Local NLP - Hypnotherapy Option – A New Option

The Fylde Central Benefits and Services Branch have been approached by a former Branch Officer, who is now a fully trained and functioning Neuro Linguistic Programming/ Hypnotherapist working in Fylde/ Preston area.

They have informed the Branch that they are prepared to offer a 10% discount to members of PCS Fylde Central Benefits and Services members.

They offer a free telephone consultation for those interested; please see the following website for contact details www.soulminder.co.uk.

They are having a sale in December 2014 and January 2015.

PCS members can have a 10% discount anytime.

We obviously cannot recommend one NLP/ Hypnotherapy practitioner over another however we thought that members may be interest in the above option. Please note that other options are available.

This is not a recommendation from the Branch and we would recommend that all members consider all the options if they do feel that they want to consider taking forward the offer.

If you wish to pursue the matter via this route then please visit the following website www.soulminder.co.uk.

Short Story Competition

Wordsmag is running a short story competition open to union members.

Entry is free and closes on December 30th 2014 with a £50 first prize.

Further information can be viewed on the Wordsmag website.

NHS Demonstration 24-11-14

The following has been received from Blackpool Against the Cuts:

To All BAC Supporters,

Thought you might like to know that the there is to be a demonstration in support of the NHS at the NEW main entrance of Victoria Hospital Blackpool on Monday 24th of November between 8am and 11am. Anyone wishing to show their support will be very welcome.

Also a reminder that the monthly BAC meetings are now held at Marton Institute. The next one is on Tuesday 25 November at 6.10pm.

Warbreck Direct Debit Switch Day – 19th November 2014

To all Members of the PCS Fylde Central Benefits and Services Branch

Dear Colleagues

Warbreck Direct Debit Switch Day
19^th November 2014

Members will have seen the details about the threat to PCS in terms of the employer withdrawing “check off” (payment of subscriptions from wages) and the reasons why we are asking members to switch to direct debit.

We have arranged various venues at Warbreck on Wednesday 19^th November 2014, to help members make the switch.

It would be beneficial if members had their National Insurance Number/ or PCS Membership Number, Bank account and Sort Code details with them in order to switch to DD on 19^th November 2014. It will take a matter of seconds to switch to Direct Debit if you have these details to hand.

The venues and times are as follows:

Free Prize Draw

Remember that there are still two free prize draws of £25 vouchers for members who had signed up to Direct Debit and whose records were held by PCS HQ.

The prizes are being funded by donations, the funds and are not coming from PCS subscriptions. Branch Executive Committee members are not allowed to win. If one were to be drawn out then there would be a re-draw. Each month PCS HQ will provide the Branch with a list of members who have supplied the required details and we will use this list for the draw.

What will happen once I sign up to DD?

PCS HQ will upload your direct debit details onto the PCS computer system alongside all of the other details we already hold for you. But your direct debit won’t be activated until the removal of ‘check off’ is notified to us by the DWP or PCS nationally decides. You will not have two deductions in one month; PCS will ensure all payments are correct. You will be told when DD will begin.

PCS will keep your details safe and secure

PCS already holds a lot of personal details about you as part of your membership records. We keep all personal data completely secure and confidential. PCS has signed up to the legally binding Direct Debit Guarantee scheme to give you data protection financial security. It is no different from any other Direct Debit you have for insurance, gas or electric.

Is it easy to do?

YES you can do it quickly by going to: www.pcs.org.uk/dd-day

If you require any further details please do not hesitate to contact me.

If you have any difficulties in switching to Direct Debit through the above process please contact Mick Daniels (Branch Organiser/ Direct Debit Switch Campaign) by email or on Ext 61186 or come to one of the sign up venues on the 19^th of November.

Yours sincerely

Duncan Griffiths

Branch Secretary

Government misled Lords on self-employment

The following details have been supplied by the TUC:

A Government Minister misled the Lords over plans to exempt most self-employed workers from the Health and Safety at Work Act, new information indicates.

Ministers have claimed consistently that their proposals stem from Professor Ragnar Löfstedt’s government-ordered review which recommended withdrawing safety duties from self-employed people “whose work activities pose no potential risk of harm to others”.

But the Government turned that on its head and instead proposed exempting all self-employed people unless they are on a list of prescribed activities.

According to TUC head of safety Hugh Robertson: “This, as the HSE has admitted, will mean that many self-employed people who do pose a risk to themselves or others will no longer be covered by the Act.” Professor Löfstedt has consistent and publicly said that this was not what he proposed. During a 21 October Lords debate on the Deregulation Bill, however, government minister Lord Curry said: “I was in contact with Professor Löfstedt in the past week. He has seen the wording of the Bill and appears to be very content with it."

The Lords then voted to support the self-employed exemption.

It has since come to light that Professor Löfstedt subsequently wrote to Lord Curry refuting his claims. “It is not correct to say that I was content with it,” he told Lord Curry. “I noted that it should be the other way around – that is we should be looking at exempting self-employed individuals who don’t pose risks to others such as novel writers, web designers and academics.” 

The Bill is expected to return to the Lords before the end of the year, where Labour’s Lord McKenzie will once again try to amend the Bill. “Let us see whether the government will put their hands up and admit they have got it wrong,” commented TUC’s Hugh Robertson, adding: “Somehow I doubt it.”

DWP will end check off by February 2015 or earlier

The following details have been supplied by PCS DWP Group:

The Group Executive Committee met DWP management again last week about the government’s political attack on check off for PCS members. The DWP have now formally stated, “we intend to remove check off with appropriate notice”. The GEC will continue to fully  oppose the ending of check off.

Hypocrisy

Management argue that check off is old fashioned and not appropriate in a modern workplace. Yet when questioned by the GEC they have confirmed that they are not stopping check off for any other organisations. They will continue to operate check off for HASSRA. So what they really mean is that the government hate PCS because our union has challenged their failed austerity programme and they are ending check off in a political attack on our union’s finances. They have even approached PCS to ask if they can promote our credit union and allow staff to pay into it by check off. The government’s hypocrisy is breathtaking.

Waste of Money

Following the privatisation of Shared Services DWP check off is now done by the private company SSCL. SSCL will charge the DWP to end check off. We know that it will cost much more to end check off than it would to carry on with check off. This is what happens when you sell our work to a private company. Naturally they want a profit for implementing a change. The GEC has made clear that this is a misuse of taxpayer’s money on a political whim.

In line with national union bargaining policy the GEC has offered to pay to keep check off. This charging option has in fact always been in the national civil service code. DWP have agreed that they will include this offer in their final report to the DWP Ministers. 

Pension changes risk

SSCL also have to implement the 2015 civil service pension changes next spring. The DWP say they believe that SSCL can cope with both jobs; administering the end of check off and the civil service pension changes, at the same time. Whilst PCS is opposed to many of the civil service pension changes the GEC have nevertheless told DWP management that it is wrong to force SSCL to do both jobs at the same time and they should be allowed to focus on

the changes to the civil service pension scheme. The GEC have told DWP management that it is wrong to take any risk with the civil service pension changes by asking SSCL to do this extra job. 

Appropriate notice

The final meeting with the DWP is on Wednesday 26 November. In the meantime the GEC have written to management again repeating in full all of our opposition to the ending of check off. The DWP have agreed to include the full wording of our opposition to the end of check off in the report that goes to DWP ministers for a final decision.

In terms of “appropriate notice”, PCS would expect the DWP to give 90 days’ notice for such a fundamental change but no specific commitment has been given. However, we anticipate that the last check off in the DWP will be at the end of February. The GEC is continuing to argue for a later date or for check off to carry on.   

It is PCS national conference policy to move all of our members to Direct Debit by April 2015. The national union has also agreed that all Direct Debit payments will be on the first of each month. If management end check off at the end of February 2015 the first payment by Direct Debit in the DWP would therefore be 1^st April 2015. Following lengthy and detailed negotiations and pressure by the GEC DWP management’s most likely timetable for ending check off fits in with PCS conference policy of moving all members to Direct Debit by April 2015. 

However, it would be a very big mistake not to get every member DD ready as soon as possible as a matter of urgency. The DWP could give even shorter notice and end check off earlier than February 2015 and in any case the PCS HQ membership Department will need adequate time to action all DWP forms and actually put DD in place.

Newsnight reveals inaccuracies in Iain Duncan Smith's CV

Members may wish to view the following link to a BBC News article from 2002 regarding the Secretary of State.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2002/12_december/19/newsnight_ids_cv.shtml

http://www.campaigncc.org/upcomingevents6

Government tries to bury good news on safety

The following details have been supplied by the TUC:
The Government has attempted to quietly bury its own appraisal of the Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) “approach to negotiating and implementing European legislation” after it concluded it did not lead to problems for British business. Instead the review by a Senior Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) official found the approach did fit well with the Government’s “growth agenda”.

The TUC said there was no announcement in parliament, with the report instead published online without notice on a Friday afternoon. According to TUC head of safety Hugh Robertson: “It simply appeared on the DWP website after the Government sat on it for six months, despite having received Freedom of Information requests for it from Hazards magazine several months ago.” He added that the Government “set up this review because they wanted to be able to use the report to attack both the EU and health and safety in general,” but then attempted to bury it when the facts didn’t fit.

According to TUC, the report found “there is absolutely no grounds for Britain refusing to implement any of the proposed EU regulations on health and safety… In summary, the Government, once again set up an inquiry to try to get ammunition that they could use against two of its big bogeymen, health and safety and Europe. They failed miserably so, once they were forced to publish it, they slipped it out on a Friday without even a press announcement.”

PCS says no to increased benchmark/minimum expectation levels in PIP

The Following has been supplied by the PCS DWP GEC:
Branch Briefing DWP/BB/188/14 gave details of the Group Executive Committee (GEC) demands put to DWP management as part of the Group Campaign Plan. One of the GEC objectives in the talks we are seeking with management is that – “Minimum Expectation Levels in the benefits directorate are suspended pending proper consultation with PCS on benchmarks.” PCS opposition to increased benchmarks/minimum expectation levels is part of the Group Campaign Plan. This briefing gives in interim report and advice to branches.

Benchmark levels are an average and should be measured as such with the variation in the complexity of decisions.  However there is a great deal of pressure on individuals on a daily basis. This is increasing their stress levels by ignoring the fact that decision rates will vary.

Recently PIP management raised the benchmark for PIP decisions from 3-4 to 7-9 a day. PCS were already concerned about the pressure on PIP staff before the changes in benchmarks because of the lack of staff in this area of work.

Management recently told PCS that these benchmarks were now achievable and that all sites were producing 7 a day or more. They stated that more streamlining of the process, more empowerment of decision makers, more support in reaching the target and the introduction of the new RFD tool made the increased benchmark possible.

However, feedback from reps at the recent PIP meeting was that the new RFD tool was cumbersome and hindered decision making rather than making it faster. IT was generally regarded as poor.

The reps also reported that at some offices they were not allowed to count “failed to attend” decisions as part of the daily benchmark.

Whilst there have been some improvements to the tools available to staff PCS wish to monitor how well these tools are working in practice and what problems members are experiencing.  Please let your local reps know about any issues that you have so they can be raised with management.

Targets v Quality

PCS remain concerned about the pressure on existing staff and the culture that has developed seeming to only concentrate on quantity rather than the quality of the service that we are providing to the public.  This does not seem to fit at all with the Operations wide emphasis on quality.

The Quality Project has been set up to look at ways to reduce pressure by getting work right first time, giving full details to the public to reduce mandatory reconsiderations and appeals and avoiding rework and errors which are more time consuming than initially spending time getting the work right.

Increasing pressure on staff does not necessarily lead to increased productivity as the increase in stress can have a detrimental impact on staff’s health and well-being.

Members report constant pressure to meet the targets: pulse points where staff are informed of output several times a day still take place in some offices. Daily status reports are issued and frequent performance telekits take place.

Noel Shanahan made it clear that the targets should not lead to perverse behaviours which can actually prevent us from providing a quality service.

“We must never let a target stop us from doing the right thing for our customers. Let’s be clear – we’re not going to get rid of targets. We’re a delivery organisation, we are in the results business so we have to have a way of measuring what we do and setting expectations.

There are cases that require more time, and we shouldn’t be afraid to give that to them. If you think that this is not happening locally then please speak up through your line management chain.”

In practise, members feel under such pressure that they have no option but to cut corners and produce poor quality decisions. We encourage all members to report undue pressure on them to local reps as well as examples of how targets are preventing them from providing a quality service to the public.

Band B Benchmarks

At the recent PIP reps meeting we received feedback that Band B benchmarks varied with the type of work being undertaken but were also generally regarded as being too high. Undue pressure on the Customer Service Section was also reported. PCS are interested in having any feedback on these issues.

Other Feedback

We would also welcome feedback from Branches about the levels of sickness absence in the PIP sites and the level of mandatory reconsiderations that are requested for PIP decisions. Please send any comments to Alison Carass at Group Office.

Negotiations Continue

PCS will continue to raise all of these issues with Management and strenuously challenge unfair and unreasonable benchmarks. Members will be consulted on the outcome of talks.

Alison Carass

Group Executive Committee

DWP Group Campaign Plan Report

The following details have been supplied by PCS DWP Group:
The PCS DWP Group Executive Committee (GEC) met on 29 and 30 October. A key part of the meeting was a discussion about the DWP Group Campaign Plan agreed by conference in May.

The GEC reviewed and welcomed the progress made by negotiation and campaigning so far on some issues.

Despite this progress on some issues the GEC expressed anger at the increased pressure on staff. The GEC therefore agreed to ask for an urgent meeting with departmental management about the key issues of concern to our members. 

The GEC noted a number of areas where improvements have been won by negotiation, particularly to cabinet office Civil Service Employee Policy proposals and in campaigns such as the brilliant stand by members at Garston Contact Centre to fight the proposed closure of their office. However, the GEC are clear that continual government pressure to cut staffing has resulted in an unacceptable squeeze in our members’ working conditions as the department try to force more out of less staff.

In particular the recent decision by the DWP to recruit Agency Workers into contact centres, at the same time as announcing mass voluntary exits and more staff moves, is further evidence of the chaos in the management of department. The GEC is clear that Agency Workers are a threat to members’ job security, undermine the rate of pay for the job and are an attempt to undermine the PCS unionised workforce.

It is a sad indictment of the public perception of the government department with the role of getting people into work that it is now seen as offering such low paid temporary jobs because it can no longer attract new staff into sites in some areas of the country, even in the worst recession for a generation. 

The GEC is determined to fight the drift towards a low paid, casualised, low morale workforce.

The GEC has therefore now written to the DWP Permanent Secretary seeking a meeting to demand – 

1. Staffing levels need to be increased with permanent employees to allow our members to provide an improved service to the public.
2. That the use of agency workers is ceased, the current agency workers should be offered a DWP contract, on equal pay and conditions. 
3. That work is moved to AAs where they are surplus or at risk of being surplus 
4. The festive leave restrictions in place are immediately ceased, with a 40% limit applying across the peak leave period. 
5. Minimum Expectation Levels in the benefits directorate are suspended  pending proper consultation with PCS on benchmarks. 
6. Access to genuine flexible working arrangements is restored across the department 
7. Privatised work, such as the handling JSA and IS calls, is brought back in house and no further privatisation of DWP work. 
8. Managing Attendance policy and procedures should be improved and staff should be treated fairly. 
9. Performance management policy must be adhered to with no quotas and all decisions must be fair and transparent. 
10. Arbitrary restrictions to part-time working must end. 
11. Work Experience participants must not be used to carry out DWP work. 
12. Pay should be increased by at least £1,200 or by 5%. 
13. No compulsory redundancies and no compulsory transfers. 
14. No changes to grading without proper consultation

The GEC believes that all of these issues are of key concern to our members and are reasonable policies that should be adopted by any good employer.

The GEC believe that all of these are issues within the control of DWP management. The GEC has asked for centralised departmental talks on all of these issues.

The PCS message to the DWP is clear. Stop making the department a worse place to work, stop attacking our members, talk seriously to the union about our reasonable proposals or there will be a sustained campaign of action for an improved DWP.

Staffing chaos continues – recruitment in Pensions Directorate

The following details have been supplied by PCS DWP Group:
The chaos in DWP staffing continues this week.  After the announcement of a VES scheme for staff in operations last week DWP management are announcing today that further external recruitment is required for the Pensions Directorate and Universal Credit.

Management have decided that the Pensions directorate needs around 200 extra staff to deal with extra work associated with pension reforms and the increase in requests for pension statements as well as increased GMS work.  Adverts will go on CS vacancies website for FTA jobs in Dundee, Motherwell and Newcastle Pension Centres.  There will also be further recruitment next year for another 200 staff to deal with the abolition of AIPs and prepare for pension changes from 2016.

AOs in Newcastle who were due to transfer to CMG will be given a choice to opt to work in the Pensions Directorate as there is also a need for extra staff in this area of operations.  This option does not apply to staff who have been told they will be working on PIP.

Universal Credit will be recruiting 150 more FTAs on 18 month contracts in Dundee, Bolton, Bangor, Middlesbrough and Makerfield.

At the same time management have announced an Expression of Interest exercise for vacancies in other parts of DWP.  The vacancies are in specific locations for benefits, child maintenance group, network services, pensions, universal credit and debt management.  

The eligibility for this exercise will be the same as the VES scheme last week for AO and EO staff working in the Work Services Directorate.  AOs and EOs working in DWP Visiting, National Partnerships Team and Access to Work are not eligible.  Also EOs who are work coaches will be ineligible unless they are in Lancashire and Cumbria, Devon Cornwall and Somerset, East Anglia, Midland Shires, Surrey and Sussex and Thames Valley districts. 

PCS objected to the rigid targeting of the VES and the EOI schemes which reduces the opportunities for our members and the numbers who may want to apply.  Previously management have operated vicinity arrangements to maximise choice and PCS argued that this should be done again.

PCS continues to demand that we need extra staff across the department as no area is fully staffed to deliver quality public services.  Whilst management are finally doing external recruitment to fill some of the staffing gaps, any transfers to these areas will reduce the numbers being taken in externally from these recruitment exercises.

PCS voiced strong opposition to the management decision to reduce the staffing in Work Services Directorate by 7000 which has been made purely on finance grounds.  Despite official projections for falling unemployment, the pressures and workloads for our members on frontline remain intensive.

PCS will be meeting with work services management to raise these concerns about how our members can deliver services on the frontline if the staffing levels are reduced by this huge amount. 

Staffing is a key part of the PCS DWP Group campaigning work so keep up to date with latest developments on our website.