The purpose of this post is to provide feedback from a meeting
on 9th October 2013 with Senior BD Management.
Question a:
Recent announcement on 25th September 2013
We asked about
the recent announcement about Telephony and if they had any particular feedback
as we had several items below that we wanted to discuss.
Answer a:
Thus far as of
9th October 2013 there have been a handful of people who
have volunteered to go across to Helpline.
As far as the
AAU is concerned the cut off point is 16th
October 2013.
They are looking to remind people via their line management, if they want to
volunteer they should do so as soon as possible.
They are doing
presentations at present on the work in Helpline and explaining working
patterns and arrangements under the Benefit Directorate Flexible Working Hours
agreement.
As far as the
balance of work when the new Helpline is created, taking into account the
skills and knowledge of the AOs coming across from Ops, then they may start to
look at doing more “One and done” type activity. They aren’t looking at doing
“One and done” to start with due to the need to handle the calls and reduce
down the Ops sections. However moving to more “One and done” would be an
excellent step forward in the future.
On the
question of hours that people work especially those who have a pattern of hours
established; they were awaiting a list of the hours that people work who may
have difficulties. As far as the people who have a pattern, of say 7 am to 3 pm due to childcare (or other caring
responsibilities) they would look at doing what they can to make it easier for
people to undertake their work-life balance. Although nothing can be guaranteed
up front, in a carte blanche fashion, we would look at various options but we
need to be minded of the number of people that are moving to Helpline and the
limitations that we may have.
They were
looking to minimise the number of 6 pm finishes.
Turning to the
PIP calls training this could begin to take place in the New Year and they
didn’t want to lose the skills of that people had.
Finally on
overtime in Ops for people moving to the Helpline, provided that they had the
Ops skills and were trained they didn’t see any problems.
Question b: AAU and numbers of staff that they may want to take at
AO level
We indicated that
we were aware that members in the Attendance Allowance Unit had been given
numbers of AOs required to handle their Telephony and asked if there were now
details of how many people and at what grades they were looking to move across
to the AAU.
Answer b:
The latest
figures were 63 AOs, 5 EOs and 1 HEO. They are looking to transfer people
across starting in January 2014. Senior
AAU Management need to check the numbers generated by the call traffic, the
number of staff in Ops and Helpline, and ensure that all areas have staff
resource for the work.
If people go
to the AAU they will not be able to do overtime in DLA, but there may be overtime in the AAU.
As far as the
nature of the AAU call handling is concerned they may start off as a more
traditional call centre, but their direction of travel is towards more of “One
and done”.
Question c: AAU and the number of AAs that may be transferred to
Benefit Directorate at Warbreck
We asked about
the number of AAs that they were seeking from the AAU to undertake the DLA reassessment/ PIP work?
Answer c:
They have the
potential vacancies for 35 AAs, but in terms of AAs from the AAU, AAU Senior
Management think they can release up to 10 AAs by the latest at Christmas.
Question d: Confirmation
about which areas are business critical/ ring fenced
We indicated that
we were aware from the last meeting that there would be areas defined as business
critical and other areas that may need to be ring fenced in terms of AOs not in
the field of going to Helpline.
We asked when
there would be definite details of which of these areas and whether all the
people in those areas would be ring fenced or if it was just the area that was
ring fenced (or both)
Answer d:
It is both the
staff and the work that is ring fenced. There will be a list of the actual
teams and sections that are ring fenced published in the near future in the Q
& A brief.
Question e: Timescales for the moves and changes
We asked if they
had a timeline, in terms of when they expected the changes announced on 25th
September 2013,
and when this would be shared with the members concerned.
Answer e:
They will be
looking to take the first tranche of people into Helpline in early November
2013, there will be a timetable produced to assist staff in terms of planning
however the dates may change slightly over the forthcoming period.
Question f: Timescales for further announcements such as the need
for additional EO posts (or not)
We indicated that we were
aware of the previous announcement with Chorlton and Belle Vale and asked when
there would be any further announcements regarding additional EOs, and if there
wasn’t going to be any additional EOs what would the consequence be on the timescales
for DLA reassessment?
Answer f:
There could be an announcement in the
near future in terms of the need for extra EOs.
Question g:
PIP training and part time staff
We indicated that we had
previously raised the issue of the PIP training and had flagged up the
following from the DWP Intranet:
“22. Temporary
Changes
22.1 It may
occasionally be necessary, for example to attend training courses or during peak leave periods, for
managers to ask a part-time employee to voluntarily agree to increase their hours of attendance for
a short number of weeks. This may be achieved by;
Using the
flexible working hours scheme (where it meets business needs)
Authorising
the employee to work overtime
Agreeing a short term change to the contract of employment
22.2 If the
employee agrees to make a short term change to their contract they will always
revert to their original contracted hours and working pattern at the end of a
temporary period of additional hours.
22.3 Because an agreement to work additional
hours is a variation to the employee’s contract and terms of employment they
may be entitled to additional annual leave and re-imbursement of any extra
family care expenses."
We indicated that
we were concerned that the above approach hadn’t been adopted.
Answer g:
They expect
that most people will be able to make the full time training slots and they are
looking at a wide range of supportive measures to help people with their work
life balance whilst undertaking the training. Given the scale of the
undertaking of PIP training, it would be impossible to arrange tailored
training courses, for every individual working pattern, but would look at any
genuine difficulties that people might have.
NB: Please note that the answers also include answers to follow
up questions. The above report has been drafted in terms of the initial
questions only (not including follow up questions and statements).
Yours Sincerely
Duncan Griffiths
Branch Secretary
