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.
