Celebrating, Not Dividing

The following has bee provided by PCS NW Regional Office:

Unite the Union are working with anti-racist/fascist groups and a number of other unions, including PCS, to stage a national march and rally under the theme “Celebrating, Not Dividing” in Liverpool on Saturday 12th October.

This follows a resurgence in far-right activity across Merseyside including threats to Muslim and Irish communities and the targeting of local trade union activists. Details are still the subject of negotiation with Merseyside Police but the organisers are planning for an event 5,000 strong.

Mark Serwotka is a confirmed speaker.

The details we do have are as follows:

• Assemble: City centre location (TBC), at 12 Noon
• Move off: 1pm
• Rally: 2pm at the Pier Head

Please bring this to the attention of your colleagues and encourage a strong PCS presence.

Reasonable assistance with travel costs is available from the North West Regional Office if registering in advance and subject to a limited budget.

To register, please email nwrc@pcs.org.uk with details of your claim no later than Wednesday 11th September.

Report from a Meeting with Senior Benefit Delivery Management

The purpose of this post is to provide feedback from a meeting on 18th September 2013 with Senior BD Management. The details of the meeting's questions and answers can be found here.

Benefits Directorate Flexible Working Hours

Members working in Benefits Directorate may be interested in sight of the full new FWH agreement. Please note that at Warbreck the question of the introductions of breaks is being discussed.

Please note the above letter is an image, not an active document as this was the only version we had received. The longer version of FWH agreement can be found here.

Voluntary Exit Scheme announced in DWP Corporate Centre

The following details have been supplied by PCS DWP Group:

DWP have today announced a voluntary exit scheme in the DWP Corporate Centre. DWP expect that 278 jobs will be cut as a result of this scheme. This announcement comes on top of the 1,700 job cuts announced in DWP Operations last week and so brings the total DWP job cuts announced this month to nearly 2,000. PCS is of course opposed to these job cuts and we continue to argue for more staff, not less, in DWP.

As with the Operations job cuts, the Corporate Centre say they have to make these cuts to live within the financial pressures they will face in the 2014/15 year. It is argued by management that as Operations is cut then the corporate centre should also reduce accordingly.

Terms of the Scheme

The terms of the scheme are the same as for the one in Operations. Management have made clear that this scheme is entirely voluntary and is not planned as any kind of precursor to a move to compulsory redundancies. If compulsory redundancies were at any stage in the future planned then staff would have to be offered voluntary redundancy terms again prior to any move to compulsion. Applications to this scheme need to be made by 8th October, though final decisions on accepting the terms on offer do not have to be made until 16^th December.

Numbers of Exits by Directorate

The numbers of staff, by grade, that DWP Corporate Centre are seeking to cut from each Directorate are as follows:

• Change – 100 (AO to Grade 6) 
• Finance – 50 (HEO to Grade 6) 
• Strategy – 50 (AO to Grade 6) 
• Human Resources – 20 (HEO to Grade 6) 
• Professional Services – 28 (22, AIO to Grade 6, in Strategic Communication and 6, HEO to Grade 7, in DWP Feedback, Legislation and Decision Making)

The schemes are likely to be targeted at teams, grades and locations where management believe there is the highest need to reduce numbers. Staff in posts deemed to be business critical are unlikely to be allowed to leave.

AA Grade

Unlike the Operations exit scheme, no AA’s in the Corporate Centre are eligible to apply for the Corporate Centre scheme.

PCS Response

PCS is as opposed to these job cuts in the Corporate Centre as to the ones announced in Operations last week. At a time when DWP is embarking on its biggest ever period of change the need for staff in the Corporate Centre is as great as ever to ensure that change is implemented smoothly. It makes no sense to cut jobs at such a time.

Members in the Corporate Centre are already working under excessive pressure following the huge job cuts imposed under the Corporate Centre Review. This pressure will only be increased if a further 278 posts are stripped away.

The GEC will continue to campaign for more permanent jobs, to lift the pressure on staff, for promotion and career development opportunities and a fully funded DWP providing excellent customer service.

Tory Party Conference Demo - Transport from the North West

The following has been supplied by North West Regional Office:

2013 National campaign event - North west

On Sunday 29 September supporters of the NHS will join with trade unions, community groups and members of the public in Manchester to protest against the government’s on-going programme of austerity.  PCS are organising coaches to transport members to the event. Coaches will drop-off on Water Street, within a few yards of the start of the march, and return coaches will pick up adjacent to Whitworth Park.  In the North West the following departure points and times are planned:

• Blackpool pick up at Warbreck House, FY2 0YE (9:30am) via Preston pick up at University of Central Lancs by Adelphi roundabout, PR1 2HE (10:15am) to arrive Manchester at 11:00am
• Chester (9:30am) to arrive Manchester at 11:00am Liverpool pick up opposite Empire Theatre, Lime Street, L1 1JE (9:30am) to arrive Manchester at 11:00am

As for previous events, members may be accompanied by up to one adult and two children (named) family members.  If you would like to reserve a place on any of the above coaches, or require transport from other parts of the region, please inform your local PCS branch.

Event Contact:

PCS NWRC, Tel: 0151 298 3900
NWRC@pcs.org.uk

Voluntary Exit Scheme announced in DWP Operations

The following details have been supplied by PCS DWP Group:

DWP have today (16^th September 2013) announced five separate voluntary exit schemes in various parts of DWP Operations. The schemes are targeted at certain groups of staff in particular grades. Management expect up to 1,700 jobs to be lost across Operations as a result of this exercise. PCS is completely opposed to these savage and unnecessary job cuts. 

Management claim that they are forced to run this exercise due to the severe financial and staffing pressures they face, especially from April 2014. Specifically management claim that they have to lose staff because work volumes are falling and they have to live within a staffing budget that has been arbitrarily cut by 10%. Welfare reform changes have also, management claim, led to a need for less staff. However the uncertainty over when further welfare changes, such as Universal Credit and increased conditionality, may happen make the longer term staffing picture very unclear.

Scheme One

All AAs in DWP Operations are eligible to apply for this scheme, apart from those at Blackpool Disability Centre. Management want 750 AAs to leave under this scheme. This would equate to around 30% of the total numbers of AAs in Operations.

Scheme Two

Those eligible to apply for this scheme are:

• HEOs and SEOs in Benefit Directorate Centres, apart from those in Disability Centres.
• Any EO or HEO in Contact Centre Services, apart from those in NMT
• Surplus AO staff in Contracted Customer Services

Management want 170 staff to leave under from these areas.

Scheme Three

Those eligible to apply for this scheme are any AO, EO, HEO SEO or Grade 7 in Operational Excellence Directorate who work in either Change Delivery or Operational Infrastructure, or who are surplus. Management want 240 staff to leave under this scheme.

Scheme Four

Those eligible to apply for this scheme are:

• AO, EO, HEO, SEO & Grade 7 staff in DWP Visiting. Management want up to 200 staff to leave from this area.
• AO and EO staff in certain specified Job Centres in four Districts (Cumbria & Lancashire, Kent, Essex and West of Scotland). Management are seeking very small numbers from these offices.
• Any surplus staff in WSD
• AO, EO and HEO staff badged to transfer to the new Customer Compliance structure from 1st October 2013. Management are seeking around 100 staff to leave from this area.
• EO and HEO staff in Child Maintenance group badged as Legal Enforcement, Investigators, Inspectors or Court Presenting Officers. Management want 46 staff to leave from this area.

Scheme Five

AO, EO and HEO staff in Operational Excellence FIS employed on FIS Intelligence, Central Prosecution team and Incident Management team.

Eligibility in these areas will vary by grade and location. Management want 98 staff to leave from these areas.

Terms of the Schemes

The Group Executive Committee (GEC) pressed management for the most generous terms possible to be made available but DWP have instead offered the standard terms for voluntary exits. The terms on offer are therefore the same as have been offered in other recent voluntary exit schemes.

Management want to be able to allow as many as possible of those who apply to leave. However, where schemes are over-subscribed, there will be a selection exercise using the standard DWP workforce management criteria of performance, competencies and attendance. In addition business needs may dictate that an individual will not be allowed to leave in particular circumstances.

Management are emphasising that all of these schemes are entirely voluntary and are not planned as any kind of precursor to a move towards compulsory redundancies. 

Vicinity

These schemes are scattered around a large number of DWP offices. In many cases there will be sites where some staff are eligible to apply and yet other staff in the same grade but on a different section are not eligible to apply. The GEC pressed management to widen the schemes to avoid this happening, but they refused

PCS Response – More staff not Less

PCS is completely opposed to these savage and unnecessary job cuts. We firmly believe that DWP needs more staff not less. Over 20,000 staff have left DWP since 2010 and the department should not allow any more to leave. PCS has of course made our opposition to this scheme very clear to management.

Members are already working under excessive pressure to keep on top of their workloads with the staff that we have now. This pressure and stress will increase even more if 1,700 staff are allowed to leave, on top of the normal turnover of staff and with no recruitment or promotion planned.

The GEC believe the department is being over-reliant on recent dips in unemployment to justify these staff cuts. Our view is that it is still very unclear whether the long term trend is for unemployment to fall and the risks of further increases remain all too real. In fact, in many regions, unemployment is actually still increasing. It is also madness for any jobs to be cut when, as we are repeatedly told remains the case, DWP has to convert 7 million claims to Universal Credit by the end of 2017.

The GEC will continue to campaign for more permanent jobs to lift the pressure on staff, for promotion and career development opportunities and a fully funded DWP that provides excellent customer service.

Black History Month

What is Black History Month?
Black History Month (BHM) was an initiative from Carter G Woodson, a US historian. He started the holiday which coincided with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederic Douglass. Woodson hoped that eventually it would stop once black history became a fundamental part of American history.

Why support Black History Month?
Black History Month is an opportunity to focus on the achievements of black people in the past and present, which may have been forgotten about or are absent from history books and the education system. For this reason it can be classed as “hidden” history. Similarly the role of women, disabled, LGBT and ordinary workers in general is often omitted from history.

In the US, it is celebrated in February but in the UK it is celebrated in October of each year. In the UK, it has been celebrated since about 1987. Here, Black History Month has encompassed the history of African, Caribbean and Asian people in this country, who have a direct link with the UK through slavery, colonialism and migration to the UK.

Organising for Black History Month
Whilst Black history events can provide an informative and interesting experience, it is hoped PCS branches take the opportunity to engage with black members.

Black History Month should be used to help of organising black members and publicising the inequalities faced by them in the workplace and society. It should be factored into branch organising plans and be a regular part of their calendar.

There is now a toolkit that branches can use to help organise events. This can be found in the useful documents box.

Forward any suggestions or ideas for Black History Month to equality@pcs.org.uk.

Black History month 2013
The National Black Members committee agreed to follow on from the TUC theme of "Putting Race back on the agenda" and highlight two key events.

March for jobs and freedom
2013 is the 50th anniversary of two major events in history. On 28th August 1963, Martin Luther King made his “I have a dream speech” during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. In addition to demands for civil rights made by the marchers, was a law to prohibit race discrimination in employment and a minimum wage for all workers.

The United Auto Workers union helped organise the demonstration and one of the march’s leaders was A. Philip Randolph, President of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (railway porters union).

King recognised that poverty amongst blacks was linked to the disparity of wealth in the US. He opposed the Vietnam War, arguing the money could be spent on welfare and began the Poor People’s campaign in 1968 to raise economic issues. King supported workers’ struggles to the bitter end – he was killed, whilst supporting a strike of black sanitation workers for better pay and conditions.

Lift the colour bar!
1963 was also the year the Bristol Bus boycott took place, instigated by Paul Stephenson. The local bus company refused to employ black people – the practice of which was condoned by the local union branch!

Stephenson, inspired by the actions of Rosa Parkes, in the US civil rights struggle, called for a boycott of the bus company. He received support from many local people and Bristol MP, Tony Benn. After 60 days – and coincidentally, the same day Martin Luther King was making his historic speech – the employer gave in and lifted the colour bar.

Working life
Unfortunately the parallels for black communities in 2013 are still to be found. As workers pay the price for the financial speculation and the recession, only 61% of black people are likely to be employed, compared with 76.1% of white workers. With 13.5% of the 1.3 million claiming job seekers allowance, black people are over represented in the “claimant count” as well.

Performance management systems introduced by many Government departments are likely to impact disproportionately amongst black PCS members based on statistics collated by departments.

It is clear that the only way to prevent these attacks is to get active in the union, work alongside your local reps and help to build the widest possible movement against austerity.

Get active
Contact your local branch to see what opportunities there are to get involved, find out about your regional black members network that can help you and your colleagues achieve a more equal workplace and society.

Workers told to pay for justice

The following has been supplied by the TUC:
The TUC has slammed new plans to make workers with household savings of £3,000 pay the full cost of going to an employment tribunal. The fees introduced on 29 July mean workers can be required to pay up to £1,200 for taking a tribunal complaint about issues including victimisation for safety activities, sexual harassment or race discrimination. The government had claimed a system of 'fee remissions' would mean those on lower incomes would not have to pay the full charge. But, under proposals announced this week, any individual or household reaching the £3,000 savings threshold will not be entitled to any fee remission. From next month they will have to pay the maximum £1,200 fee to take a safety victimisation case to tribunal, for example, even if they are in a low-paid job or on means-tested benefits. The TUC says the government's decision will affect over two-fifths of all UK households and more than a third of couples with children. It adds the proposals will force low-paid workers to raid their savings and deter them from pursuing genuine cases. TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady said: 'These plans will seriously limit access to justice for those who have been prudent enough to put money aside for hard times. Forcing people to raid their savings will serve only to deter victims from challenging unlawful behaviour by employers and is yet another attack on people's rights at work.' She added: 'Low-paid and older workers are likely to be the biggest victims from these proposals that give even more power to Britain's worst bosses.' The union body believes that in discouraging workplace whistleblowing, the system will make workplaces more dangerous. The TUC analysis of the Family Resources Survey shows that 46 per cent of all UK households will not qualify for a remission and 39 per cent of couples with children will have to pay full fees. The proposals will also penalise older workers who are more likely to have savings.

Legal Fees

The following has been supplied by PCS HQ:
Government changes mean that the high street law firms and claims companies you see advertised on TV can now take up to 25% of any damages they secure for injured people. 

Using union legal services means members will keep 100% of their compensation.

Shared Services Privatisation Latest from PCS

The following has been supplied by PCS DWP Group:
To all PCS members in Shared Services.

The cabinet office has announced that Steria UK is the governments chosen preferred bidder for the joint venture privatisation of Shared Services.

Staff who are in scope should have received a letter to notify them and explain what this means.

Management in some Shared services sites are planning to do staff briefings.

PCS has made arrangements to meet with Steria UK on Monday 16 September. 

The union is also continuing to raise all of your concerns with the cabinet office.

As part of the campaign to stop the threat of privatisation, please go to the link here and send the pre written campaign email to your MP urging them to contact Francis Maude MP, Cabinet Office Minister, and challenge his plans.

Please do this from your personal email and ask all staff to do the same.

Attend your PCS meeting
A further round of PCS members meetings are being organised in all Shared services sites. Please make sure you attend.

Say no to off-shoring
Steria UK have a proven record of off shoring work. PCS will use all possible means to protect your job and oppose off shoring of sensitive work.

Tell PCS your questions
If you have questions and concerns pleases tell your local PCS rep. We will make sure that all of your concerns are raise directly with Steria UK next week.

Now is the time to join PCS
If you are not already a union member now is the time to join PCS. Get the protection and support of the union and get involved in our campaign to defend shared services. Ask your local PCS rep for a membership application form or download and complete the form here and return it to Room C122A, Warbreck House.

Making jobs better keeps you well

The following has been supplied by the TUC:
Cutting the mental and social strain caused by work can make workers healthier in the short and long term, new research has found. A Finnish study discovered the risk of an employee claiming a work disability pension due to musculoskeletal diseases can be decreased by up to 35 per cent by reducing the workplace strains. For mental health problems, improving the job can mean the chance of a disability claim drops by almost 20 per cent. 'These figures are from a Finnish follow-up study in which 30,000 men and women participated. The study investigated how the improvement of employees' potential to influence work time could reduce early exit from work,' said Professor Mika Kivimäki from the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health (FIOH) and University College London. 'The prevention of cardiovascular and other chronic diseases is vital for extending working careers,' said Kivimäki. 'Controlling the psychosocial factors of work may help reduce early retirement due to illness. Currently, however, systematic research of concrete ways in which to decrease psychosocial workload at workplaces is largely lacking.' The professor was commenting ahead of a 'Work, Well-being and Wealth: Active Ageing at Work' conference (WWW) held this week in Helsinki.

Academic concern over safety of UK workplaces

The following has been supplied by the TUC: 
Top safety academics from England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have warned that the UK government's safety strategy is not evidence-based and is leaving workers at greater risk of injury and disease. The eight experts, including Professors Matthias Beck from Queen's University, Belfast, Steve Tombs from the Open University and David Walters from Cardiff University, 'note with concern the withdrawal by the UK government of routine inspections in the majority of workplaces.' They add that statements on the workplace safety web pages of the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) claiming the 'burden of excessive health and safety rules and regulations on business has become too great' and that a 'damaging compensation culture is stifling innovation and growth' are not supported by the evidence. 'The government will best protect people in workplaces by effective regulation and enforcement yet the decline in funding for regulators is happening at a time when the UK is still faced with enormous burdens of work-related ill health as well as major injuries due to failures in workplace safety measures,' they note. The open letter adds that government 'lies and distortion' about business burdens and compensation culture should stop because 'properly enforced regulation is good for the workforce, good for the economy and favours the responsible businesses over the corner-cutting rogues.'

Latest Attacks on Conditions of Service

Attendance Allowance Unit – “It’s Appalling”

Members in AAU at Warbreck will have seen their Christmas/ New Year arrangements imposed as:

• A daily 25% annual and flexi leave allowance to be applied for the period 23 December up to and including 31 December 2013;
• The 25% annual and flexi leave allowance can be increased to 33% (across the same period of time), if all OET performance metrics are rated green across all Units on 30 November 2013. In addition to the OET Metrics, International Claims Weeks on Hand must be less than 5;
•  ………………. after the Christmas period in Pensions, annual and flexi allowances will be reduced to 10% on 2 and 3 January;
• The percentages above apply to members of staff available to work on the relevant dates (e.g. they do not include Part Time and Part Year absences);

The Branch has raised our concerns with the relevant PCS DWP Group Assistant Secretary and the PCS DWP Group Secretary.

We believe that an agreed level of 30% of staff in the office over the Festive period would be acceptable and that the staff covering should be volunteers under the previously agreed sense of the word.

We believe that there is an underlying lack of staffing when compared to the workloads and a pressure to meet targets regardless of the impact on the work life balance of the staff.

Many areas of the Branch have experienced massive job cuts. The cuts impact on members directly in terms of being made surplus or indirectly by having insufficient staff to cope with the workloads.

Tory Party Conference Demo, Manchester

2013 National campaign event North west.

On Sunday 29 September supporters of the NHS will join with trade unions, community groups and members of the public to protest against the government’s on-going programme of austerity.

The march and rally, called by the North West TUC, will take place in Manchester to coincide with the Conservative Party Conference. The march will assemble from 11am on Liverpool Road and the route will take demonstrators to Whitworth Park on Oxford Road for a rally.

PCS, as part of the TUC, is supporting a rally at the Conservative party conference on 29 September. An estimated 30,000 people are expected to attend.

The agreed themes of the day are:

• Save the NHS Invest in jobs
• No to austerity

PCS will be pushing its own 'Stop the cuts' agenda.

Timings
11.00 - Assemble at Liverpool Road
12.30 - Move off via city centre - including Deansgate and Lower Mosely Street - to Whitworth Park (approx. 2.5 miles)
14:00 - Rally with music and speeches

PCS-organised transport
If you're a PCS member you can travel to the event with us for free.

Tory Party Conference Demo - Transport from the North West
Date: 29 September 2013
Location: Blackpool, Chester, Preston and Liverpool

PCS are organising coaches to transport members to the event. Coaches will drop-off on Water Street, within a few yards of the start of the march, and return coaches will pick up adjacent to Whitworth Park.

In the North West the following departure points and approximate times are planned:

• Blackpool (9:00am) via Preston (9:30am) to arrive Manchester at 11:00am
• Chester (9:30am) to arrive Manchester at 11:00am
• Liverpool (9:30am) to arrive Manchester at 11:00am

As for previous events, members may be accompanied by up to one adult and two children (named) family members.

Further details on exact pick-up points will be posted here when we have them.

The main event contact is:

PCS NWRC
Tel: 0151 298 3900
nwrc@pcs.org.uk

Part-time working requests and DWP Policy & Procedure

The following has been supplied by PCS HQ. Please note that the links will only work if you are viewing this page on the DWP intranet.

Policy, procedure and advice

DWP Policy, Procedure, Advice for Working Hours and Working Patterns, together with a   Guide for Managers, is published on the DWP intranet. These documents provide the process for part-time working requests, including requesting a change to full-time hours.

All employees are entitled to apply

All employees with at least 26 weeks reckonable service in DWP are entitled to apply to change their working hours or working pattern twice a year. In exceptional cases line managers have discretion to accept applications within the first 26 weeks and further applications in under a year. (DWP Procedure 3)

Employees may apply to vary their employment contract if they wish to change the hours they are required to work, or when and sometimes where they are required to work them. In particular employees can apply for:

·         Part-time working

·         Part-year working (e.g. working term-time only)

·         Job-sharing

·         Compressed hours

·         Homeworking

·         Full-time working

Application for change

DWP Procedure paragraph 4 provides the requirements for applications. The employee must apply to the manager in writing, stating:

·         Whether they are applying under the Statutoryscheme (see DWP Policy paragraphs 18-19)

·        The date of their last application (if any)

·        The new working pattern (or cycle if it changes over two or more weeks) they are applying to work

·        What effect they feel their proposal will have on their business area (for example by reference to the working patterns of their colleagues in the same team)

·        How they believe the effects of their changed working pattern can be handled to meet their needs, their colleagues' needs and the needs of the business

·        The date when they would like the new working pattern to start, giving a minimum of six weeks’ notice of that date. It is helpful, for administrative purposes, for changes to take effect from a Monday date, where possible

Considering an application

DWP managers have a duty to seriously consider the request and may agree applications without need for a meeting. If the request cannot be immediately agreed: 

·         A meeting must be arranged  to discuss the application (Procedure 5)

·         The employee must be offered the option of being accompanied at the meeting by a Trade Union Rep or work colleague (Procedures 6).

Managers can reject a request only on a number of specific grounds, as specified under DWP Procedure paragraph 9:

·         Burden of additional costs

·         A detrimental effect on ability to meet customer demand

·         No scope to reorganise work among existing employees

·         No scope to recruit additional employees

·         A detrimental effect on quality

·         A detrimental effect on performance

·         A lack of sufficient work during the periods the applicant proposes to work

·         Planned structural changes

It is not good enough to simply refuse a request for “business reasons”, or without a formal meeting, or simply give one or more of the reasons listed above, without a sufficient explanation as to how such grounds for refusal actually apply in the employee’s case.

Decision Makers Guide

Standards for decision makers and appeal managers when making decisions are detailed in the Decision Makers’ Guide.

Managing Working Patterns Guide

The Managing Working Patterns – Guide for Managers is “a tool for assisting managers” and should not be used as a substitute for DWP Policy and Procedures or Law. This Guide is biased towards “business reasons” for refusing applications. Such refusals must only be applied with a sufficient explanation as to how such grounds for refusal actually apply in the employee’s case. 

Statutory scheme

The terms of the statutory scheme are detailed under DWP Policy paragraphs 18-19. Anyone can ask to work flexibly under DWP Working Hours and Working Patterns Policy, but the statutory right to do so is restricted to:

·         Employees

·         With 26 weeks service

·         Having not made another application under this right within the previous 12 months

·         Caring for an adult who is married to or the partner or civil partner, relative or living at the same address as the employee; or

·         Is, or is the partner of, the mother, father, adopter, guardian or foster parent of a child and has (or expects to have) parental responsibility for the child.

The statutory right is a right to request flexible working which may only be refused after a formal meeting, with the right to be accompanied by a Trade Union Rep or work colleague and one or more of the statutory grounds for refusal apply. These grounds match the reasons for refusal under DWP Procedure paragraph 9.

Normally permanent changes

Any agreed change will normally be a permanent change to the employee’s contracted working hours or working pattern unless the manager’s decision is to accept the change only for a specific stated period, at the end of which the employee must revert to their previous working hours. (Procedure 3.5)

Right of Appeal

Employees have a right to raise a grievance and appeal against refusal of their request, under the DWP Formal Grievance and Appeal Procedures, with the right to be accompanied.

Partial Retirement

The following has been supplied by PCS HQ:
The freeze on recruitment has meant that there have been very few new members of staff employed in DWP for a number of years. As a result of this there has been a big increase in the average age of the current workforce. Recent statistics revealed that 42.4% of staff are over 50, with 22.5% over 55.
People approaching retirement age now have a range of options open to them and may chose to combine work with other interests. Inevitably there are those who are considering taking the option of partial retirement.

What is Partial Retirement?
Partial Retirement is a flexibility introduced across the Civil Service in March 2008 enabling members of the PCSPS to take some, or all, of their pension and carry on working. There are set conditions, details of which can be found on the Civil Service Pensions website, and there is a Partial retirement calculator which members can use to understand how it will affect income, also on the same website. Members can apply for partial retirement from age 55 (50 if in Classic, Classic Plus or Premium pre 6 April 2006).

Worklife Balance
People choose to take partial retirement for many reasons, increased caring responsibilities with elderly parents, looking after grandchildren, health reasons and often to move into retirement gradually for improved worklife balance.

Rejecting Requests
PCS has received reports from around the Country that some members encounter difficulties in getting agreement for partial retirement, the main reason for refusal being the old chestnut of ‘business needs’. While management are able to refuse requests their own guidance states that requests should be looked at sympathetically and that partial retirement is an important aspect of the government’s Extended Working Life agenda.

Conference Policy
At PCS Conference 2013 it was agreed that the GEC should negotiate improvements to the DWP Partial Retirement policy. In particular, to include a provision that when a request for partial retirement has been refused on the grounds of business needs the refusal should last no longer than 6 months and then the request should be allowed. It is clear that this would be more appropriate to the governments Extended Working Life agenda than an outright refusal. The six month period giving DWP long enough to make arrangements to cover any shortfall created by the reduction in hours by an individual.

PCS, through DTUS, recently wrote to DWP on the issue and they responded by saying that requests are considered sympathetically and granted where possible but if business needs are compromised they can be turned down. They went on to say that members can reapply at any time and have the request considered afresh therefore negating the need for an automatic review.

This was disappointing and we will continue to press for improvements to the policy. In the meantime, reps should advise members to put in grievances when requests are refused unreasonably and ask for full details of how business will be ‘compromised’ by the request. Furthermore, members should reapply if appropriate.

This is another area which has been the victim of the government’s ideological cuts agenda meaning that there is less flexibility within the workforce to fit into the governments own Extended Working life agenda allowing members to plan and ease into retirement.

PCS All-member Survey on hours, workloads and Work-life Balance

The following has been provided by the PCS Equality, Pay and Policy Department:

Over-worked? Not enough time?

Under pressure? Want your life back?

Complete our online survey today!

www.surveymonkey.com/s/PCS_Workloads_Work-life_Balance_Survey

As part of major research project with Keele University PCS is conducting a major online survey of our members on:

• Working hours
• Workloads and their implications for work-life balance

The anonymous survey will be online from 19 August to 30 September 2013 and takes between 15 and 20 minutes to complete.

Background
The impact of job losses and restructuring across the civil service and the public sector as a result of the Government’s austerity measures are having a huge impact on member’s lives both at work and at home.

Our survey will gather information about the impact on members’ working lives and work-life balance as a result of:

• cuts in the workplace that have already happened
• proposed downgrades to terms and conditions.

Building on earlier work
We're working with Dr Steve French from the Employment Policy and Equalities Research Group at Keele to run the survey. A similar study by the researchers at Keele, was undertaken in 2007. This new follow-up survey has additional questions on proposed changes to terms and conditions initiated by the Cabinet Office as part of the civil service reform agenda. It will allow a major comparative analysis and provide evidence of the effects of the austerity and public sector cuts, which PCS will be able to use as part of our national campaign and in negotiations.

Get involved If you're a PCS member complete the survey today.

If you'd like the survey in an alternative format contact equality@pcs.org.uk

Tell us your story
We're always after case studies for PCS magazine articles or other communications. If you'd like to tell us your story we'd love to hear from you - email David Tilley or Jonathan Lovett.

Count Me In
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