PCS NORTH WEST DISABLED MEMBERS SEMINAR

SATURDAY 18th JANUARY 2014

The PCS North West region has been asked to run the above seminar.  This is a pilot seminar to ascertain the possibility of holding yearly regional equality seminars to encourage newer reps and members to become more active within the Union.

Although this is quite late notice you will have seen the date noted in previous correspondence that has been sent to our disabled members network.  This is your formal invitation to attend the above seminar.

PCS Union is committed to making the workplace a better and fairer place for members.  In order to do this, we have to ensure that we are representative of all our members and to ensure different equality and diversity needs are continually highlighted and changes in practices are made to address such needs.  PCS has National Forums and Committees that regularly meet to discuss and plan for specific equality needs.

Expenses for attending this meeting will be paid in accordance with PCS expense rules (see attached).  Forms will be available at the meeting for attendees to complete.

It is important that you complete the pro-forma here as this will assist us to make arrangements for any specific requirements you may have. Please return to this office by date specified above. If you have any trouble opening the pro-forma please contact the office on the number below.

Members of the network and branches are reminded that this is a pilot seminar and that it’s really important we get as many members covering a majority of our workplaces across the region   Please do everything you can to ensure that members participate in this seminar.  Network members should consider bring a PCS colleague with them.

The seminar will cover the following:

• DPAC speaker
• Campaigning for disabled rights
• Design leaflets/Poster designs
• How to write a motion
• Brian Noon (Chair of RDMN): The role of network
• National campaign update – Speaker to be confirmed
• Reasonable adjustment and your rights
• Code of practice (EHRC)
• What happens in your department i.e. passport
• PEP (H&S)
• Escalation routes: Complaints procedures.

We look forward to meeting you either for the first time, or once again.

Yours sincerely
Paula Wood - Organiser
0151 298 3904
M: 07879 617 553
Email: paula@pcs.org.uk

TUC Domestic Violence Survey

PCS is supporting the TUC survey on domestic violence.  The survey closes on the 1 February 2014. Please encourage as many members as possible to fill in the survey here.

Domestic violence has far reaching consequences and a terrible impact on the lives of those living with an abusive partner.

The TUC is conducting a survey to find out more about how domestic violence affects working life and the role that employers, colleagues, and union reps can play in supporting those experiencing domestic abuse. 

TUC would like to hear from anyone who has either experienced domestic violence themselves or has a friend or colleague who has experienced domestic violence.

The survey is entirely anonymous.  You will not be asked for your name, contact details or any information which could be used to identify you or your employer.

Government says you must work until you drop

The following details have been provided by the TUC:
The later retirement date announced by the Chancellor in last week’s Autumn statement might be of little significance to the wealthy, but it could see many others receive little or nothing of their state pension entitlement, the TUC has warned.

The union body was commenting on the plans announced in the Commons by George Osborne to push back the state pension age to 68 by the mid-2030s, with further increases after that. It is already scheduled to move to 66 between 2018 and 2020 and then to 67 between 2026 and 2028.

TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said: “There has been no new evidence to show that people are living any longer since the last time the Chancellor increased the state pension age, yet today’s young workers are being told they must work until they drop.” She added: “However many decades they work hard and contribute, tomorrow’s 69-year-olds will find themselves being sent for the future version of ATOS assessments if they can no longer work. Barely half of all men are able to work beyond the current state pension age. Raising it further will simply prolong an agonising limbo between their last job and their state pension.” She warned: “This has nothing to do with dealing with unexpected extra pension costs but is part of a long-term attack on the welfare state and the dismantling of our national insurance system.”

TUC research found there is already a £67,000 state pension divide due to a widening gap in life expectancies and a rising state pension age. And research published last year by TUC noted that disability and poor health are preventing nearly half a million people approaching retirement from working, a figure that will increase as the state pension age rises.

Government safety policy dismissed as ‘drivel’

The following details have been supplied by the TUC:
Ministers are misusing an official government website to push the Conservative’s party political anti-workplace safety line, the TUC has charged.

The Department for Work and Pensions’ (DWP) safety policy webpages “set out their policy on health and safety”, notes TUC head of safety Hugh Robertson, but he adds the content “is clear, concise and simple and is also absolute drivel.” The DWP webpage is prefaced with this statement: “We believe that good health and safety is important, but the burden of excessive health and safety rules and regulations on business has become too great and a damaging compensation culture is stifling innovation and growth.”

Dismissing each point, citing official statistics, government-sponsored research, government committees, independent studies and admissions from high ranking Tories, TUC’s Hugh Robertson said: “This government seems to see government websites as the property of the political parties rather than of the state. They are increasingly being used as tools of propaganda rather than being there to give information. But while you would expect a certain ideological spin on anything this government does, this goes further than that. The claim that there is a burden of excessive rules and a damaging compensation culture is, to put it simply, a complete lie.” He said instead of regurgitating unfounded myths, the government should be “trying to show that, as all the studies show, health and safety helps business… That way they would not only get rid of the misconceptions and myths, but also actually do some good by encouraging employers to protect their workers.”

Balfour Beatty Workplace - Operational Changes: Your jobs!

The following has been supplied by PCS HQ:



To: All BBW PCS Members on the DWP contract
 
Your Branch Executive Committee (BEC) has met to discuss proposed changes to telephony work and other issues in BBW. The DWP and BBW legal teams are now moving forward on their understanding that TUPE will not apply. The start date for the change of operation is now confirmed as 03 March 2014. As far as we know, the majority of the work will be undertaken by DWP call centres. In the absence of the transfer of staff we have real concerns around whether DWP can cope with this significant increase in the volume of work. We will of course keep members updated as events develop as openness, honesty and transparency are vital during workplace change.

The way forward: Together for Everyone
Dignity at work demands your union is involved in consultation processes long before a decision is reached. PCS have sought to engage management at every opportunity. With 2.5 million (approx) people currently unemployed in the UK and household costs rapidly rising we view this redundancy programme as unacceptable and ill-devised. The incantation is that you must get more from less – not easy from a workforce who faces a never-ending fall in their living standards, few promotion prospects and the risk of losing their job. Estimates from the Institute of Fiscal Studies suggests another 900,000 job losses are likely by 2017/18.

The increasing use of zero hours contracts where staff have no guaranteed wage and only get paid as and when work is available has been exposed recently in the media. PCS remains resolutely opposed to this race to the bottom for workers and will resist any attempt by GDF Cofely to increase their use on the DWP contract. Moreover, it is our understanding that BBW have over achieved against budget to date with sales up 6% and profits up a colossal 18%. By the end of the year they are projected to exceed their sales target in what the Finance Director described as an "outstanding year".

Therefore it seems wholly unreasonable that staff who are ex DWP and who had months of casual service with DWP before being given a fixed term or permanent contract are being told their redundancy payment is being calculated from their FTC/permanent date rather than causal one. This means their payments are being reduced. We will lobby BBW to include casual service in their calculations.

Further, calculation of redundancy pay is based on complete years service. Several cases have come to light of staff who started in March who are therefore losing almost an entire years service. It is clear payments need to be pro-rata. On the related subject of BBW assistance to those losing their jobs, whilst we will continue to argue against the cuts, we do recommend you read the BBW career transition booklets.

PCS will oppose the proposed cuts and any job losses whilst also insisting that any redundancies must be both voluntary and that redundancy payments are based upon members full service.

We have at our disposal the PCS  press and media unit, campaigns department, parliamentary group and the specific resources of the Commercial Sector Association, all of which will  be utilised  in the fight for jobs justice.

We are a campaigning union. Our members are the union, and membership means being able to stand up collectively and be counted. We campaign on the issues our members decide are important, and negotiate with employers from a position of collective strength. That is why we will not hesitate to use legal representation, parliamentary activities or our industrial strength to protect you and defend your jobs.

Campaign Plan and Industrial Strategy
Following the recent confirmation that BBW and DWP now consider Tupe to not apply we are engaging with PCS members and senior officers in DWP as well as BBW members around strategy. An organising campaign and Industrial action strategy were advised during the recent members meetings at the service centres:

Organising Campaign

• PCS media team to activate unnecessary redundancies story in press and wider media. Especially local media.
• PCS campaigns team to bring their creativity and muscle on board to halt redundancies.
• PCS parliamentary group to be informed and specific MP’s are to be contacted about job losses in their constituency.
• PCS regional offices to be alerted with a view to working with local media/ trade unions/ community groups against cuts.

Industrial Action Strategy
If forced down the road of industrial action we would ballot members and options for industrial action could include :

• Strike action and/or
• Work to rule
• Overtime ban

The more staff we have in the union the stronger our campaign becomes.  Ask your friends and colleagues who aren’t members to join PCS right NOW!

Together we make a difference!

Enrico Tortolano

Another Voluntary Exit Scheme announced in DWP Operations

DWP have today announced a second phase of large scale Voluntary Exit Schemes for DWP Operations. As with the first phase of exit schemes that were announced in September, this next phase of exits is also targeted at specific groups of staff, in particular grades, in various parts of DWP Operations.

The full specifics can be found here. 

Give us your details/Change your details

PCS nationally are trying to ensure they have the most up-to-date contact details for members.

Sometimes information is not able to be sent via the DWP IT system and external contact details are useful in those situations.

PCS NW Regional Office has supplied us with a couple of documents to enable members to get added to a contact list for either (or both) SMS text or email.

The details for this can be found here.

They have also produced a simple aid to enable members to change their workplace details, ballot address, name, contact details etc on the PCS website's iMembership system. That aid can be found here.

Parliamentary Debate on local issues

The branch office has received the following extract from the Parliamentary debate that took place in the House of Commons on 27th November. It concerns the DWP Offices on the Fylde Coast.

The full debate of the day is published here (column 132WH onwards) and the relevant extract forwarded to us by the office of Paul Maynard (MP) can be found here.

Management announce further staff moves

The following details have been supplied by PCS DWP Group:

Management announce further staff moves Bradford and Kilmarnock Benefit Centres to transfer to Fraud and Error Service.

As part of management’s ongoing strategy of moving work around DWP, management have announced the transfer of further staff from the benefits directorate. Management say that this is an attempt to manage workloads due to a number of factors, including the reduced IBRA outputs from ATOS. This latest announcement follows on from significant staff moves from DWP Operations into Child Maintenance Group (CMG) to meet CMG’s increasing staffing demands and the perceived reductions in work in the remainder of mainstream operations.

The two sites involved are Bradford and Kilmarnock. Most of the staff at Bradford, and all of the staff at Kilmarnock, will transfer on a temporary basis to the Fraud and Error Service (FES) from January 2014. The Kilmarnock site has already been earmarked for transfer to CMG and the intention is still that the Kilmarnock transfer to CMG will take place in Quarter 4 of 2014/15. However in the interim staff at this site will transfer temporarily to the Fraud and Error service, part of the Operational Excellence Directorate.

At the Bradford site the majority of staff will transfer on a temporary basis to the new Fraud and Error Service (FES).  The remaining staff will continue to undertake benefit directorate work.

It is expected that all AO grade staff will transfer with approximately 50% of AA and EO grades and 2 HEOs. All staff at Kilmarnock will transfer to FES on a temporary basis. This transfer is expected to take place from January 2014 and the Bradford staff are expected to return to benefit directorate work by the end of December 2014. The majority of Kilmarnock temporary transfers are expected to then move to CMG in early 2015 as originally scheduled with approximately 20 staff returning to other work.

The staff that transfer will be expected to undertake work similar to that which has previously been undertaken by the benefit integrity centres at Hastings (transferring to CMG), Ilford and Ramsgate. The latter sites transferred into FES from November 1st 2013. The work of the integrity centres is seen by management as a key part of the department’s strategy to combat fraud and error.

PCS have pressed management to ensure a fair and transparent process for selecting staff to temporarily transfer to FES or remain on BD work. Management have indicated that they expect volunteers to be sought at Bradford and will return to discuss with PCS if there is any need for selection. Any local difficulties should be raised with your local PCS representatives in the first instance.

It should be noted that there are no proposed changes to terms and conditions or location associated with this temporary transfer.

As management seek to balance staffing across operations there will no doubt be other significant movements of work across operations in the coming months.

PCS will continue to press management for details of their strategy and continue to press for increases in staffing as PCS are concerned that significant processing backlogs are building up in parts of operations.

Benefit Directorate Contractual Start and Finish Times

The following details have been supplied by PCS DWP Group:

Benefit Directorate Flexible Working Hours Agreement

- Contractual Start and Finish Times - 

Paragraph 2.5 of the BD FWH Agreement states "An employee cannot be required to come in earlier or stay later than their contractual start or finish times. However, an employee may choose to do so where there is work available to be completed, in agreement with their line manager."

An employee's contractual start or finish times will be as stated in their contract, or in their agreement using the Working Pattern Agreement Template or in the case of original standard contacts for full time employees, as used in DSS and DWP, which did not state specific start and finish times, be within the terms of the Working Patterns Glossary of Terms definition of a "Standard Working Week" which is "36/37 net weekly hours worked in a standard pattern between the hours of 08.00 - 17.00 Monday to Friday."

However, employees recruited over the last 10 years may have been employed on a contract for a "Non-Standard Working Week" which is defined as "weekly contracted hours worked in a standard pattern over a maximum of any 5 days (including Saturday and/or Sunday) within the service day of individual businesses." Some employees may therefore have a contract which supports a management requirement to work to 19.00. The problem DWP appears to have is that they cannot, using their own records, simply produce a list of who these staff are.

Most full time employee's are not employed under the terms of a "Non Standard Working Week" contract so the standard working pattern for full-time employees, to which most employees default if flexi time is suspended, would be: 

• Monday to Friday, 08.36 – 17.00 or 08.00 – 16.24 (National); or
• Monday to Friday, 08.48 – 17.00 or 08.00 – 16.12 (London Pay Zones).

King Jones Kith and Kin Web Quiz

Here is a quiz for all those of you that browse our web page for information. You can copy and paste the quiz into a document and print it if you like, or just jot them down on some scrap and send it to the address at the end of the quiz. You can email your answers to: DWP PCS Fylde Central Benefits and Services Branch

Either way, don’t forget to include your name, workplace location details and your PCS membership number if possible. The quiz is only open to members (and we will check). Also include the name of the quiz on your entry.

Gadzooks King Jones here, for those who weren't at the 2013 AGM I am no longer the Branch Chair.

I thought to mark the passing of my reign with a quiz about my kith and kin.

So here is the last King Jones kith and kin quiz – fitting that it is the first on-line branch quiz hosted by me being King of the Branch IT also.

Question 1

My final year of reign may not go down as Gloriana, but who was the final monarch of the Tudor dynasty. Was it?

a) Henry VIII
b) Edward IV
c) Jane Grey

d) Mary I 

e) Elizabeth I 

Question 2 

During the Regency period; when the Prince Regent ruled by proxy, who was the King who was unfit to rule.Was it?

a) George I

b) George II

c) George III

d) George IV

e) William IV

Question 3

Which monarch introduced the Poll Tax and faced the peasants' revolt. Was it?

a) Richard I

b) Richard II

c) Elizabeth I

d) Elizabeth II

e) Matilda

Question 4

Which King was forced to sign the Provisions of Oxford in 1258? Was it?

a) Henry I

b) Henry II

c) Henry III

d) Henry IV

e) Henry V

Question 5

What is the name of Queen Victoria's residence on the Isle of Wight? Was it?

a) Balmoral

b) Windsor Castle

c) Osborne House

d) Buckingham Palace

e) Highgrove

Question 6

Which monarch bought Buckingham House (now Palace), owned by the Dukes of Buckingham, for his wife. Was it?

a) George I

b) George II

c) George III

d) George IV

e) George V

Please send your paper based answers to Jacqui “I actually thought that Martin was of nobility when I first started around here, I’ll have you know” Dunkerley, Room C122A, Warbreck House to arrive no later than Friday 13^th of December 2013.

The winner will receive a mystery prize. Please remember that only members of the Fylde Central Benefits and Services Branch, excluding Branch Executive Committee can enter the quiz.

King Jones

SHARED SERVICES - MEMBERS’ MEETINGS

To all members of PCS Fylde Central Benefits and Services Branch in Steria Shared Services

Dear Colleagues

The purpose of this post is to advise members of meetings to discuss the outcome of the negotiations on the privatisation from the Shared Services to Steria. The outcome was:

• SSCL will recognise PCS across the new company and will continue to talk to us about job protections, restructuring and all terms and conditions issues.  There will now be “Meaningful Talks” post transfer to develop the protections already agreed.
  
  
• The transfer will be covered by the “New Fair Deal” on pensions and SSCL will be an “admitted body” to the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme.  This means that staff transferring will remain in their current scheme with no change to contributions or benefits. This includes application of civil service compensation terms and ill health provision.
  
  
• There will be no material changes for at least six months, including compulsory redundancy and offshoring of work.  SSCL commits to “take whatever steps it can reasonably make to avoid the need for compulsory redundancy for the duration of the transformation period of 2 years”.
  
  
• There will be no offshoring of any functions for at least a year.
  
  
• No sites will close for at least a year (including a special commitment from Defra that the Alnwick and York offices will continue to operate as they are for at least 20 months after transfer.  Talks are on-going on extending this commitment to other sites).
  
  
• If and when proposals for site closures or offshoring are made, SSCL will consult with PCS for a minimum of 90 days before proceeding.
  
  
• A “Redeployment Protocol” for former DWP and Defra staff who TUPE transfer to SSCL guarantees that any staff who may be declared surplus as result of restructuring will have a right to apply and if successful be redeployed to a role in either department and their executive agencies.  These staff would have priority access to the Civil Service Vacancies portal in the same way that surplus civil servants do. 

Friday 22nd November 2013   
Tomlinson House Canteen

10:30am or 2:00pm 

A facility time has been applied for, for you to attend one of the meetings, please make every effort to do so.

Yours sincerely

Duncan Griffiths - Branch Secretary

Government has inflated the fit for work figures

The government inflated estimates of people on a disability benefit subsequently found to be ‘fit for work’, a Labour MP has said, suggesting cases are much more widespread than is actually the case. Work and pensions select committee member Sheila Gilmore MP said she has received an admission from employment minister Esther McVey that the official figures are “not clear” and had secured a promise to “ensure greater clarity in future”. The Labour MP for Edinburgh East queried the government figures on 27 September. She said the response this month from the minister conceded that the government had effectively inflated the numbers found to be fit for work while receiving Employment and Support Allowance (ESA). This was because only fit for work assessments overturned through a formal tribunal process were removed from the headline figures. Cases overturned in an informal “reconsideration” process used prior to these formal appeals were still lumped in with the ‘fit for work’ group. Sheila Gilmore said: “Up to now we thought that the assessment was getting about 1-in-10 fit for work decisions wrong – far too many in most people’s eyes – but now we know the government have been fiddling the figures, the reality could be much, much worse.” She added: “It now turns out that informal appeals to officials – as opposed to formal ones to judges – were being taken into account. This has clearly masked the true extent of the failings in the ESA assessment process,” noting that the revelations suggest “that rather than trying to fix the test to reduce the number of incorrect decisions, ministers’ priority is to fix the figures to downplay the extent of the problem.” Fit for work figures, normally the subject of a high profile government news release, were omitted from the latest quarterly government statistics, published in October. The real figures show the overwhelming majority of ESA recipients are genuinely not fit for work due to ill-health or disability.

Bullying at Work Guidance for members

Bullying and harassment is a major problem within many workplaces, however often it remains a hidden problem and can be accepted or even encouraged by the culture of an organisation.

Bullying at work can never be acceptable. The TUC believes that all workers have the right to be treated with dignity and respect at work and any form of bullying is totally unacceptable behaviour. In addition it can lead to work related stress and ill health for many workers.

What is workplace bullying?

Usually if a person genuinely feels they are being singled out for unfair treatment by a boss or colleague they are probably being bullied. Although there is no comprehensive list of bullying behaviours, and there is no one type of person who is likely to be a bully, the list below should give an idea of some of the behaviours which constitute workplace bullying.

Bullying behaviour can include:

• Competent staff being constantly criticised, having responsibilities removed or being given trivial tasks to do
• Staff being shouted at
• Staff being persistently picked on in front of others, or in private
• Having promotion blocked
• Regularly making the same person the butt of jokes
• Constantly attacking a member of staff in terms of their professional or personal standing
• Setting a person up to fail by overloading them with work or setting impossible deadlines
• Regularly and deliberately ignoring or excluding individuals from work activities
• Staff having their views and opinions ignored

The extent of bullying

The extent of bullying varies from employer to employer, and sector to sector.

A large survey on bullying at work by the University of Manchester showed that:

• 1 in 10 workers had been bullied in the last 6 months
• 1 in 4 workers had been bullied in the last 5 years
• 47% of workers had witnessed bullying at work

Another survey by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development found that 20% had experienced some form of bullying or harassment over the past two years. The survey also reported that the groups most likely to become victims of bullying and harassment are black and Asian employees, women and people with a disability. Nearly one third (29 per cent) of Asian employees or those from other ethnic groups report having experienced some form of bullying or harassment compared with 18 per cent of white employees. Employees with disabilities are at least twice as likely to report having experienced one or more forms of bullying and harassment compared with non-disabled employees.

Research has also shown that while managers and supervisors are more likely to be the bully, they can also be bullied. For example, almost equal numbers of workers with and without supervisory responsibility report being bullied in the previous nine months, and 9% of senior managers report being targeted by bullies. However the most common type of bullying is by a manager against a subordinate.

Workplace bullying is also a major concern for safety representatives. The TUC survey of safety representatives published in 2006 showed that one in three safety representatives say bullying is a problem in their workplace with 15% viewing it as a major hazard of concern to workers. However within the public sector the figure rose to 18%.

The cost of bullying

The main cost of bullying is to the individual being bullied. Stress and ill health can become part of the daily life of those being bullied. Symptoms can include: anxiety, headaches, nausea, ulcers, sleeplessness, skin rashes, irritable bowel syndrome, high blood pressure, tearfulness, loss of self confidence, and depression. In addition employers pay a high price for failing to tackle bullying because of lost time by staff being affected by stress and ill health, lost incentives when morale is low and reduced work output and quality of service in organisations where bullying is endemic. Also workplaces with a culture of bullying are likely to have a much higher staff turnover.

However it must be recognised that bullying is not just a question of an individual picking on someone weaker or more vulnerable than them. Often it is a symptom of the culture within the organisation. If an employer makes it quite clear they will not accept bullying, and are prepared to take action against anyone found to have bullied a colleague then bullying can be stopped in its tracks.

The Law

Employers who fail to tackle bullying are breaking the law. All employers have a legal duty under the Health and Safety at Work Act to ensure the health, safety and welfare of their employees. That includes protection from bullying and harassment at work. The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations also require employers to assess the nature and the scale of workplace risks to health and safety, ensure there are proper control measures in place, and take action to remove or avoid these risks wherever possible as far is as reasonably practical.

The Health and Safety Executive also states that 'there should be systems in place to deal with interpersonal conflicts such as bullying and harassment'.

The Employment Rights Act 1996 allows employees to claim unfair dismissal if they are forced to leave their job because of actions by their employer or a failure to deal with any complaint. This can include failure by the employer to protect their employees from bullying and harassing behaviour. Often harassment is motivated by a workers sex, sexuality, race or disability and in these cases claim may also be able to be taken under the appropriate equality legislation. Causing a person harassment, alarm, or distress is also a criminal act and in certain circumstances the police can charge the harasser with a criminal offence. Also under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 victims of harassment can seek civil injunctions against behaviour, which causes distress.

However the priority for trade unions must be to prevent people being bullied in the first place. That means trying to eliminate it from the workplace. To do that it is important to focus on the bullying behaviour rather than the bullies themselves. This recognises that some people who bully do not do so knowingly, but specifically reflect a culture that is being allowed to develop within the workplace.

Further information

There is advice for individuals on bullying on the TUC website at: http://www.tuc.org.uk/tuc/rights_bullyatwork.cfm

In addition, ACAS have produced guidance on bullying and harassment at: http://www.acas.org.uk/a_z/bullying_harassment.html

The main charity working in this area is the Andrea Adams Trust. They produce resources and help on workplace bullying http://www.andreaadamstrust.org/

There is also advice on the PCS website found at the following: www.pcs.org.uk. Go to Knowledge Centres/Equality/Advice and Guidance/Bullying at Work Guidance