Reminder DWP Group Elections 2018

YOUR chance to change the 

leadership in YOUR union

If you’re signed up for emails from PCS you will have had an email about these elections .
At the Branch AGM members unanimously voted to nominate a number of candidates for DWP Group Executive Committee . We now recommend that you vote for them .

President :  Bev Laidlaw       
Vice President:   Tom Bishell , Leon Searle 
Organiser: Chris Marks        
Treasurer: Jason Lansbury                      
Journal editor:  Nick Diamantis  
Assistant Secretaries: Declan Power, Charlie McDonald ,  George Thompson
Group Executive Committee:  Tom Bishell, Nick Diamantis, Bev Laidlaw ,  Jason Lansbury, Chris Marks, Charlie McDonald , Robin Nicholl , Jenny Pollard , Declan Power , Leon Searle, George Thompson

It's important to vote for all these candidates 

in every position that they are standing for .

Those that we have nominated actually deliver on their promises and in the last year among other things have continually put the case for ballots for action against the office closures - reps who have led sustained action against office closures in Sheffield and Plymouth take central position on the list – Bev , Tom and Leon .
We don't know all the names on this list, but we do know that we need a strong DWP GEC . Jenny continues to work closely with the Branch as NW TUS Secretary as did Chris Marks until recently DWP NW Organiser . Charlie’s , Nick’s , Declan’s and George’s support of the branch dates back to the days when Makerfield did London work.
They also demand a firm line against DWP on the issue of compulsory redundancies and also warned of the union breaking potential in the new DWP technology GovCo, BPDTS, which is still refusing to recognise PCS and leaves members there unable to get their issues heard .
Their record also includes opposition to the unfair, inadequate, divisive Employee Deal which ripped up our terms and conditions. Perhaps most relevant to large number of members in the branch is their continued support for members in DWP Contact Centres and their long running campaign to improve working conditions in CCs and Service Centres , especially around telephony.

YOUR chance to change the 

leadership in YOUR union

Emergency motion to ADC on pay

This motion will be discussed at the Branch Mandating meeting on 17/5/18

Conference notes that, following weeks of pressure and campaigning from members and reps, Cabinet Office officials agreed to meet PCS on 29 March 2018 over our central pay claim for the UK civil service and its related bodies.

Conference further notes that, at the meeting, PCS presented our pay claim and emphasised:

1. the fall in members’ living standards following years of pay restraint,
2. that other parts of the public sector were receiving funded pay offers which exceeded the government’s 1% pay cap,
3. that PCS had a mandate from members who had voted overwhelmingly in last year’s consultative ballot to support the claim, including supporting industrial action if it was not met.

On 20 April 2018, the Minister for the Cabinet Office responded to our representations. The response falls short of our demands on pay and states that the claim “runs counter to the 1% budgeted amount set out in the current spending review period”. The Minister has, however, agreed to further talks with Cabinet Office officials.

Conference believes that there is an urgent need to increase the pressure on the employer during the talks to meet the demands in our claim, and that the best means of applying pressure is to obtain a mandate from members on industrial action through a statutory ballot.

Conference agrees that, in the event that the ballot returned a yes vote, action would not be called until we had reported on the outcome of talks with the Cabinet Office and consulted widely on whether to proceed with industrial action and the form that action would take.

Conference agrees that, at this stage, pay talks at delegated level should involve the presentation of our pay claim and the demand that the employer seeks funding from the Cabinet Office/Treasury to meet the claim, with regular dialogue taking place with the National Disputes Committee. This will achieve maximum unity to force central concessions.

Conference further agrees that where Groups believe that the employer is willing to discuss meeting the pay claim, authority should be sought from the NDC for any such talks.

Conference therefore instructs the NEC to:

1. engage with the Cabinet Office and demand a positive response to our pay claim,
2. organise a statutory ballot of members in the civil service and its related bodies on a programme of industrial action involving both all member and targeted action, to be held as soon as possible after Conference,
3. organise a campaign during the ballot, and during any talks with the employer, involving a range of member communications, including ongoing updates from any meetings with the employer, and events and activities at branch and national level, aimed at creating high levels of membership participation,
4. ensure that groups, branches and members are consulted before any industrial action is called and that Pay Forums are held regularly during the campaign.

Mark Serwotka discussing Universal Credit on C4 Dispatches

Our general secretary Mark Serwotka will be appearing on the Dispatches programme “Britain’s Benefits Crisis” on Monday May 7th 8pm Channel 4.

The roll out of Universal Credit (UC) has been a disaster for people on benefits. It is driven by the government’s choice to cut public services and is inflicting misery on those who need a supportive benefits system.

We have consistently made representations to DWP about the level of stress existing across Universal Credit Service Centres and, increasingly now, in the jobcentres, where staff are also being used to clear UC tasks. Despite this, DWP has refused to work with PCS.

Our members in DWP are under huge pressure and are suffering due to the chaotic reforms taking place, job cuts and the closure of offices.

They are fully aware of the devastating effects of this policy on the most vulnerable members of society which is why our union is calling for the roll out to be suspended immediately.

Please tune into the programme and if you are on Twitter, follow our live updates during the programme at @pcs_union

We need a strong DWP presence on the NEC in 2018

Change the leadership 
YOUR chance - YOUR union

Branch Recommendation - NEC Elections 

President: Bev Laidlaw, DWP

Vice Presidents : Leon Searle DWP, Bryan Carlsen HSE, Phil Dickens Revenue & Customs, John Moloney DfT

NEC: Tom Bishell DWP, Bryan Carlsen HSE, Ralph Corrigan PSg, Chris Day National Archives, Phil Dickens R&C, Chris Hickey CLG, Karen Johnson CLG, Bev Laidlaw DWP, Chris Marks DWP, Charlie McDonald DWP, John Moloney DfT, Paulette Romain CLG, Leon Searle DWP 

At the Branch AGM members unanimously voted to nominate a number of candidates for the PCS National Executive Committee.

Those that we have nominated actually deliver on their promises and in the last year amongst other things have continually put the case for ballots for action against the office closures - reps who have led sustained action against closures in Sheffield and Plymouth take central positions on the lists. 

We don't know all the names on this list, but we do know that we need a strong DWP presence on the NEC . 

Bev Laidlaw, Tom Bishell, Chris Marks and Charlie MacDonald have all been long-standing supporters of Wigan Branch and our campaigns over the years.  Bev and Tom from the outset of the TPIP/Contact Centre campaign. Chris continued to support this campaign, he worked closely with the Branch as Cheshire Branch Secretary and the North West Regional Organiser until moving to London late last year.  Charlie’s support goes back even further to the days when Makerfield did London work.

A grassroots NW rep, Phil Dickens, is at the forefront of the campaign to keep HMRC in Bootle.

It's important to vote for Bev and Phil in both categories .

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.