staff in NW CCS, who were declared surplus last year, are no longer under the threat of redundancy, and that work needed to be undertaken to secure permanent postings for the remaining few.

CEF definitions – it was agreed that the revised definitions needed to be reviewed, in order to ensure that a claimant’s dissatisfaction with a decision outcome was not classed as poor service on the part of the agent.

Part time preferences – it was agreed that all staff should be receiving 80% schedule preferences, irrespective of the number of days per week worked.

 

 

Victory for the Birchwood Apprentices

After a campaign by the union locally in Birchwood and national escalation the Department has withdrawn all compulsory moves. The staff will be able to choose their permanent workplace and remain on the Apprenticeship.

Chris Marks PCS DWP North West Regional Organiser said “thanks to these members for sticking to their guns and refusing to accept the move despite huge management pressure to do so. This is their victory.”

The branch and the DWP Group will be releasing more comprehensive updates shortly.

The union makes us strong.

Loss of the podiums is a pain the back …

 

During the Summer 2014 podiums were removed from all JC’s across the country.  This was despite compelling arguments to retain them on many sites, including the fact that they were a control measure agreed with PCS to bring an end to the screens dispute.  

 

In the North West, health and safety reps raised disputes with local management at each site where they felt the removal would be detrimental, giving reason why the podium should stay in situ.  The main reasons were that the podiums protected the personal space of the staff,  the podium was a focal point for all visitors to the JC and due to the positioning of the podium customers could not attack staff from behind.  Unfortunately these reasons were all rejected and it was clear that there was an instruction to remove all podiums regardless of how many logical arguments there were in favour of keeping them.

 

Since the loss of a focal point, staff on some sites report how confused our customers are when attending the office. On many sites other unsuitable furniture such as low sideboards are being used. These cost the dept well over a £1000 to purchase.  This furniture is not fit for purpose, it does not have lockable draws unlike a podium, to store items such as appointment list, it does not act as focal point and is too low to act as desk. In fact some ASM’s report that bending over this sideboard, to use it as a desk is causing back pain.  If that is happening to you please let your local Health and Safety rep know and they will help you to complete an accident report (AR1) and if you are absent due to this pain please also complete an injury leave application.  

We have now reached the ridiculous situation where management accept some staff are having serious problems and that what they need is a piece of furniture high enough to stop them having to bend over repeatedly – a bit like a podium in fact.

Cheshire Branch has submitted a motion to PCS Conference instructing the union to put pressure on  management to re-instate the podiums as they are an essential health and safety control measure on some sites and were removed to fit a ‘vision’ of how jobcentres should look without proper regard being given to the safety of staff.  

Garston Contact Centre

The fight to keep open Garston Contact Centre in Liverpool has finally come to an end with the last staff moving out on 30th January.

Although the site did not stay open, much has in fact been gained. When the closure was announce in at the end of January last year the only offers of relocation on offer from management was Birkenhead CMG and Bootle Call Centres.

This was totally unacceptable for many staff many of whom had been transferred to Garston following earlier closures, especially of Liverpool Contact Centre and Huyton Benefit Centre only 3 years ago.

The cost of the closure at around £750.000 dwarfs the £100,000 alternative compromise proposals put to management by PCS would have cost.

Before the campaign all staff would have gone to Birkenhead or Bootle, but because of the resistance only 82 of the original 164 members balloted have moved to Bootle. Compulsory moves to Birkenhead were taken out of the equation all together and 66 posts found in alternative locations for staff with the worst mobility, health and caring responsibilities. In addition to this DWP has for the first time agreed to extend the payment of excess fares to five years from the usual three.

Direct Debit

 

Only 6 weeks to go.

 

Get yours done today

 

DWP staff face 30,000 job cuts - The FT

:: The Financial Times

More than a third of staff at the Department for Work and Pensions are expected to lose their jobs in the next five years as Whitehall leaders brace themselves for more sweeping cuts across the civil service after the general election...

https://www.google.co.uk/#q=pension+staff+face+30,000+job+cuts&tbm=nws

(Link to FT website from google may not work)

The following Motions were passed at the Branch AGM on 25th February.

The following Motions were passed at the Branch AGM on 25th February

1.

Motions to PCS DWP Group Conference

 

Universal Credit

 

DWP have planned to introduce “Ways of Working” into Universal Credit Service centres from April 2015.  The Ways of Working (WoW) cover: Annual Leave, Working Hours, Flexible Working Arrangements, Sick Absence, Team Meetings and Work Breaks.

 

Although there has been consultation with the union, this new policy has not been agreed because, despite some improvements achieved through negotiation, it includes detrimental changes to every day working conditions of many staff.

 

WoW, as proposed, will mean that:

•

All account developers (processors), EO and AO decision makers and telephony staff will be scheduled every day.

•

Staff must schedule 37 hours per week over 5 days on Workforce Manager, 3 weeks in advance, which can only be varied with line management permission.

•

The schedule requested by the individual must be between 8am and 6pm.

•

Arrival and departure time can be varied for 30 minutes either side of the schedule without permission. This includes time it takes to log on and set up. Any further variation requires management permission.

•

Flexi-bandwidth is from 7.30am to 6.30pm.

•

Flexi credit and deficit can be built for up to 29 hours 36 minutes – but only above the 1 hour (30 minutes either side of the schedule) with management permission.

•

There is no guarantee on schedule preferences; depending on individual’s contract, there will be 5pm or6pm rotas.

•

Although short-notice leave can be requested, “network days” will no longer exist.

 

There has been no justification for these extensive micro-management techniques other than wanting to achieve “cultural change” in Universal Credit sites. The introduction of Service Centres was initially intended to improve the working conditions of those currently in contact centres, but, as it stands; WoW will represent detrimental changes for many.

 

Conference notes that there are also issues with restrictive leave levels, and poor management practices in the existing service centres.  Conference believes that UC is riddled with problems, and that currently management are in denial of the extent of the issues.

 

Conference therefore instructs the GEC to:

1.

Continue to liaise with members, representatives and branches dealing with Universal Credit and to oppose UC being used as a pretext for attacking our working practices and conditions and introducing worse ways of working in relation to flexible working hours and breaks , annual leave planning and quotas, and sick absence reporting.

2.

Continue to press management for improvements to conditions and working practices, as well as service to the public.

3.

Highlight through campaigning organisations the impact UC changes and working practices are having on the public.

4.

Seek, where possible, to co-ordinate industrial action across the UC Service Centres to oppose detrimental changes in conditions and working practices and also support action in individual centres where members there demand it.

 

Movement to Work

 

Movement to Work (MtW) replaced the Get Britain Working scheme for Work Experience in 2014.

 

In 2014/2015 up to 4000 individuals will have carried out Work Experience in the DWP as part of this scheme.

 

The former Work Experience guidance on the intranet made it clear that Work Experience participants should not “displace DWP employees” in carrying out work that should be allocated to DWP staff. Unfortunately, the current MtW guidance, which was implemented without negotiation withPCS, does not provide the same clarification.

 

Conference notes that in some areas of the department, MtW participants are being made to carry out the work that could be conducted by DWP staff, such as filing work or digital advising. Whilst this is obviously an abuse of the individuals, who are supposed to be in DWP offices “to learn”, it is also masking the need for jobs. More worryingly, DWP seem more than happy to create work for MtW participants but not for our AA grade who are increasingly at risk of losing their jobs.

 

This Conference therefore instructs the GEC to:

1.

Negotiate clear guidance which stipulates that MtW participants will not be used to carry out the work of DWP employees.

2.

Provide comprehensive advice to branches on what roles can be carried out, and what to do if management breach their own principles.

3.

Produce union guidance for MtW participants on what their rights are, encouraging them to join PCS or Unite Community for help.

4.

Provide practical advice to members on how to obstruct inappropriate activity around MtW activity.

 

Distinguished Life Membership

Conference agrees to award a ‘Distinguished Life Membership’ to Carol Worthington.

 

2.

Motion to PCS Annual Delegate Conference

The decision by the emergency NEC in late December 2014 to suspend NEC and Group elections was wrong.

This Conference instructs the NEC to begin the election process for the NEC and GEC elections within two week of the end of the Annual Delegate Conference, giving members and branches the due constitutional notice thereafter.

 

3.

Branch Motion

 

JENGbA

This branch notes the work being carried out by the campaign group JENGbA (Joint Enterprise Not Guilty by Association). They campaign against the law of Joint Enterprise which was highlighted in Jimmy McGovern’s drama “Common”.

 

Joint enterprise is currently a tool used by the police and CPS to imprison people to mandatory life sentences for crimes committed by others. People may be charged when they have been in the vicinity of a crime or have some connection to the perpetrator, even via a text message or phone call. They might not even have been at the scene.

 

The JENGbA stands for “common people, working towards a common cause, against a common law, that makes no common sense.” More information can be found at their website www.jointenterprise.co

 

JENGbA are supporting over 500 imprisoned people at present. Many were unable to afford proper legal representation, and some are as young as 13. The joint enterprise law is currently leading to miscarriages of justice and devastating outcomes for the families involved. There has been a select committee review and high profile support for the law to be changed.

 

JENGbA are organising a conference on “INJUSTICE” in Wigan on Saturday 20th June 12.00pm – 4 pm and are appealing for monetary donations from Trade Unions to help fund this important event.  Differing types of injustice will be discussed on the day including issues that will be of importance to working class families and trade unionists.

 

This branch therefore resolves to support the JENGbA campaign, and make a donation of £50 to the INJUSTICE Conference to be held in Wigan.

PCS condemns privatisation of Universal Credit appointment booking

DWP have announced that they are to privatise part of the administration of Universal Credit.

Their intention is that the process for booking the appointment for a claimant’s initial work search interview will be handed to the private company Capita. No DWP staff will be transferred to Capita under this proposal.

There is no justifiable business reason for doing this. DWP claim that Capita will be able to make these appointments at weekends for claimants who make a claim online at a weekend, but in practice the appointments could just as well be done by DWP staff the following Monday, as has happened up to now.

Capita already have been handed the same task for claims to Jobseekers Allowance and this announcement extends that arrangement to Universal Credit claims.

PCS has protested strongly to DWP about this decision. Seeing their work privatised is a kick in the teeth for our hard working members. Members will also be understandably concerned that this privatisation is a foretaste of further private sector involvement in the delivery of Universal Credit.

PCS has also made the point to the department that Capita is consistently failing to meet its key targets in relation to JSA First Contact calls that are currently out sourced to them. This failure contrasts with the DWP staff in CCS who are consistently meeting the very same targets. Again the failure of the private sector to out-perform the public sector has been ignored as the tired, false dogma of ‘private sector good, public sector bad’ is wheeled out once again.

PCS will continue to argue against all privatisation of DWP work and will continue to campaign for all privatised work to be brought back in-house where it belongs.

Managers must focus on equality not quotas!

Performance ratings must not be changed or forced simply to fit the distribution guide.

Guidance for managers

This Briefing provides guidance for managers when carrying out their responsibilities under the DWP performance management process, People Performance. This Briefing is a summary of DWP Policy and best practices advocated by DWP.

End-of-year rating must be fair

People Performance Procedure requires that end-of-year ratings will always be based on a balanced consideration of the employee’s personal performance over the entire period and

• Decisions must be transparent, fair and reasonable (Procedure 9.7)
• There must be no surprises (Procedure 13)
• Ratings will not be changed or forced simply to fit the distribution (Procedure 9.3).

Do not apply quotas

DWP People Performance has a procedural requirement that ratings must be consistent with known performance expectations (Procedure 12.1). There is no procedural requirement that managers must meet the distribution ranges at the end of the year. Managers must not co-operate with any local misuse of the guided distribution as ‘box mark quotas’. Distribution ranges must not be misused as a quota for ‘forcing’ ratings.

Focus on equality

The end-of year rating stage is also the starting point for setting work objectives for the period ahead. When setting Work Objectives you should focus on special categories of employees. DWP provides guidance in the guide for ‘How to: Set Performance Expectations Consistently at the Start of the Year’.

You must take into account circumstances that are relevant and might legitimately influence the level at which objectives should be set. For example:

Newness to the role – numerical, deadline and quality objectives should take the employee’s level of experience and knowledge into account.

This includes new entrants or trainees, employees who have recently changed jobs, but may also include employees who have returned to work after long absence such as maternity leave, carers leave or prolonged sickness absence.

Disability - Managers must provide employees with equal opportunity to meet their objectives.

Some disabled people will require reasonable adjustments. Depending on the nature of the disability, one such reasonable adjustment could be adjusted work objectives. The Occupational Health Service is available to give advice.
Managers should consider and implement any other reasonable adjustments agreed, make an appropriate adjustment to the work objective on a trial basis, taking OHS advice into account, and review progress regularly.

Part-time employees - Managers must ensure that objectives for part-time staff are weighted appropriately.

Although they work fewer hours, it is impossible for part-time employees to ‘pro-rata’ down the time they spend attending meetings, undertaking training, reading communications, etc. so this activity will take a larger proportion of their available time than for full-time employees. In such circumstances it could be unfair to give them targets that have simply been reduced in proportion to the reduced hours that they work (i.e. it would be unfair to simply give 50% targets to someone who works 50% hours).

Older workers - Employees over age 55 are more likely to be rated Must Improve than other employees. They are also much more likely to be part-time. Managers must ensure that the contribution of older workers, which might be different to other employees, is identified and fully taken into account whether they are part-time or full-time.

Performance management process

Performance management is a continuous process supported by regular discussions. The end-of-year rating stage is also the starting point for the next performance year. At the start of the year Managers must explain what the performance expectations are in the employee’s own work context so that there is a shared understanding of performance expectations for the employee’s peer group. End of year ratings are awarded by assessing:

• the ‘What’ (delivery of objectives) and
• the ‘How’ (demonstration of behaviours, competencies and values)
• evaluated against known performance expectations, which are the standards set at the start of the year with equal weighting between ‘What’ and ‘How’.

People Performance Myths

DWP has published new guidance for People Performance in the format of a series of 12 Myths. This new guidance is listed as ‘Myths busted’ under Tools on the DWP intranet site for People Performance.

Guided not forced distribution

DWP People Performance uses guided not forced distribution. Guided distribution ranges provide a framework for setting known performance expectations or ‘standards’ at the start of the year and must not be misused as quotas at the end of the year. Official DWP 'myths busted’ guidance confirms:

‘Myth One: The distribution of 25% in Exceeded, 65% in Achieved and 10% in Must Improve must always be met

Truth: The distribution is a guide to support standards setting, not a quota for ‘forcing’ ratings. Managers award performance ratings based solely upon achievement of objectives (the ‘What’) and demonstration of required behaviours (the ‘How’) evaluated against the agreed performance standards. Nobody should have their rating changed simply to meet the guided distribution.’

Guided distribution provides a guide for standard setting not quotas for final ratings. Managers should focus on delivering fair standards for equality not unfair quotas. Every employee must be awarded the performance rating which they have achieved.

Are you DD Ready?

DWP is ending ‘check-off’, the deduction of union subscriptions, from your wages, on 31 March 2015.

To keep yourself protected at work you need to act now to arrange to switch to pay your union subscription by direct debit.

Get a form from your union representative or go to www.pcs.org.uk/ddday and do it online.

Benefit sanctions cost soars by 3,000%

The amount withheld from social security claimants under this government's controversial sanctions regime has soared by 3,000%, new figures show.

Our analysis of the most recent Department for Work and Pensions data reveals £355 million in jobseeker's allowance was stopped in the year to September 2014.

In 2009/2010, £11 million of JSA was sanctioned.

We believe this massive rise goes a long way to explaining why sanctions have been so closely linked to the increase in the use of foodbanks.

These new figures come ahead of a Dispatches investigation to be broadcast this evening into the government's sanctions regime that was stepped up in October 2012.

The programme will feature an interview with our general secretary Mark Serwotka and evidence we presented to MPs in January that shows the pressure on staff to sanction claimants.

Under the stricter benefits system, the length of time sanctions can be imposed for has increased, with the minimum set at four weeks, rising to 13 weeks and up to three years.

At four weeks, a sanction is worth around £300. Recent crimes with a similar fine imposed by the courts include shining a laser pen at a police helicopter, described by magistrates as "extremely reckless behaviour which could have had horrific consequences".

Mark said: "Sanctions do nothing to help unemployed people find sustainable jobs. They only poison the relationship between claimants and jobcentre staff, and they should be scrapped immediately."