Reply from the Employment Minister regarding the closure of the majority of the DWP Norcross Site

The Branch has been in correspondence with the local MPs regarding the closure of the majority of the DWP Norcross Site. We have also met several of the local MPs and one of the local Council Leaders since the premature announcement in June 2012 that the DWP Norcross site was to close.

The following is an extract from a letter from the Employment Minister Mark Hoban MP dated 10^th December 2012;

“In terms of travel time and the DWP Mobility rules, I am sure you will agree that the provision of a direct public transport route will reduce travelling time. In addition, for those staff that are still outside the DWP Mobility rules and are unable to move, our aim will be to seek redeployment opportunities within their mobility status, this may include other Government Departments.”

If any members want to see the full details of the correspondence then please contact the Branch Office on x63484.

Quick fire move leaves workers dangerously insecure

A government move that will make it easier to for firms to fire their staff will do nothing for the economy but will leave workers much more insecure, the TUC has said. The warning came after ministers announced the 90-day consultation period before large-scale redundancies can take place is to be cut to 45 days from April 2013. Employment relations minister Jo Swinson said: 'Our reforms will strike an appropriate balance between making sure employees are engaged in decisions about their future and allowing employers greater certainty and flexibility to take necessary steps to restructure.' But TUC general secretary Brendan Barber responded: 'The last thing we need is for the government to make it easier to sack people. Unemployment has not gone as high as many feared because employers have worked with unions to save jobs, even if it has meant sharing round fewer hours and less work. The need to consult unions has made an important contribution to that, and also given staff, many of whom will have had years of loyal service, time to think through their options.' He added: 'These measures will not create a single extra job. The idea that an employer will change their mind about taking someone on because the statutory redundancy consultation period has been reduced from 90 to 45 days is close to absurd. Removing consultation rights from fixed-term contract staff will seriously increase job and financial insecurity for vulnerable groups of workers, and temporary staff will lose out on redeployment opportunities.' Recent reports have linked job insecurity to higher injury and sickness rates and poorer health overall, including a greater chance of suffering heart disease and strokes.

This information was supplied by the TUC.

HSE gifts us a seasonal sanity clause

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has no intention of grounding Santa, the safety body's top official has confirmed. HSE chair Judith Hackitt was responding after a 14 December front page splash in the Daily Star headlined 'Elf and safety Santa ban' proclaimed: 'Health and safety nuts have banned Father Christmas from an annual parade that has been staged without a problem for almost 50 years. The bureaucrats ruled it would be too dangerous for the festive hero to sit on top of a float that travels at walking pace.' HSE's Judith Hackitt indicated the story, regarding an event planned by the Rotary Club in Sutton, south London, was Christmas crackers. She said: 'Clearly nobody wants Santa injured at this, his most important time of year. But regular parades take place all year around all over Britain and floats are a major part of that tradition. Others have been successful in finding ways of safely letting performers ride on vehicles so I am curious to know why you considered this was not possible.' Calling on the Rotary Club to reveal the real reason Sutton's Santa could be de-sleighed, the HSE chair added: 'There may be genuine reasons why the Rotary Club has taken this decision, but there is nothing in health and safety law which stands in your way.' In the run up to Christmas, HSE is urging firms not to be Christmas puddings. It is publishing its 'top twelve festive myths, gifted to HSE from media reports and correspondence received.' Top of the Xmas fairy tales are 'Santa needs a seatbelt in his sleigh' and 'workers are banned from putting up Christmas decorations in the office.'

This information was supplied by the TUC.

10 Reasons to support the PCS Campaign to defend jobs and oppose the threatened redundancies

Our pay is frozen or cut, our pensions attacked, our terms and conditions attacked and our jobs are getting more stressful, redundancies are one more straw that we will not accept.

There are 10 good reasons why our members are angry:

1 Pay
Pay in the DWP has been cut in real terms between 13.8% to 19.2%

2 Pensions if you retire now

Cut between 28.8% to 34.2%, not including the Public Sector Workers’ Tax and not including not receiving it until age 67 or 68 Also not including that Members wil get less in Pension.

3 Jobs

3,000 Jobs cut/ lost from the Fylde

4 The Closure of a large part of the DWP Norcross

With up to 130 privatised Civil Servants being made compulsory redundant

5 People at DWP Norcross being asked to work up to 2 hours a day extra

People at DWP Norcross who may be redeployed to Peel Park are being asked to travel 2 extra hours a day to get to Peel Park, for yet another cut in pay. They will get excess fares, but these are taxable and that equates for some people as being £16 a month down, and 10 hours unpaid labour per week down.

6 The future of the jobs at Warbreck

There are no guarantees that there will be work for more than 400 people at Warbreck beyond 2017. Presently over 2000 people work there.

7 An attack on our Conditions of Service

Including our Annual Leave, Privilege Leave, Mobility rules, sick pay and a raft of other issues

8 Compulsory Redundancies

The announcement that the DWP is to make 43 administrative assistants/ administrative officers compulsorily redundant rather than move work to them – this is a warning to all members in the DWP

9 Scrapping our Compensation Scheme if we are made redundant

After PCS had defeated this in Court, the Government changed the Law.

No other employer could enforce cuts in Employment terms by changing the Law after it had been found to be acting unlawfully in Court.

10 Privatisation

All this is to prepare the ground to sell us off to the Private Sector (or the Privatised Sector) to make more money for the rich, and the other Tax Dodgers.

We did not create the financial mess; we are not the financial speculators who created the financial mess and resultant recession. We did not financially benefit from the financial sector bubble that so spectacularly burst.

We should not be expected to pay for someone else’s mess

Branch press release

Blackpool Gazette have picked up the story of the change in decision for the DWP Norcross closure.

The page can be viewed here.

DWP Norcross Continues

To all members and potential members of the PCS Fylde Central Benefits and Services Branch at Norcross.

Dear Colleague

DWP Norcross Continues – Announcement of 18th December 2012

Members at DWP Norcross may/ should have seen the communications from the employer regarding the continuation (in part) of the DWP Norcross site, with Shared Services moving in to Tomlinson House.

We were very disappointed at the announcement on 27th June 2012 regarding the closure of the DWP Norcross site, and believed the decision that the DWP Norcross site would close on 31st August 2013 was wrong.

We have argued all along that the closure of the DWP Norcross site would result in job losses/ redundancies for members who work for the DWP contractors, and job losses in the DWP as well as undermining future employment in the DWP in the locale. We have met with the local political leaders (MPs and Council) and pressed for the development of jobs/ economy in the area, not a managed run down.

We have also made it clear (including to MPs) that we have always been highly dubious as to the logistical aspect of moving 1,200 DWP people into a limited amount of space at DWP Warbreck and Peel Park. We have been concerned that not all the units will be able to be physically re-housed on the Fylde (including the usage of the Department’s magic maths). We have made the case that there has been/ is a real danger of work moving elsewhere if the location strategy doesn’t work as a result of the announcement to close the DWP Norcross site. 

Location strategy changes

Members should now be aware that the employer has announced that the DWP will be retaining Tomlinson House (this would have been a MOD building if the DWP had totally withdrawn from the site) and that Shared Services will move into Tomlinson House (along with the MOD {SPVA} people who are already there). There will be a re-organisation in Tomlinson House to facilitate this.

A step in the right direction but more steps are needed

We welcome the announcement that part of the DWP Norcross site will continue and that Shared Services will move into Tomlinson House. We believe that there now needs to be a full review of the decision to transfer 1,000 DWP staff to a limited amount of space at Warbreck and Peel Park. We believe that there is an overwhelming case to retain further blocks at DWP Norcross and to retain and move work to the site. We are aware that some of the areas of the site in not in best condition and this should form part of the review.

If you have any questions about the above then please contact Duncan Griffiths.

Vote YES for strike action

PCS is balloting all members in the DWP for strike action and an overtime ban to oppose compulsory redundancies and for more staff.

The ballot will start on 12 December and end on 10 January.

Please make sure that you vote.

PCS strongly recommends that you vote YES/YES.

There is no justification for these redundancies
DWP has issued compulsory redundancy notices to 43 staff. There is no justification for these redundancies. There is plenty of work for these staff to do. There is no shortage of work in DWP.

We need more staff not less
DWP needs more staff, not less to cope with high workloads. Making staff redundant means more work, pressure and stress for everyone else. 43 staff may be gone but their work doesn’t go away.

These members want to keep working
The staff facing compulsory redundancy want to keep working for DWP. The department responsible for finding jobs for people should not be making staff compulsorily redundant.

You could be next
This is the first time the DWP has ever issued compulsory redundancies. Security from forced redundancy has always been valued as one of the good things about working for the DWP. This is a clear signal from the DWP to all staff that they are prepared to make anybody compulsorily redundant if they want to. You could be next.

This is the last straw
Our pay is frozen or cut, our pensions attacked, our terms and conditions attacked and our jobs are getting more stressful, redundancies are a last straw that we will not accept.

PCS is fully supporting these members
Our union has done everything possible by negotiation. The DWP’s decision to hand out compulsory redundancy notices to these staff is an act of extreme provocation.

Use your vote – Vote YES/YES

Campaigning against welfare cuts

The government is making unprecedented cuts across the public sector and is removing people’s social, economic and civil rights. The welfare state which was established to provide social security to those unable to work is being dismantled through privatisation and £30 billion of cuts.

The attacks on the welfare state by the Tory-led government are ideological and the cuts are blighting the lives of the least economically secure in society.

These cuts are not about balancing the books. Over the same period of time the government will also give away £30 billion in tax breaks to business. Disabled people are being disproportionately and brutally affected with the proposed abolition of the Independent Living Fund and cuts to the Employment and Support Allowance and Disability Living Allowance, and the imposition of the Work Capability Assessment – carried out by Atos.

It is shameful and immoral that private companies are making profit from disabled and unemployed workers but, even worse, it does not work. The public sector delivers services more effectively, efficiently and less expensively than the private sector.

The government’s approach cannot work: there are already 2.5 million people unemployed, and more than six million seeking additional work.

Pushing disabled people off benefits – without creating jobs or tackling employer discrimination – is simply a means of cutting disabled people’s living standards. 

Brutal attacks

Evidence shows supportive social security systems that treat people with dignity and respect – rather than punitive systems based on conditionality, sanctions and low benefit levels – help not only individuals, families and communities but also the wider economy.

The social, individual and household consequences of these cuts contravene the right to independent living enshrined in the United Nations Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Hate campaign

To justify these brutal attacks on disabled people and those on welfare more generally, the government has engaged in a campaign of vilification to label those on benefits as lazy, feckless and as scroungers. Much of the news and print media have colluded in this hate campaign – leading to a sharp increase in attacks on disabled workers, including physical assaults.

Yet the government’s own figures show benefit fraud accounts for £1.5 billion a year, while £16 billion of benefits and tax credits are left unclaimed.

PCS on the front line

Tens of thousands of PCS members are involved in the administration of the welfare state and are committed to providing a service that meets people’s needs. Workers are facing huge cuts in their pay, pensions and rights at work – 40% of those who will administer Universal Credit will also be entitled to it.

PCS members are often on the front line, facing the anguish and anger of those suffering from government welfare policies. They did not create these policies; the union does not support them and is committed to campaigning against them.

PCS is committed to strengthening its campaigning alliance with Disabled People Against Cuts and the Black Triangle Campaign, which includes peaceful direct action against politicians who have supported welfare cuts and those companies that seek to profit from them.

The government is trying to divide people between those in work and those out of work; disabled and non-disabled people; and those in the public and private sector. The key to defeating these cuts, and austerity more generally, is unity.

Genuine debate needed

PCS is calling for a genuine debate over welfare.

The main political parties have become critical of the post-war model but apart from the increasingly discredited Tory attempt to return to Victorian attitudes to the “undeserving poor,” there is no coherent welfare policy to replace it.

PCS believes there is an alternative and has set out a different approach calling for:

• A welfare state where everyone has a decent standard of living free
• A government that commits to full employment
• A welfare system based on need not moral judgements
• A government that acknowledges and respects the work of dedicated DWP staff
• An end to low pay that leaves people dependent on means-tested benefits.

For further information see pcs.org.uk/welfare

Pay

How we can win on pay

PCS members are being hammered financially by the government’s economic illiteracy that masquerades as a deficit reduction plan. PCS policy officer Enrico Tortolano outlines how the union is campaigning against pay austerity:

“Soaring energy bills, increased travel costs, rising food prices, benefit and tax credit cuts, VAT increases, falling wages and increased pension contributions have resulted in massive levels of personal debt for PCS members.

Millions of households are heading for a long period of declining living standards unless we ensure that growth and wealth over the next decade is redistributed to the 99%. Even with a return to steady growth, it is now entirely possible living standards for a large swathe of low and middle households will be no higher by 2020 than they were in 2000.

According to the latest figures from the Commission on Living Standards households in 2020 are set to have an income 15% lower than the equivalent in 2008, a return to income levels not seen since 1993. Yet action can be taken to alter this course.

Campaigning Hard

PCS is campaigning hard on pay.

The regional pay briefing sessions have developed the themes in the recent PCS booklet Inequality: The price of austerity.

Primarily, the presentation outlined PCS pay objectives:

• An end to the pay freeze/pay cap policy
• No pension contribution increases
• Pay progression as a right for all
• National pay bargaining not local pay
• That equality concerns should be the central principle on which pay systems are based and assessed.

However, the talks go further and dispel government myths about the economy and put the pay freeze into an economic as well as an industrial context. We are told there is a deficit crisis in the UK, that we are spending beyond our means, and that the solution to this deficit crisis is to cut public sector pay.

Public spending is actually an investment, not a debt. Public servants deliver vital services. The campaign to drive down public sector pay and vilify public services is motivated by an ideological goal to privatise these vital services. The reality is that there does not need to be a pay freeze or in fact a single penny taken away from any public service, or a single job lost.

Cuts are political

The economy is actually awash with cash. The trouble is it’s all going upwards to the wealthiest 1%. Even within this 1%, inequalities are now enormous.

At the lower end of this tiny group of high earners you find people earning £120,000 a year. But the richest thousand individuals leave them far behind. They saw their wealth increase on average in 2010 alone by £60 million. That was a 20% gain, following 25% the previous year. The rise left the chief executives with average pay of £4.2m. That was 145 times the average pay of their employees and 162 times the British average wage

So this is not a time of austerity: the pay freeze and public spending cuts are a political choice not an economic necessity. After the success of 20 October a sense of responsibility now rests with UK trade unions to urgently increase the agitation and resistance. Get active with PCS and help end pay austerity.

Government's 'shame' as crime victims are hurt

The following has been supplied by the TUC:

Compensation payments to people injured in violent crimes have been slashed or withdrawn completely after the government railroaded through changes to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme. The changes took effect on 27 November, scrapping five payment levels. Shopworkers' union Usdaw said many retail staff injured in armed robberies and assaults would lose out and postal workers union CWU said workers savaged by dogs while doing their job would now receive nothing, however serious their injuries. Ministers said the reforms will shave £50m off the annual £200m bill. Usdaw general secretary John Hannett said the cuts were a 'disgraceful indictment' of a government 'happy to see seriously injured but innocent victims of crime lose out on payments from the scheme. These payments helped the victims replace lost wages and were a token acknowledgement from government that victims deserve help after traumatic incidents.' CWU general secretary Billy Hayes said: 'The government says they are tough on crime, but really they are tough on the victims of crime.' He added: 'The government has wasted no time in fast-tracking these latest cuts into force. It now means that the victims of violent crime - such as muggings and dog attacks - who are unable to secure compensation through the courts or insurance companies will be left with nowhere to turn for help. Many others will only qualify for vastly reduced sums. Cutting CICS is one of the cruellest acts of this coalition government yet, taking compensation from the victims of crime who have nowhere else to turn when they are at their most vulnerable. A piece of society has died and the UK is a poorer place today as a result of these cuts.'

Starbucks sink to new lows

The following has been supplied by the TUC:

The US coffee company, Starbucks, which is already under pressure for its tax affairs has now cut the rights to sick pay for its 7,000 UK workers. Starbucks was branded 'immoral' by MPs who heard that the company has used a range of legal tax-dodges to avoid paying corporation tax in the UK. Over the past 13 years it has paid £8.6 million on sales of £3.1 billion. It has now announced that workers will no longer be entitled to sick pay for their first day's sickness. Concerns have been raised that this will mean that workers will be more likely to come into work while ill with viral or bacterial infections that can be spread through touch or coughing, leading to an increase in possible contamination and an increase in infection of other workers and customers. In a blog, TUC Head of Organisation, Paul Nowak said that companies that treated their workers like this were also the ones more likely to fall down on other social responsibility issues such as tax-paying and the solution was to try to unionise the workforce. Martin Smith, national organiser of the GMB union, which represents some Starbucks workers said "The reaction is one of confusion and fear. On the removal of sick pay, do we really want our coffee to be made by someone struggling to work with a cold, because that is what will happen. It is not a good look for a top flight coffee maker."

Support for UK Uncut Starbucks protests

PCS is encouraging members to support UK Uncut's 'refuge from the cuts' at branches of Starbucks on Saturday.

Low paid women and their families are bearing the brunt of the government’s austerity programme. That is why UK Uncut has been working with women’s campaign groups to turn tax avoiders Starbucks into services such as crèches and refuges. Starbucks is one of a number of companies exposed recently as exploiting our tax system, robbing our economy of much needed revenue for vital public services.

The company has paid only £8.5m in corporation tax since it launched in Britain in 1998 despite making profits of £3bn.

Public anger at the revelation has already prompted Starbucks to agree to pay more corporation tax, though this isn't enough.

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: “With hundreds of thousands of public sector workers having their jobs, pay and pensions cut, and people entitled to benefits being demonised and targeted in the most shameful way, it is utterly scandalous that some multinational companies believe they can get away with contributing little or nothing to our economy.

“We fully support this weekend’s action which, along with previous campaigns by UK Uncut and others, will highlight the fact that if large companies like Starbucks paid their fair share it would change the debate about public spending overnight.”

Visit the UK Uncut website for information on how to join Saturday's protests.

This information was provided by PCS HQ.

Protest Update

The PCS DWP Group Executive Committee has raised with DWP management the reference in their advice to, “staff intending to take part in these protests must agree time off with their line manager in advance”. DWP Management have agreed that this is badly worded and that it is not their intention that staff must have line management agreement to attend a protest.

DWP Management have clarified that this phrase is intended to mean that staff wishing to change their lunch break to attend a protest must agree the change to their lunch break in advance with their line manager.

Despite agreeing that this phrase is poorly worded management will not agree to issue an amendment. The PCS view is clear – Any requests from staff to change their lunch break on 30 November must be dealt with in the normal way.

More staff not less!

Strike Ballot Agreed by DWP GEC.

The PCS DWP Group Executive Committee has voted unanimously today to ballot for strike action and an overtime ban to oppose unnecessary and avoidable compulsory redundancies and to secure a major increase in staffing levels in order to deliver services. It is madness for DWP to make anyone redundant, it the department responsible for getting people back into work and it should not be throwing its own staff onto benefits. Let's work hard to win the ballot. Management must be made to withdraw the redundancies and enter serious negotiations on recruiting much needed staff.

The PCS DWP Group Campaigns Committee met earlier this week and agreed to call for strike action across the DWP to fight management’s decision to issue compulsory redundancy notices to 43 of our members. Despite every possible effort by the GEC in negotiation the DWP went ahead and issued compulsory redundancy notices on 15 November.

Since then we have working tirelessly to contact every individual member threatened and talk to them and their local PCS reps about their wishes. We have also continued to put pressure on DWP to provide work for each of them to do.

DWP does not have enough staff. There is more than enough work for all these staff to do.

Due to the job cuts that have taken place over the last few years, five Administrative Assistants in the Fylde area were placed in meaningful consultation during 2012 and therefore in real danger of being made compulsory redundant.

We discussed the situation with all the members involved and raised the issue with the employer to try and ensure that they were found alternative posts. Thankfully this was achieved in the Fylde area, but not in the other areas of the Department.

The danger of redundancies has not gone away though from the Fylde.

This decision is political and must be seen for what it is. PCS will fight this decision with everything at our disposal. We know that you will want to support our colleagues who are faced with this horrible situation This is also about the principle of making staff redundant when we need more staff not less. PCS members in the DWP voted in the summer by 92.2% to say we would fight compulsory redundancies. We will now be asking you to vote in a strike ballot to put that decision into action.

This situation is completely unnecessary. There is plenty of work for these staff to do. The DWP must be made to understand that at a time when our pay is being cut, our pension contributions increased, our terms and conditions torn up and welfare reforms are making our job increasingly difficult, many members will see this attack on job security as the ‘final straw’.

We encourage all members to participate in protests being organised on November 30th.

We are taking the case of the 43 staff facing redundancy up with the PCS parliamentary group who will raise questions with ministers and in parliament on our behalf. Many members will now be asking themselves if they can do this to them, how long before it’s me?

All members are encouraged to write to their MP about this disgraceful attack and do all you can to highlight the issue with your colleagues.

The above information has been supplied by PCS HQ.

N30 Protest Update

The Fylde Central Benefits and Services Branch will hold a 15 minute protest at 12 noon on Friday 30th November 2012

Tens of thousands PCS members are being urged to take Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude MP at his word by staging 15-minute protests against plans to rip up working conditions in the civil service and related organisations.


Norcross

White Carr Lane:
Depart Office 12 noon;
Arrive White Carr Lane Gate entrance at 12:06
12:06 to 12:09 Flag Waving session.
12:09 return journey commences to Office.
Arrive back no later that 12:15pm

Tomlinson House Gate:
We have asked our colleagues in the PCS MOD SPVA Branch to lead the flag waving at the Tomlinson House gate entrance.


Warbreck House

Main Entrance: 
Leave office 12 noon.
Walk to the Main Entrance Gate (the actual site gate near the road).
Arrive at Main Gate entrance at 12:06.
12:06 to 12:09 – Flag waving
12:09 return to the building/office


Peel Park

Main Entrance:
12 noon leave office & walk to the main entrance gate.
Arrive at main gate entrance and assemble on the side path, which leads to the public footpath at 12:07
12:07 to 12:08 – flag waving
12:08 return to the building/office

PLEASE NOTE THAT IF YOU WORK A FAIR DISTANCE FROM THE SITE GATE (ON ANY SITE) YOU MAY NOT BE ABLE TO GET THERE IN 7 MINUTES.

IF YOU CANNOT GET TO THE GATE IN 7 MINUTES THEN WE RECOMMEND THAT AFTER NO MORE THAN 7 MINUTES OF WALKING YOU TURN BACK TO THE OFFICE.

ALL TIMINGS ARE APPROXIMATE BUT YOU CANNOT BE AWAY FOR MORE THAN 15 MINUTES.

PCS flags are available for the protest from the PCS rooms on each site (as are yellow PCS ponchos).

Government 'reckless' on equality checks

The following has been supplied by the TUC:
The TUC has accused David Cameron of being 'reckless' after he announced plans to scrap the requirement on government departments and other public bodies to undertake equality impact assessments before the introduction of policy changes. Responding to the prime minister's CBI conference speech, TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said the move could mean damaging safety and other consequences are overlooked when policies are revised. He said: 'The prime minister says he is committed to clamping down on discrimination in the workplace but at the same time is removing an essential measure for monitoring it. Equality impact assessments are not burdensome 'red tape'. They have proved invaluable in highlighting how proposed legislation could affect women and vulnerable workers.' He added: 'In the transport sector the axing of this requirement would allow staffing levels at stations to be changed without any regard to the impact this would have on female passengers' safety. This move smacks of a desperate attempt to placate the business lobby, which like the TUC, is deeply concerned at our economy's anaemic growth. But scrapping equality impact assessments would be reckless and is not the way to get our country moving again.'

Lords criticise plans to end strict liability

The following has been supplied by the TUC:

Injured workers will be disadvantaged if the government goes ahead with a plan to end the strict liability of employers for safety offences, the House of Lords has heard. On 14 November, peers debated wide-ranging changes included in the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill. An amendment inserted by the government seeks to change safety law to remove the right of individuals to make civil compensation claims for criminal breaches of statutory health and safety duties. Claims would be limited to those where negligence could be established. Labour's Lord Whitty said the employment changes overall fall into an 'ugly' category. 'Ugliest of the lot are the provisions referred to by the noble Lord, Lord Low, relating to Clauses 61, which appears to provide that victims - physical, mental, financial or mortal - of the failure of private or public corporations to fulfil their statutory responsibilities will, in most cases, no longer be entitled to compensation.' Labour's former safety minister Lord McKenzie of Luton said 'if adopted as it stands, this clause will mean fewer injured employees being able to claim for their injuries, claims will be more costly to pursue, greater costs will fall on the state and safety standards for employees will fall.' Unions have also criticised the proposed change. Unite said the strict liability move 'is the latest of an increasingly long list of attacks on the rights of innocent victims.'

New Flexible Working Hours Agreement for DWP Operations

The following details have been supplied by PCS DWP Group:

New Flexible Working Hours Agreement for DWP Operations

– Benefits Directorate –

from 3 December 2012

New agreement with PCS
A new agreement with PCS sets out the Flexible Working Hours (FWH) arrangements in DWP Operations - Benefits Directorate from 3rd December 2012. The agreement covers all staff in the Benefits Directorate, and all staff are invited to participate under the terms of these agreed arrangements, with the only agreed exception being those staff who are employed within the (Disability) Contact Centre Helpline team and only those who have non standard contracted working hours.

There will be further consultation with the Operations TUS with the aim of reaching a separate agreement for this Team.

The agreement recognises that FWH enables employees to play their full part at work and at the same time to arrange their working hours so that they get the most from their social and domestic life to maintain an appropriate work/life balance.

The agreement affirms that the needs and wishes of individuals must always be balanced with the needs of the business, in particular ensuring appropriate levels of service to customers which are proportionate to business needs. In doing so, all reasonable efforts will be made to meet the requirements of individual members of staff under the terms of this agreement, and every effort will be made to arrive at mutually acceptable arrangements.

Headline terms of agreement
The “headline” terms of the agreement include:

Minimum Levels of Cover
The aim is agreement with staff and managers where possible, but managers will need to make decisions where this is not possible. (3)

Nil core time
Nil core time means that there is no part of the bandwidth when it is essential for all employees to be at work. Under nil core time staff should agree with their manager to organise their hours of attendance having regard to provision of service to customers and staff needs and preferences. (6)

Bandwidth
The bandwidth for opening times will normally be 12 hours from 7.00 to 19.00 or the opening hours of the site/building if these are different.(7)

Credit carry over
At the end of the 4 week Accounting Period, employees may carry forward a maximum of 4 days credit to the next accounting period. An equivalent pro rata carry over will be permitted for part time employees. (10)

Deficit carry over
At the end of the 4 week accounting period, employees may carry forward a maximum of 3 days deficit to the next accounting period. An equivalent pro rata carry over will be permitted for part time employees. (12)

Credits for absences
If an employee has to attend medical appointments (e.g. GP, consultant or therapist), or the Dentist, the credit arrangements are provided under paragraph 14.2.

Training credits
The arrangements for training credits are provided under paragraph 14.7.

Other breaks
One paid 15 minute break (away from the desk where possible) in the morning and one in the afternoon will be given to all employees working the equivalent of or more than, the 7.24 working day (7.12 in London).

One paid break of 15 minutes will be given to employees working between 3 ½ and up to but below the full working day.

These breaks must be taken at the allocated times as far as practicable. (16.1)

Where part time employees wish to take their 15 minute break in the defined lunch period (11.30am – 2.30 pm), they should be allowed to do so wherever possible. Having this flexible approach for part time employees will allow the spacing of their breaks appropriately within their working day. (16.2)

Religious observance
Time away from the workstation for religious observance may also be required by some staff, and there is provision under paragraph 16.4.

Ad-hoc breaks
In addition, reasonable ad hoc breaks will be allowed for refreshments, toilet breaks, medication etc. These will not be rota’d breaks but we would expect the normal courtesies between individuals and team leaders to apply. (16.5)

Smoking
The smoking break arrangements are under paragraph 17.

Flexi-leave
Staff can apply to their line manager to take full or half day’s flexi leave, up to a maximum of 4 standard days in any 4 calendar week accounting period. Part time staff can apply for an equivalent pro-rata amount of flexi leave. (18.1) NB: This limit does not apply when a compressed hours working pattern has been agreed (refer also to para 8.2).

Application of pro-rata principle
The provision for the application of the pro-rata principle under paragraph 18.4 is adopted from the Q&A guidance issued for the BFD Agreement so that nobody is losing out or being unfairly advantaged because everyone’s hours will balance out at some point. You can be flexible in these situations, and “light touch”.

The following details have been added by the Branch: 
At Warbreck there have been early discussions with Senior Management regarding the above new FWH agreement including the issue of breaks. Further details will follow.

Breaking News: N30 2012

The Fylde Central Benefits and Services Branch will hold a 15 minute protest at 12 noon on Friday 30th November 2012.

Advice from the PCS National Executive Committee regarding the protest says "The union is not asking members to take Industrial action, therefore the protests should take place in lunch breaks or if this is not possible, before work or at another point when the largest number of member are taking a break from work."

Later it talks about the legal advice and says "However, we are encouraging members to join a protest during work breaks where they can".

Over the past 18 months virtually everyone at Norcross and Peel Park will have had to apply for their own jobs and go through a pre redundancy job selection exercise. Many have been made surplus, some entered into meaningful consultation and were in imminent danger of being made redundant.

Many members at DWP Norcross are very annoyed at the announcement to close the DWP Norcross Site, at Warbreck and Peel Park many members have been told that only approximately 15 to 20% of the members, on any given day, will be allowed to take their annual leave between Christmas and New Year.

These are the consequences of the job cuts.

PCS flags are available for the protest from the PCS rooms on each site (as are yellow PCS ponchos).

The protest should take place off-site lasting no more 15 minutes (from time of leaving to time of return).

Further information and materials can be found on the PCS HQ website here.

Ask your MP to oppose 'sneaky' law change and sign the petition against it.

The following has been adapted from a TUC document:

Health and Safety Executive inspectors' union Prospect is urging members to sign a petition calling on the government to remove an amendment to the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (ERR) Bill that would make it harder for workers to claim legitimate compensation for injuries at work. The amendment is designed to change civil liability laws in relation to health and safety duties, but there has been uproar from Labour MPs, unions and lawyers at the way it has been sneaked in via the ERR bill without any consultation. The effect would be that workers would be unable to rely on an employer's breach of health and safety law to win a personal injury claim. Instead they would have to prove negligence. The move has also been opposed by the TUC. 'This proposal was introduced with no consultation and there is no indication of what regulations the civil liability changes will apply to,' said a TUC spokesperson. 'But it is a disgrace that they are transferring the cost of an injury from the employer on to the worker, who will already have suffered the pain and suffering.'

Sign the petition here.

Email your MP to ask them to vote against the bill here.

'Savaged' criminal injuries scheme to go ahead

The  following information has been supplied by the TUC:

The introduction later this month of a 'savaged' version of the government scheme to compensate people injured in violent crimes has been condemned by retail union Usdaw. The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority has confirmed that the revised Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme (CICS) will come into force on 27 November. The union says under the new cut-price version, the vast majority of innocent victims of violent crime will discover they are either no longer eligible for any compensation or that the amount paid out for injuries has been slashed. On 11 November, Conservative and Liberal Democrat MPs approved the revised scheme, which currently awards compensation to between 30,000 and 40,000 people each year who have been seriously injured in a crime of violence and who cannot obtain recompense from any other source, such as their assailant. Innocent victims now have until 23.59 on Monday 26 November to submit a claim that will be considered under the existing scheme. After this date, claims for any incident, whether it occurred before or after midnight on 26 November, will be processed under the new and much meaner scheme. John Hannett, Usdaw general secretary, commented: 'The entire process of making the cuts has been a shameful and frankly grubby episode in the exercise of government, one made all the more shocking because it's innocent victims of violent crime who are going to suffer. The government should do much more to make victims aware of the changes, but I suspect its silence reflects the weakness of its own case for the cuts and the inherent embarrassment of highlighting them.' He added: 'Usdaw urges anyone who has been injured in the course of a crime to submit an application to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority as soon as possible and by 26 November at the latest.'

Breaking News: 15 Minute Walkout

The Fylde Central Benefits and Services Branch will hold a 15 minute Protest at 12 noon on Friday 30th November 2012

Tens of thousands PCS members are being urged to take Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude MP at his word by staging 15-minute protests against plans to rip up working conditions in the civil service and related organisations.

Lunchtime demonstrations will be co-ordinated at workplaces across the country on 30th November 2012 in opposition to a government 'review' of all existing terms and conditions, including hours and holidays, and family-friendly policies such as flexible and part-time working.

The protest also concerns the public sector pay freeze, the increase in monthly pensions contributions and, after the ed government slashed more than 60,000 civil service jobs in its first two years in office, the tens of thousands more still planned.

Last year when unions were striking over pensions, The Rt Hon Francis Maude MP suggested members could protest for 15 minutes to "get their point across without losing pay".

The decision to hold these events was taken at a meeting of the union's national executive committee yesterday (7th November), which also agreed to continue to pursue a joint campaign with other unions on pensions and pay.

It also agreed that the next NEC meeting in December will consider a timetable for a campaigning action ballot in the New Year. While the fight over pensions and the contribution increases will continue, the ballot will be designed to include opposition to the terms and conditions review and strengthen the union's campaigning focus on pay and living standards.

Cuts to jobs, pay and pensions are all part of a political smash and grab on our public services, and are inextricably linked to the latest threat to working conditions.

Many members at DWP Norcross are very annoyed at the announcement to close the DWP Norcross Site, at Warbreck and Peel Park many members have been told that only approximately 15 to 20% of the members, on any given day, will be allowed to take their annual leave between Christmas and New Year. These are the consequences of the job cuts.

PCS flags are available for the protest from the PCS rooms on each site (as are yellow PCS ponchos).

The protest will consist of a walk around the building or part of the building, lasting no more 15 minutes, from time of leaving to time of return.

Ministers 'stacked' committee on crime payouts

The following has been supplied by the TUC:

Unions and Labour have accused the government of 'stacking' a parliamentary committee to ensure that controversial changes to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme (CICS) were passed. The changes will restrict compensation to those who suffer serious injuries, shaving £50m off the annual £449m bill. In September, justice minister Helen Grant said she would reconsider the plans after protests by MPs, unions and victim support groups. However, when the Seventh Delegated Legislation Committee met last week the plans were presented unchanged. The committee approved them by nine votes to seven. Shadow justice minister Robert Flello claimed the government 'stacked' the committee by ensuring people on the government payroll - including four parliamentary private secretaries - turned up to vote. 'They had to pack the committee with effectively the payroll vote because they couldn't rely on ordinary backbenchers,' he said. The first draft order was introduced in September to the Delegated Legislation Committee but was attacked from all sides, including by former Conservative minister John Redwood who expressed his reluctance to approve a scheme that 'would cut back on payments to people who are vulnerable and have just been through a bad time in their lives for no good reason.' He was one of the MPs replaced on the committee. RMT general secretary Bob Crow said: 'The vaporising of Tory opponents from the committee dealing with this issue is a mark of the brutality of this government who will not tolerate any dissent in their quest to claw back payments in these 'last resort' cases.' The changes to CICS were debated in the House of Commons on 7 November, where a Labour bid to block the cuts was defeated. Usdaw general secretary John Hannett, commenting after a Commons debate the union says 'was the first and likely final time' the issue will be debated by all MPs, said: 'Any government prepared to cut vital financial support from the innocent victims of violent crime, while at the same time handing out tax cuts to millionaires, has surely lost its moral compass.'

Job fear is affecting the health of UK workers

The following has been supplied by the TUC:

The harsh economic climate, austerity-related job cuts and job loss fears in those still in work is having a real impact on the health and well-being of workers, according to the newly published findings of a TUC safety survey. The top safety concerns cited this year by union safety reps in the TUC's tenth biennial survey were stress, bullying and harassment, problems relating to heavy workloads and overwork, and violence and intimidation. The TUC believes many of these 'growing concerns' are down to the increasing insecurity and unease being felt throughout the UK workforce as spending cuts and austerity economics hit hard. Safety reps in the TUC survey also raised concerns about a decline in the number of safety inspections by official safety regulators. Just under half (45 per cent) of the 1,875 safety reps who responded to the TUC survey earlier this year said that their workplace had never had a visit from a safety inspector. One in ten of the safety reps (ten per cent) hadn't seen a safety inspector in their workplace for more than three years, and another 16 per cent said their workplace hadn't been inspected for between one and three years. Safety reps said their employers, less fearful of an official inspection, were now less likely to make safety improvements. TUC general secretary Brendan Barber commented: 'Fears about how austerity is affecting peoples' jobs and their families is having a real impact on the health and well-being of UK workers.' He said increasing pressures on workers and reduced official oversight at work meant 'unions campaigning to improve workplace safety are clearly going to have their work cut out in the coming year.'

Government ploughs on with compensation cuts

The following has been supplied by the TUC:

The TUC has condemned the reintroduction of proposals to cut compensation for workers who are the victims of crime through their work. Proposals to slash payments were introduced by the government earlier this yet and then withdrawn in September following cross-party opposition. They have now been hurriedly reintroduced in exactly the same form as before, despite a promise to reconsider the proposals and bring them back 'in a better form'. The changes, if implemented, will end payments for claims below £2,500 and significantly reduce payments for claims below £11,000. Payments for loss of future earnings, which currently reflect what a person would have been able to earn during his lifetime, will also be limited to an amount equivalent to statutory sick pay under the proposed scheme. Some groups such as victims of dog attacks, or train drivers affected by suicides on the tracks, will also lose out completely. TUC head of health and safety, Hugh Robertson said 'This is yet another attack on workers compensation from a government obsessed with shifting the blame for injuries caused though work on to the employee.' Karl Tonks, president of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers added 'It beggars belief that the Government has not amended the very proposals which attracted widespread criticism from Conservative and Labour MPs, as well as vulnerable victims of crime. The impression this gives is that the Government wants to push these unpopular cuts through, regardless of what the public or some other members of the Government think. It's important that victims of violent crime are given financial redress to help them get back to their feet, particularly if they are unable to return to work.'

Stress Awareness Interview

Branch Secretary Duncan Griffiths speaking to Radio Lancashire's Graham Liver about stress in the workplace, causes and awareness of it. You can download the 13mb file from the link below, though not on a DWP computer.

Radio Interview

'Savage' fire and rescue cuts put lives at risk

The following has been supplied by the TUC:

The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) is raising the alarm over unprecedented risks to public safety posed by 'deep and dangerous' cuts to the fire service. Matt Wrack, FBU general secretary, is urging the public to join firefighters in defending stations threatened with closure. 'The public has already lost around 1,500 frontline firefighters since 2010, despite David Cameron's hollow eve-of-election promise that there would be no cuts to the firefighting frontline,' he said. The FBU leader warned a continuation of the government's 'reckless austerity drive' could see frontline firefighter jobs slashed by 20 per cent. 'People deserve to have their lives, homes and businesses protected. As firefighters, we have a duty to spell out to the public the risks of ever-deepening cuts,' he said. 'More cuts will mean slower response times to emergencies, putting lives, homes and businesses at greater risk. Response times are almost two minutes slower on average than a decade ago. If there is no local fire station, response times will be even longer. Delays cost lives. That's why people should make sure they join with fire-fighters to campaign to keep stations threatened with closure open. '

BBW DWP ballot result

PCS members have voted overwhelmingly to accept this year's negotiated pay award which will see staff receiving between 2% – 3.5% pay increases and an agreement to pay the Living Wage in our Service Centres.

Payments of the rise including backdated monies will be made in the December wage. We realise that this is some time away but we have been asked by BBW to allow them to bed in their new computerised system (Oracle) before processing the rise.

It is worth reminding our members that the non negotiated staff only got a 1% rise at start of 2012 and that the increased percentage we achieved was due to the negotiation skills of the PCS Pay Team.

PCS are seriously going to look at only negotiating pay increases for staff who are fully paid up members of PCS next year.

With this in mind PCS are asking all our members to speak to non members in your workplace and explain that PCS is serious about only negotiating on pay for members of the union in future negotiations and ask them to join us and fill out the membership form that is attached to this briefing. These can then be returned to your local rep or sent to the freepost address on the application.

The details of the award can be found here.

BBW DWP - PCS Negotiated Pay Award 2012

Distribution: All BBW Staff.

We are pleased to confirm that the 2012 pay offer has been unanimously accepted by members of our recognised union, Public and Commercial Services (PCS). We will therefore be planning to apply the award to employees covered by the negotiations within the bargaining unit.

The economic climate remains difficult and this has presented a challenging year so far for BB WorkPlace in reaching the targeted performance level as a business overall. Business Services is delivering well against expectations and we are therefore pleased to confirm that we are able to offer a pay award to employees under the negotiated agreement, which has now been accepted by PCS members.

2012 Pay Award – in Summary

• Service Centre employees within the bargaining unit will receive an uplift to Living Wage levels of £7.20 per hour if currently receiving a lower hourly rate. This continues with our ongoing aim to further increase minimum pay levels.
• All other employees with receive a 2% salary increase or minimum payment of £325 per annum (based on working full-time hours), whichever is higher. Employees working part-time will receive a pro-rated award.
• Revised maximum salaries for the categories are put in place above which a non consolidated award is made.
• Revised minimum salaries for all role categories are put in place.
• Employees who currently earn above the ‘maximum’ for the category will receive a non-consolidated increase. This means it is not added to basic salary but instead is agreed to be paid as a lump sum equivalent at the point of implementation. (Please note that should an employee leave before the 12 month point after this has been applied, a pro-rated amount will be recovered from the final salary).

Please note that all figures stated are gross amounts and subject to tax and NI deductions.

Scope and Timings for Payment  

• The award applies to all employees covered by collective bargaining for pay under the agreement with PCS Union for the BB WorkPlace DWP Office Services contract.
• The 2012 Pay Review will be applied, including backdates, within the December 2012 salary payment. Individual letters will be issued to individuals affected by the review.
• Further detail, by category, of the 2012 pay award is detailed within the attached Appendix to this document.
• If you have any queries please contact your line manager in the first instance who will liaise with the HR department as appropriate.

Thank you for your continued support during the year as we continue to evolve our structure and services to support the requirements of our customer, DWP.

Appendix: Pay Review 2012

Employee Categories

Field	Service Centres	Team Manager & Supervisory	Contract Administration
Cleaning Operative Courier Driver Indexing Agent Mobile OSA OSA Postal Services roles (including postal supervisors & LOSA) Reprographics Clerk Stationery Clerk Indexing Agent	Service Centre – Typist Service Centre – Switchboard	Cleaning Supervisor Reprographics Supervisor Stationery Supervisor Team Manager Production Manager	Union Representative (100%) (Regional) Administrators PA / Secretary HR Assistant Workflow Coordinator

Agreed Pay Offer

1)    Establish revised minimum and maximum basic salaries:

£ FTE, per annum	Minimum	Maximum
Field	13,125 (revised for 2012)	18,564 (revised for 2012)
Team Manager & Supervisory	14,650 (revised for 2012)	25,908 (revised for 2012)
Contract Administration	15,336 (new for 2012)	23,970 (new for 2012)
Switchboard	14,040 (revised for 2012)	18,870 (revised for 2012)
Typist	14,040 (revised for 2012)	19,482 (revised for 2012)

2) Pay Award for each area:

 

Option	Field	Team Manager & Supervisory	Contract Administration	Switchboard	Typist
Minimum	13,125	14,650	15,336	14,040	14,040
Maximum	18,564	25,908	23,970	18,870	19,482
% Award All	2%	2%	2%	2%	2%
£ lump sum underpin	£325 pa FTE	£325 pa FTE	£325 pa FTE	£325 pa FTE	£325 pa FTE

Narrative: Individuals will receive a 2% salary increase or minimum payment of £325 per annum (FTE), whichever is higher.