The Secretary of State on 12 September announced that Jobcentre Plus and Pension, Disability and Carers Service (PDCS) will cease to exist from 3rd October as executive agencies of DWP. From then both agencies will be brought under a single DWP Chief Operating Officer.
Part of the Cuts
This move is driven solely by the government’s cuts, and specifically the government’s insistence that DWP makes 26% savings in its running costs. Therefore for PCS this is not about the merits or otherwise of executive agencies or a strong centre. We are implacably opposed to using the end of executive agencies to introduce savage job cuts on staff, both in Jobcentre Plus and PDCS as well as within the Corporate Centre through the current Corporate Review.
The changes resulting from the move to a single Chief Operating Officer are projected to lead directly to 3,000 job cuts.
This greatly increases the risks of members facing compulsory redundancy.
The GEC is meeting next week to discuss how to ramp up the campaign to defend jobs in DWP and to oppose any use of compulsory redundancies.
