Workforce Management Redeployment Package (WMRP)

The WMRP was introduced in 2006 after pressure from PCS on DWP management to look at ways of giving incentives to members to move on a voluntary basis as part of the Departmental strategy to avoid compulsory redundancies. As a result the Department entered negotiations with the Treasury with the aim of being able to offer such a package. The result is the WMRP, the latest version of which is available on the intranet.

What Is The WMRP?
The WMRP is available to staff agreeing to voluntarily move beyond normal mobility distance when they are surplus, facing a surplus situation or vacating a post to accommodate a surplus member of staff. It must also avoid the payment of an exit package. It is currently being offered to members in offices threatened with closure that cannot be found a post within mobility. Standard WMRP awards last for a fixed period of three years.

The Standard WMRP can consist of up to four elements in addition to the excess fares normally paid. These are:

• Excess Travelling Time to compensate for the difference in travelling time between home to previous office and home to new office journey. This element is only available to staff in Band A/AA to Band E/SEO or equivalent.


• Excess car parking fees – as part of the excess fares allowance where the cost is greater at the new office (the difference is paid).


• Additional Family Care expenses – where additional child or dependants care expenses are incurred by the redeployment.


• A monthly Redeployment Allowance – up to a maximum of £125 per month if the employee can show there remains a financial disincentive to their family unit and the cost is not covered by existing policies. There is no list of items this might cover but they must not be ‘novel or contentious’. Management have confirmed that the London Congestion Charge, Mersey Tunnel fees and similar tolls could be paid.

All payments are taxable and subject to NI contributions. Further details on the conditions that apply are in the attached guidance.

WMRP – Limited Relocation Award
It is also possible to obtain an WMRP to contribute to the cost of moving home up to the lower of the average exit cost of your grade or £10,000. It is not possible to combine this with excess fares allowance and further details are in the guidance.

Advice To Members
Whether a member accepts a transfer beyond normal mobility and accepts a WMRP will be very much a personal decision based on their individual circumstances. It may be the right decision for some members. However PCS advice should be to weigh up the options carefully and consider all the possible consequences. Factors to consider might be:

• The value of the exit package that is on offer or would be offered if transfer beyond mobility is refused, together with a realistic consideration of employment prospects outside the civil service in the current economic climate.


• The time limited nature of WMRP.


• The monthly Redeployment Allowance would not increase after it has been awarded – even if costs do.


• Increased travel to work can have an adverse effect on work/life balance.


• The possibility of posts closer to home becoming available.

In addition the departmental workforce planning guidance reflects the legal position that suitable jobs offered in the same or a similar location as a redundancy avoidance measure cannot be refused on the basis of mobility restrictions alone. This means that members accepting a WMRP to go to a post they find attractive might later find themselves compulsorily transferred to a post they don’t want in the same place and not be able to use the mobility rules to refuse.

Conclusion
PCS has always welcomed WMRP as an additional redundancy avoidance measure based on ideas first put forward by the union. But restrictions mean it won’t be available to some members that would want it, and as explained above it is not always the best option for members.

Work Experience Placements in DWP

The following details have been supplied by the PCS DWP Group:

As part of the government’s ‘Get Britain Working’ initiative, Jobcentre Plus advisers can offer JSA claimants aged 18 to 24 a period of work experience with employers for between 25 and 30 hours per week.

PCS believes that while work experience clearly has a role in helping people back to work the government should be investing in real jobs, not cutting them as it is currently doing in DWP and all major government departments.

DWP, as an employer, is participating in its own flagship scheme and will therefore be offering work experience placements to JSA claimants in its offices. The intention is for DWP to offer around 1,500 work experience placements each year. The placements will last between 4 and 8 weeks. A JSA claimant can be offered a placement in any part of DWP apart from any Jobcentre Plus office that deals with any element of their JSA claim.

These work experience placements are not DWP employees and are not subject to DWP terms and conditions or HR policies. They are not paid by DWP while on work experience but continue to receive their benefits, plus any additional travel or childcare costs.

Safeguards in Place
The supposed aim of the work experience placements is to provide participants with the opportunity to gain some experience of work to improve their job prospects and real life experience of the workplace. Placements should be given real and meaningful activities but they cannot be used to replace employees who may be leaving DWP.

Strict rules which prevent them from having access to the Department’s main computer systems should mean they cannot replace paid staff. Placements should be given no expectation of a permanent or temporary job at the end of the placement. All placements will have to complete security checks prior to them starting their placement.

PCS Concerns
PCS has raised concerns over the use of placements in DWP offices. No extra resources have been made available to managers to support the use of placements. We believe it will be a further unwelcome burden on hard-pressed staff and managers to carry out inductions and ensure that meaningful activities are made available for people on placements while having to do their ‘day job’ at the same time.

The use of work experience placements on this scale in DWP is unprecedented. It is therefore quite probable that issues and concerns will arise over the coming period as the placements start to appear in offices.

Important Dates

Pete Middleman, North West Regional Secretary for PCS has supplied the following:

Please see below two important dates for your diary.

Building on the success of the 26th March, March for the Alternative, 30th June rallies and a good PCS presence at the summer festivals including the Durham Miners' Gala and Tolpuddle, it is important to maintain momentum through the Party conference season. Therefore, we are co-ordinating NW members' involvement in major TUC national demonstrations at:

• Liberal Democrat conference, Birmingham - Sunday 18th September


• Conservative party conference, Manchester - Sunday 2nd October

We expect the PCS North West Regional Banner to be present at both events and will require volunteers to march behind it.

Please ensure that these events are brought to the attention of your Branches, Networks and members to maximise attendance.

Transport to both will be provided by the regional office and we will subsequently issue a deadline to register for the same.

Given that the Tory conference takes place in our region, we expect the Manchester event to be particularly well supported.

PM's riot act exposes his anti-safety obsession

The extent of David Cameron's antipathy to rules protecting people from sometimes deadly injuries and diseases at work has been exposed this week. Campaigners have accused the prime minister of being 'crass and insulting' after he claimed 'health and safety' bore some of the responsibility for last week's riots. He used a 15 August speech to attack what he claimed was the 'obsession with health and safety that has eroded people's willingness to act according to common sense.' Cameron added that 'as we urgently review the work we're doing on the broken society, judging whether it's ambitious enough - I want to make it clear that there will be no holds barred... and that most definitely includes the human rights and health and safety culture.' Hazards Campaign spokesperson Hilda Palmer said the prime minister's attempt to link social unrest to health and safety rules 'is not only complete rubbish but completely crass and scraping the bottom of the daft ideas barrel.' Citing the case of a satellite dish firm Foxtel Ltd, which was fined £1 this week after the death of employee Noel Corbin, she said: 'Noel's employers went into liquidation therefore avoiding any accountability or paying the penalty for the crime. There's not a get-out clause available to rioters, so why should it be available to killer employers?' She said company safety failings cost society billions each year, adding: 'The government's answer to this is to let employers get away with even more killing, injuring and making workers ill, as well as looting our economy by attacking and cutting health and safety provisions.' Stirling University regulatory policy expert Professor Andy Watterson was also critical of the prime minister. 'It's the lack of a safety culture, as espoused by failing unfettered market principles, that does so much damage, year after year, to public health in the UK, not health and safety,' he wrote in a letter to The Guardian. 'This is particularly disturbing as evidence rolls in week by week about the health and safety failures of deregulated workplaces and the successes of regulated ones.'

Prospect slams 'irresponsible' government

Health and safety legislation is neither excessive nor damaging to innovation, Prospect has told an independent review ordered by the government. The review, headed by Professor Ragnar Löfstedt and due to report in the autumn, has been told by ministers to concentrate on 'easing' burdens on business. Prospect, which includes 1,500 Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspectors and specialists in its membership, is warning, however, that it is not regulation but non-compliance and poor interpretation of the rules that should be of greatest concern. The union is sceptical whether the review will carry any weight given the wider deregulatory agenda being pursued by government. Prospect deputy general secretary Mike Clancy said the government's 'Good Health and Safety, Good for Everyone' blueprint, launched in March 2011, 'provides further evidence of its deregulatory agenda given the removal, without consultation, of swathes of industry from HSE's preventive inspection regime. This is an irresponsible tactic that is designed solely to meet the cuts targets set by the comprehensive spending review.' Prospect says the safety system could be improved through measures to make health and safety simpler, with clear, concise, sensitive guidance, rather than being driven by the 'pejorative premise that health and safety is a burden to business.' According to Clancy: 'Shoddy interpretation and application of the law is at the heart of much of the negative media attention when, in fact, poor employer behaviour and management neglect are the main causes of the toll on the workforce.'

Union safety demands kill infections

Union members must 'act now' to protect workplace health and safety rights and standards from an unprecedented attack, public sector union UNISON has said. Its short guide on 'The threat to health and safety' says the system protecting workers 'is under greater threat now than at any other time.' In addition to cuts to the Health and Safety Executive's funding and a significant reduction in official workplace safety inspections, it warns 'hard-won health and safety legislation is on the chopping block and people are becoming more vulnerable to issues such as stress, bullying and violence.' With an estimated 500,000 public sector workers set to lose their jobs, UNISON adds, insecure workers will be less likely to raise safety concerns and will be reluctant to take sick leave. 'The impact of this is that workplaces become both more dangerous and unhealthier,' the guides notes. With many UNISON workplaces now classified as 'low risk' and exempt from preventive, 'proactive' HSE inspections, workers are losing essential protection. 'Studies show that over 90 per cent of employers improve their health and safety policies either immediately before or after an inspection,' the union points out. It says UNISON reps should encourage members to keep on reporting and recording health and safety incidents. It adds they should raise concerns about the cuts to health and safety with their local MP and should tell their story through the local media, highlighting how the cuts are affecting people in particular workplaces.

Pension Petition

PCS have been made aware of an e-petition on the government’s change to the uprating of pensions from RPI to CPI, which has recently been made available on the Directgov web-site:

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/1535

You may be aware that PCS are currently challenging this change by Judicial Review and the case is due to be heard in the High Court later this year. Should the site receive 100K responses it will result in the matter being debated by Parliament, which may assist our challenge.

This change to the uprating mechanism from Retail Price Index (RPI) to Consumer Price Index (CPI) would yet again see a significant reduction in the final value of pensions.

Please sign the petition.

UNISON calls for safety action now

Union members must 'act now' to protect workplace health and safety rights and standards from an unprecedented attack, public sector union UNISON has said. Its short guide on 'The threat to health and safety' says the system protecting workers 'is under greater threat now than at any other time.' In addition to cuts to the Health and Safety Executive's funding and a significant reduction in official workplace safety inspections, it warns 'hard-won health and safety legislation is on the chopping block and people are becoming more vulnerable to issues such as stress, bullying and violence.' With an estimated 500,000 public sector workers set to lose their jobs, UNISON adds, insecure workers will be less likely to raise safety concerns and will be reluctant to take sick leave. 'The impact of this is that workplaces become both more dangerous and unhealthier,' the guides notes. With many UNISON workplaces now classified as 'low risk' and exempt from preventive, 'proactive' HSE inspections, workers are losing essential protection. 'Studies show that over 90 per cent of employers improve their health and safety policies either immediately before or after an inspection,' the union points out. It says UNISON reps should encourage members to keep on reporting and recording health and safety incidents. It adds they should raise concerns about the cuts to health and safety with their local MP and should tell their story through the local media, highlighting how the cuts are affecting people in particular workplaces.

Government refusing real talks

Unite’s assistant general secretary Gail Cartmail, who also took part in the recent talks with the government over public sector pensions, said: “There was a serious risk that the talks could have broken down after Danny Alexander took the decision to try to negotiate through the media. However, we continue to negotiate in good faith but remain convinced that we must make progress on pension contributions, indexation and pension age for our members to find any changes acceptable.

"The government still wants our members to pay more and work longer – it refuses to make any compromises.

"There has been no movement from the government on pension contribution increases, the link to the rising state pensions and the unions remain at odds with the government over the inflation link change from RPI to CPI.”

The government’s approach to negotiations also infuriated the FDA, the senior civil service union, whose general secretary Jonathan Baume said: “The Treasury is simply fixed on raising their £2.8 billion pensions' levy, and seems to have no genuine interest in a long-term, sustainable agreement on the future of public sector pension provision.”

While it represents far fewer members than the other unions, the FDA’s decision to be mandated for a strike ballot at its annual conference is another sign that an autumn of strike action is looming.

Call for Osborne pension tax rethink

The GMB is talking about a possible strike ballot. National officer Brian Strutton told the union’s annual conference, which represents 700,000 members including many thousands in local authorities, that “we will draw a line in the sand when the government deliberately attempts to destroy our pensions”.

In the most recent bulletin to members over the ongoing negotiations with the government, he added that the GMB was asking for the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) to be considered apart from other public sector schemes because of its funding and the proportion of lower paid workers making contributions, saying: “Fundamentally, government needs to show flexibility in their approach to the substance of the negotiations, not just the form.

“I expect the first Local Government Pension Scheme specific meeting to take place very soon and GMB will be looking for a clear signal from government that they are rethinking the Osborne pension tax - the 50% increase in member contributions that threatens the viability of the scheme.

“GMB remains committed to the policy of negotiating the best proposals we can while preparing for industrial action should negotiations fail. We are not at that point yet and I will keep you informed.”

Autumn of action looms

Following the success of the mass walkout and co-ordinated action with other unions on 30 June the plan is to co-ordinate further action with other trades unionists being targeted by government cutbacks.

After the well-supported national action by PCS, the National Union of Teachers and the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, more strikes could be on the way this autumn. Negotiations may be ongoing, but there is little or no movement over the future of public sector pensions – and seemingly little option other than to take a stand against a government that refuses to budge.

Unison general secretary Dave Prentis has said if no agreement is reached there will be a ballot of Unison’s 1.2 million members working in local government and the NHS over the government’s pension reforms. In June he said: “Be in no doubt this union is on the road to industrial action in the autumn.

“This will not be a one-day action, as we know that will not change anything. This is longer term industrial action to prevent the destruction of public service pension schemes. The only thing that can stop this is if the government allows us to negotiate."

The union is said to have put together a £30million fighting fund for the action, including the £1.2million cost of the ballot itself. To prepare for possible industrial action, Unison has had to demonstrate an accurate database of members, a process likely to take 17 weeks to complete in order for there to be as little scope as possible for employers to challenge the ballot.

Threat of offshoring

PCS members working for Hewlett Packard are campaigning against proposals to offshore about 200 jobs from the UK to India. The application, maintenance and support (AMS) jobs are based mainly in Newcastle, Lytham and Sheffield and we are concerned that these proposals represent the tip of the iceberg in terms of further offshoring of government work.

The proposals will mean that government data on 26 million Department for Work and Pensions customers will be accessible from India and potentially raises the prospect of more work being done from overseas. It is critical to all our members in the public and private sector that these proposals are stopped.If our initial campaigning does not deliver the outcome we are looking for PCS members across HP will be balloted on taking wider industrial action that will include striking to prevent the company engaging in any further sell-off of our members’ jobs.

Work Programme in chaos

The following has been supplied by PCS HQ:

Tory minister Chris Grayling announced on 4 July that the government’s new welfare to work programme was now “fully operational across Great Britain”. What he failed to tell anybody is that there is still chaos, confusion and recrimination about the roles of PCS members who should have TUPE transferred to implement the new scheme.

A legal case is still being progressed by the commercial sector against Working Links for the lack of consultation over redundancies for the 300 employees delivering Pathways to Work earlier in the year. The Department for Work and Pensions said Pathways would not be included in the Work Programme – but if you look at the DWP website today, it redirects members of the public who would have been eligible for Pathways to the Work Programme. There may still be challenges to providers from Pathways workers about the TUPE status of their roles.

And the DWP’s position on Pathways has encouraged some providers to say that TUPE doesn’t apply at all to the Work Programme – or that it doesn’t apply to some contracts transitioning to the Work Programme, so people who thought they would be protected by TUPE find themselves in an employment no man’s land.PCS is taking up these cases, but the lack of co-ordination across providers, and the DWP’s hands-off impression of Pontius Pilate means that a number of members face huge uncertainty about their future.

We will be lucky if employment tribunals make decisions about these cases before the end of this year.

Private and public sector workers in it together

PCS members in the commercial sector face the same attacks from the government's slash and burn approach to tackling the budget deficit. Thousands of jobs are at risk, fat cat bosses are using the crisis to attack pay and more than 70% of our members don’t even have a pension.

Our members fundamentally reject attempts by the government and media to create a false divide between workers in the public and private sector and on 30 June actively supported the action taken by fellow members in the civil service and public bodies.

PCS members working in Hewlett Packard in Glasgow, Capgemini in the West Midlands, Capita in Liverpool, Mitie cleaners in London and others joined their civil service colleagues on picket lines.

Commercial sector members marched and attended rallies across the country and private sector worker and NEC member Chris Morrison addressed the rally in Telford offering full solidarity with those taking action to defend pensions, jobs and pay. In a number of workplaces commercial sector workers refused overtime and worked their contracted hours and many made donations to the hardship fund.

As we move into the autumn PCS members working in Steria, Hewlett Packard, Fujitsu, Capita, Balfour Beatty Workplace and in welfare to work will be balloted on industrial action to defend their jobs, resist offshoring and to fight low pay.

PCS will be co-ordinating any action that may take place so that public and private sector workers can participate together.

PCS statement on the UK riots

Thousands of our members live and work in the communities that have been hit by the vandalism and looting of recent days. Tragically many people have lost their homes, and many more their workplace, potentially their job and income too.

We echo the words of the Fire Brigades Union, “these events illustrate the bravery and commitment of London’s firefighters, and the entire capital will be grateful to them”. Our emergency services in London and other cities have once again shown that they play a vital role in protecting the public.

Public sector workers, from police community support officers to welfare advisers and from teachers to youth workers, will have a huge role to play in rebuilding and in maintaining a sense of community. The government has spent recent months disrespecting these workers and attacking their jobs, pensions and pay; it is time for that to stop and for them to recognise their valuable contribution to society.
As communities clear up, we have to step back and recognise these disturbances did not happen in a vacuum. It is not condoning violence to say that simply dismissing this as 'mindless criminality' is to give up on our responsibility to look for causes and solutions.

Youth unemployment is at its highest level on record, and further and higher education costs are set to soar. Public services are being slashed in many communities with councils cutting youth services and eligibility to housing. Welfare cuts and privatisation mean jobcentres are being closed and benefit cuts are causing anguish and hardship to many.

Our society is more unequal than at any point since the 1930s. There will be those who will call for tougher sentencing and more police powers, but these will not solve the very deep problems facing our country. As PCS has argued, we need investment to create the jobs and build the infrastructure that our communities need.

We should also resist attempts to demonise young people in general. They have been the biggest victims of this recession. The lawlessness of the financial and political elites is a much larger problem that our society must address.

In the coming days and weeks, we must address the complex issues that have led to the recent days' incidents across London and elsewhere, and caused so many to be rightly shocked and appalled.

Mark Serwotka - General Secretary
Janice Godrich - President

Government inciting 'hatred' of disabled

The following has been supplied by the TUC:

Over 50 charities have condemned the government for "contributing to hatred towards disabled people" by portraying them as work-shy scroungers. The Disability Benefits Consortium said the government is using 'dangerously misleading' statistics to fuel claims that high numbers of benefits claimants are faking. Department for Work and Pensions released figures last week suggested that only 7 per cent of claimants for employment support allowance, the new benefit that replacing incapacity benefits, were unable to do any sort of work. This led to press reports that the majority of sickness benefits claimants are 'faking'. TUC responded by saying the government, which has introduced much tougher and much criticised disability tests, was more interested in saving money than helping the sick or those with disabilities. Disability Alliance spokesperson Neil Coyle, echoing the TUC comments, said: 'The government must ensure appropriate support is available to disabled people to get and keep work. It is very worrying that some support has dropped in the last year. Sadly, the language to describe disabled people needing support has become more offensive and this also contributes to barriers to work as employers suspect genuinely disabled people of faking or being 'work-shy'.' Disability Benefits Consortium spokesperson Hayley Jordan condemned the "irresponsible and inaccurate portrayal of benefits claimants... Disabled people are very disappointed that the government is refusing to ensure accurate reporting and may be contributing to stigmatisation, victimisation and exclusion.'

Letwin wants more deadly job insecurity

The following has been supplied by the TUC:

The government's policy chief has revealed the government's determination to instil a real 'fear' of job losses in public sector workers. The comments from Oliver Letwin, architect of the coalition's plans to reform public services, came as new research highlights the deadly consequences of job insecurity. Letwin told a meeting at the offices of leading consultancy firm KPMG: 'You can't have room for innovation and the pressure for excellence without having some real discipline and some fear on the part of the providers that things may go wrong if they don't live up to the aims that society as a whole is demanding of them.' He added: 'Some will not survive. It is an inevitable and intended consequence of what we are talking about.' Mark Serwotka, general secretary the civil service union PCS, described the minister's comments as 'nonsense.' He said: 'Public sector workers are already working in fear - fear of cuts to their job, pension, living standards and of privatisation. Far from improving productivity, the cuts are creating chaos in vital public services.' Research on the impact of job insecurity, published in the August 2011 edition of the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine, concluded 'perceived job insecurity can lead to adverse health effects in both permanent and temporary employees. Policies should aim to improve work-related well-being by reducing job insecurity. Efforts towards 'flexicurity' are important, but it is equally important to remember that a significant proportion of employees with a permanent contract experience job insecurity.'

NW TUC Demonstrations

The following has been provided by the PCS NW Regional Secretary:

Dear Colleague,

Please see below two important dates for your diary.

Building on the success of the 26th March, March for the Alternative, 30th June rallies and a good PCS presence at the summer festivals including the Durham Miners' Gala and Tolpuddle, it is important to maintain momentum through the Party conference season. Therefore, we are co-ordinating NW members' involvement in major TUC national demonstrations at:

- Liberal Democrat conference, Birmingham - Sunday 18th September
- Conservative party conference, Manchester - Sunday 2nd October

We expect the PCS North West Regional Banner to be present at both events and will require volunteers to march behind it. Please ensure that these events are brought to the attention of your Branches, Networks and members to maximise attendance. Transport to both will be provided by the regional office and we will subsequently issue a deadline to register for the same.

Given that the Tory conference takes place in our region, we expect the Manchester event to be particularly well supported. Anyone interested in attending should contact either Grant McClure or Katya Lawder by email or on x61186.

Funding cuts by local authorities risk women's safety and support

Provided by the TUC:

Local authorities are ignoring ministers' warnings that violence against women services should not be a soft target for funding cuts, says the TUC, End Violence Against Women Coalition and Women's Resource Centre in response to research published today (Tuesday) by False Economy.

The False Economy research - available at www.falseeconomy.org.uk - shows that numerous support services for women are having their funding cut or withdrawn in the current financial year.

These services - which are essential for women to access safety, justice and to rebuild their lives - include domestic violence projects, specialist support for ethnic minority women fleeing violence and counselling services for survivors of childhood sexual abuse.

Violence against women is far more widespread than is commonly thought: 60,000 women are raped each year, one in four women experience domestic violence in their lifetime and it is estimated that 20,000 girls under 15 are at high risk of female genital mutilation in the UK each year.

Adequate provision of support after violence is one of the key objectives of the government's strategy to end violence against women and girls.

TUC Women's Officer Scarlet Harris said: 'The data uncovered by the False Economy website today presents an alarming picture.

'In spite of government assurances about the importance of violence against women services, many are being forced to close their doors or scale back their work due to funding cuts.
'Worryingly, we know that the cuts indentified today are just the tip of the iceberg as funding for many of these services is likely to be reduced further in the coming years.

'These are not 'nice to have' services, they are often quite literally a lifeline to vulnerable women and girls.'

Vivienne Hayes of Women's Resource Centre said: 'Women's organisations provide some of the most cost-effective services across the UK for women and families in need.
'They have also long been grievously underfunded, and seeing these figures shows all too starkly the terrible impact these cuts are having on such vital services.

'Local authorities should not adopt a 'slash and burn' policy when it comes to cutting women's organisations' funding, and should instead ensure that where possible financing is secured and the UK's most vulnerable and marginalised women are supported. This data shows that a more sensible, pragmatic approach towards making savings locally is essential.'

Director of the End Violence Against Women Coalition Holly Dustin said: 'We already have very patchy provision of these essential services and by cutting funding to existing services, or withdrawing it altogether, councils are leaving women high and dry at a time when they most need support to escape violence and rebuild their lives.

'Violence against women support services are not a luxury that can only be afforded in good economic times, they are core services that all women should have access to no matter where they live. We are calling for local authorities to ringfence funding for specialist services as part of local violence against women strategies, as some are already doing.

'We also think it's critical that all local areas have specialist Commissioners who have expertise on these issues, and for there to be a national oversight mechanism to end patchy provision.'

Fit for work tests are about cutting costs

Provided by the TUC:

The government is more interested in saving money that providing genuine assistance so those that are sick or have disabilities can move into work, the TUC has said. New claimants of Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) must undergo Work Capability Assessments (WCA) to see if they are capable of some sort of employment. Latest government figures show of 1.3 million tests between October 2008 and November 2010, just 88,700 (7 per cent) were considered unfit for any work.

A further 17 per cent were assessed as able to do some sort of work given the correct support, and 39 per cent were deemed to be fit for work and were moved onto jobseeker's allowance. Commenting on the figures, released this week by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: 'The new incapacity benefit assessment is a much tougher test than previously and is designed to save the government money by excluding more people. It is therefore unsurprising that more disabled people have been declared fit for work. These figures certainly don't suggest that thousands of disabled people are suddenly 'trying it on'.' He added: 'The government needs to do much more to help disabled people back into jobs, rather than cracking down on the benefits they get when they are unable to work.' He said Access to Work statistics released the same day show that in 2010/11 the number of disabled people helped by this scheme fell by just over 1,400 on the previous year.

The DWP figures came as a report by the House of Commons Work and Pensions Committee concluded that some vulnerable benefit claimants had payments stopped because of administrative errors in work assessments. The private French company given £100 million a year to carry out the tests, Atos Healthcare, received stern criticism in the committee's report. Its work 'has often fallen below the standard claimants rightly expect. This has contributed significantly to the widely felt mistrust of the whole process,' the report said. Atos staff are currently testing around 11,000 incapacity benefit claimants a week, to help judge whether they are eligible for benefit payments. The TUC, charities and MPs say they have been contacted by large numbers of people who felt their test results were simply wrong.

Reports that the vast majority of disabled claimants are fit for work should not be trusted, the union representing workers in the benefits system has said. PCS, which has thousands of members in the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), said the tests for claimants fail to address many serious health issues. The union was commenting after a House of Commons select committee report into incapacity benefit re-assessments concluded the system 'does not accurately assess claimants' employability and needs in the workplace.' PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: 'This exercise is just about saving money by bullying people who are sick or disabled onto lower levels of benefit. It is not about finding people work - because there is no work available.' He added: 'The government is failing to create jobs, while cutting thousands of posts in the public sector. The government has given £100 million to a private health care company to do these flawed assessments - instead of using the health service which is already there and trusted by the public. The government have set up a system that demonises disabled people and will encourage bullying and hate crimes. Disabled people need more support - not less - to lead independent lives, including working lives.'

TUC warns that safety must not be undermined

Provided by the TUC:

The TUC has said it will 'strongly oppose' any government moves to undermine workplace health and safety protection. The statement comes in a written submission to the government commissioned Löfstedt review of workplace health and safety. Ministers have directed the review to concentrate on 'easing unnecessary burdens on business'.

In response, TUC states: 'It does not support regulation for the sake of it, and has worked closely with the HSE on its simplification programme because that was a genuine attempt to ensure that the regulatory regime was effective.' But it adds the TUC 'does not believe however that regulation imposes any kind of burden on business. It is a responsibility, just as paying taxes is a responsibility, and no business should be able to operate unless it can do so safety.' The submission concludes: 'Regulation needs enforcement to be effective and the current level of enforcement activity is clearly inadequate.'

TUC says the review 'should confirm that health and safety regulation should be developed by an independent Health and Safety Executive, making recommendations to the government on regulations. This will ensure that regulations will have the support of all sides of industry and continue to be effective and simple.' It adds: 'The TUC will strongly oppose any attempt to reduce the level of protection at a time when over 20,000 people are killed every year as a result of work and 2.1 million are suffering from an injury or illness caused or made worse by work.'

The TUC submission notes that voluntary, 'self-regulation' approaches are not a viable alternative to regulation and enforcement, and have 'failed' where they have been tried.