PCS Wins FTA Redundancy Compensation Employment Tribunal

The following has been supplied by PCS HQ:

PCS took DWP to an Employment Tribunal (ET) to secure redundancy compensation for our FTA members who were dismissed when their FTA contracts were ended after two or more years of qualifying service. The tribunal has this week reported its decision and has found in PCS’ favour.

Fantastic Outcome
This is a fantastic outcome for PCS. The compensation should in total be worth over a million pounds. PCS had always argued against the dismissal of the FTA staff, arguing instead that all of them should have been converted into permanent staff to deal with the excessive workloads DWP faces. While we were able to achieve permanent contracts for some FTA’s it was not possible to do so in many cases. But we were determined to ensure that, where FTA staff were dismissed, then they received their due redundancy compensation

Lead cases
PCS used two volunteer FTA members as ‘lead cases’ to take the case to the tribunal on behalf of the hundreds of FTA members of PCS who were dismissed after two or more years qualifying service. The GEC would like to thank the two members who agreed to be our ‘lead cases’ for making this victory possible.

Confident we would win
If DWP had accepted its obligations from the start there would have been no need to go through the time and expense of legal action. But PCS was always confident that we had a strong case and that we would win. Now that we have won the tribunal we expect DWP to accept the verdict and pay the redundancy compensation to all of the FTA staff who are entitled to it.

Dismissals were redundancies
The tribunal decision centred on the question of whether the dismissal of an FTA by DWP at the end of their contract was a dismissal on the grounds of redundancy or a dismissal for ‘some other substantial reason’. PCS consistently argued that these dismissals were redundancies and therefore the FTA’s were entitled to a redundancy compensation payment in line with the provisions of the Civil Service Compensation Scheme. The tribunal has now confirmed that these dismissals were indeed redundancies.

The Civil Service Compensation Scheme says that “as long as the fixed term employee has at least two years qualifying service and is being dismissed for redundancy, they will receive the same compulsory compensation terms as a permanent member of staff.” Broadly speaking this compensation amounts to one month’s pay for each year of qualifying service.

DWP’s Response
In the light of the ET decision, PCS has contacted DWP management to confirm that they will now act in accordance with the tribunal’s decision and pay the redundancy compensation. We are awaiting their confirmation of how and when they will do this. As soon as we have more information on this we will keep branches and members informed.

Unions must fight for safety in a 'hostile' climate

The following has been supplied by the TUC:

A 'hostile' political climate is jeopardising hard won safety improvements at work, the TUC has warned. Launching the new edition of its bestselling safety publication Hazards at work last week, TUC said the government's disdain for workplace safety had resulted in the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) being barred from making unannounced visits to most workplaces. On top of this, HSE is in the middle of a cuts programme that will lop 35 per cent off its budget. TUC has called for a change of direction from the government, after latest death at work statistics showed the fatality rate remained at the same elevated level in 2011/12, up over 17 per cent on the record low figure in 2009/10. It is also urging union reps to get hold of a copy of the 2013 edition of Hazards at work, so they can use the 448-page guide to find their own solutions to health and safety problems at work. TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady said: 'This guide is an essential tool for union safety reps and employers and has never been more badly needed. The government seems determined to water down health and safety laws despite recent increases in workplace fatalities. It seems incredible that ministers seem unconcerned by the cut in the number of workplace inspections at a time when more people are dying and getting injured at work.' She added: 'Protection is more important now than ever and this book is one of the best tools for understanding, assessing and dealing with health and safety issues.'

Growth yes - but not at the cost of our safety

The following details have been supplied by the TUC:

The government is pandering to the business lobby at the expense of workplace safety, the TUC has warned. The union body was speaking out after an 8 March invitation from business minister Michael Fallon to 'businesses and regulators' to help fashion a 'growth duty' for regulators - a proposed legally-binding measure that 'will require regulators to take into account the impact of their activities on the economic prospects of firms they regulate.' A BIS news release announcing the quickie six week consultation, 'Non-economic Regulators: Duty to Have Regard to Growth', which 'businesses are invited' to consider ahead of a 19 April deadline, said: 'The proposed 'growth duty' will ensure that enforcement activity of these regulators, including the Health and Safety Executive, Environment Agency and Highways Agency, imposes minimum burdens that could hold businesses back, while upholding the highest standards of public protection.' TUC head of safety Hugh Robertson commented: 'High quality, safe work will help promote growth, but it is a pleasant addition to the greater benefit of having a happy healthy population. To achieve that we need strong, properly enforced regulation.' He added: 'If on the other hand we believe that regulation is simply there to promote business and help profitability then we might as well just hand over regulation-setting to the CBI. Mind you, they seem to be almost doing that, as the press release announcing the consultation exercise asks for the views of business, but not of workers or the public. That says it all really.' A commentary in Hazards magazine noted: 'Improving the 'economic prospects' of firms by slackening regulatory controls doesn't reduce costs, it shifts them.' Most of the cost of companies' safety shortcomings are carried by individuals, communities and the public purse, it concluded.

Support PCS, Support Yourself, Support Your Colleagues on March 20th

Dear Colleagues (and potential colleagues) in the Civil Service on the Fylde.

ALL OUT ON THE 20th OF MARCH 2013

THEN AN OVERTIME BAN UNTIL THE 20th OF JUNE 2013
PCS Rally in Preston at 11am - Details here.

(PLEASE NOTE THERE IS AN INDEFINITE OVERTME BAN IN MOD)

Ten reasons to support the PCS Action to defend pay jobs, pensions and conditions of service.

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

There are TEN good reasons why members are angry and should support the action:

• Pay: Pay in the Civil Service has been cut in real terms since 2007 with below inflation pay rises, and pay freezes. In the DWP has been cut in real terms between 13.8% and 19.2%
• Pensions if you retire now: Cut between 28.8% to 34.2%, not including the Public Sector Workers’ Tax and not including not receiving it until age 67 or 68, also not including that Members will get less in Pension.
• Jobs: Over 3,000 Jobs cut/lost from the Fylde in the Civil Service
• The Closure of a large part of the DWP Norcross: With up to 130 privatised Civil Servants being made compulsorily redundant
• Scrapping our Compensation Scheme if we are made redundant: After PCS had defeated this in Court, the Government changed the Law. No other employer could enforce cuts in Employment terms by changing the Law after it had been found to be acting unlawfully in Court.
• An attack on our Conditions of Service: Including our Annual Leave, Privilege Leave, Mobility rules, sick pay and a raft of other issues
• Privatisation: All this is to prepare the ground to sell us off to the Private Sector (or the Privatised Sector) to make more money for the rich, and the Tax Dodgers. It is the case that we did not create the financial mess; we are not the financial speculators who created the financial mess and resultant recession. We did not financially benefit from the financial sector bubble that so spectacularly burst. We should not be expected to pay for someone else’s mess.
• People at DWP Norcross being asked to work up to 2 hours a day extra: People at DWP Norcross who may be redeployed to Peel Park are being asked to travel 2 extra hours a day to get to Peel Park, for yet another cut in pay. They will get excess fares, but these are taxable and that equates for some people as being £16 a month down, and 10 hours unpaid labour per week down.
• The future of the jobs at Warbreck: There are no guarantees that there will be work for more than 400 people at Warbreck beyond 2018. Presently over 2000 people work there.
• Compulsory Redundancies: The recent announcement that the DWP was to make 43 administrative assistants/ administrative officers compulsorily redundant is a warning to all members. This was defeated by the threat of Industrial Action, but the threat remains to us all in the future.

Potential Members
If you have not yet joined your Union, please consider doing so by completing the form here.

Preston Rally on Strike Day - Wednesday 20th March.

PCS has organised a rally in Preston to promote our alternative to the cuts campaign in the North West.

Assemble 11am at the Flag Market, Market Square, Preston for the rally, there will be PCS and community speakers.

More details can be found here.

The Council Business plan 2013/14 – 2015/16

The following details are the contribution to the debate about the Wyre Council business plan 2013/14 – 2015/16 from the Labour Councillor Emma Anderton:

“Whilst I support the Business plan as a whole I’d just like to comment on one of the themes: Pride in our Places > We will adopt a new local plan to deliver economic growth, housing and employment.

I think this Council has missed a real opportunity to take a strategic view in terms of employment and job retention within Wyre.

The Council’s Core Strategy document highlights the Norcross site as an ‘employment hub...continuing to employ significant numbers (approx 3000)’

As we have seen the DWP’s announcement in 2012 to pull out of the Norcross site means the Core Strategy is out of date before it has even been adopted and the Conservative members and Officers have made little attempt to fight to retain this major employer within our borough.

Civil Service jobs at the Norcross site are reasonably well paid, many are highly skilled and there are good prospects for career progression.

A mere 200 DWP jobs and 400 Ministry of Defence jobs will remain.

Following the announcement of the DWP retreat, the Council could have been more proactive in bringing other civil service jobs to the area making use of the existing office space and IT infrastructure already in place. There was talk of the MOD relocating jobs to Wyre from London and Manchester. An opportunity missed.

The site owners Telereal Trillium have published draft proposals for the site in the post DWP era – houses, a pub and another food retail outlet (half the size of the Morrison’s store just a stone’s throw away). In other words; low skilled, minimum wage jobs with little chance of career advancement.

The DWP has designated Ryscar House on Faraday Way as a centre for the new benefit Universal Credit. It was announced in the Guardian newspaper only yesterday, that the initial rollout of UC will be rely on clerical processing rather than IT based. There is a real potential that extra processing jobs will be needed to administer this benefit. Norcross could have been the ideal place to house these extra workers, bringing new civil service jobs to the Fylde Coast. However once the bulldozers move in – as early as August - this will be the final nail in the coffin.

The Labour Group had wanted to bring a Notice of Motion before this Council requesting that the Norcross site be designated an employment zone – as already indicated in the Core Strategy plan for Thornton but unfortunately the Chief Executive deemed this would be trying to predetermine a future planning application. Perhaps this Council is more interested in the new homes bonus, the new plans for the site would bring. Unfortunately this short term fix to Wyre’s finances would in no way compensate for the loss of £500,000 per year business rates that the DWP having been paying.

So another food retail outlet is on the horizon, first Booths, then Sainsbury’s, who next I wonder? This Council certainly knows how to give food shoppers choice!

The Fleetwood Weekly News this week featured an article where Peter Gibson and Eric Ollerenshaw have both “vowed to fight for local jobs...and not see them disappearing”. What a shame this fight didn’t stretch to the civil service jobs on the Norcross site.

The youth of Wyre needn’t worry about their future employment prospects, this Council has ensured there will always be work for them shelf stacking or on the checkout!

In conclusion, I’d like to implore the Council leadership & officers – if they are serious about employment in Wyre, to take what might be the last opportunity, to fight for local jobs and to fight to retain the Norcross site as an employment hub for civil service jobs."

The debate took place on Thursday 7th March 2013. The majority grouping on the Wyre Council (Conservatives) voted down the proposal to have the Norcross site designated as “employment”. If you live in Wyre you may wish to ask your Councillor which way they voted, and why.

Government defeated on compensation changes

The following details have been supplied by PCS DWP Group:

A Government move to limit compensation for work-related injuries and ill-health has been rejected by the House of Lords. Ministers had wanted to end 'civil liability' on employers, meaning compensation would only be payable if negligence was established, even where the employer was found to be in breach of criminal safety laws. But in a report stage debate in the Lords on 6 March, peers voted 225 to 223 to reject wholesale the change. Moving the successful amendment, former Labour safety minister Lord McKenzie of Luton told peers the clause backed by the government 'seeks to remove civil liability from breaches of duty imposed by health and safety regulations, and our amendment would reinstate that right of action.' He added that should the government clause be passed there would be 'serious consequences' as 'civil liability applies in very limited circumstances and where injured employees would otherwise face a near impossible evidential burden.' This 'would include injuries caused by defective equipment where the employer controls the selection, purchase, installation and maintenance of equipment, where investigation can be very difficult and with the employer holding all the cards.' TUC, which has led the campaign to defend compensation rights, welcomed the Lords vote. TUC head of safety Hugh Robertson said had the government been successful not only would disease and injury victims lose out, it would have 'a negative effect on preventing injuries in the workplace as compensation claims have always helped to drive forward improvements to help ensure that such incidents are not repeated.'

Action starts with budget day strike

Our programme of national industrial action will start with a strike on budget day on 20 March.

Meeting today our national executive agreed this will be followed by further walkouts, other forms of industrial action and protests over the next three months.

The campaign against cuts to pay, pensions and working conditions aims to put maximum pressure on ministers who are refusing to talk to us. It includes:

• All-day strike on 20 March to coincide with the budget, with rallies and demonstrations in key locations, including Westminster
• Further national and group strikes of varying durations, including half days and short walkouts, timed to have the greatest impact, with dates to be announced at a later date
• Industrial action short of a strike, including a national overtime ban until 20 June and disruptive action in groups
• Strike days interspersed with other protests and campaigning activities around specific themes

Consultation is now underway in groups on what forms and duration of action will be most effective. Our national disputes committee will meet weekly to discuss progress and tactics, and any decisions on a second phase after June will be taken after our annual conference.

We will also continue to seek the widest possible co-ordination with other unions on pay and pensions.

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka told the media: "This is not a one-day protest, this is the start of a rolling programme of walkouts and disruptive action to put pressure on a government that is refusing to talk to us."

AGM 2013 - Thanks for coming!

The Branch Annual General Meeting took place on Thursday 28th February 2013, at the Thornton Little Theatre, for those who missed it they missed out.

The guest speaker was the PCS DWP Group Secretary, Steve Cawkwell who was a late replacement for the PCS Vice President John McInally.

For those who weren’t there the following may be of interest:

Steve Cawkwell indicated that he first joined the Civil Service in 1974, and his father said to him when he got an interview, that the Civil Service was a good job, a job for life and with promotion prospects and a good pension at the end of it. Well he managed to rise to the rank of AO, so perhaps it wasn’t as rosy a picture as painted but essentially it was true; it was a good job, there were promotion opportunities and the pensions were reasonable.

He said that coming from a working class background of a family that worked on the docks in Hull the job of Civil Servant had status in the community, and therefore it was seen as going up in the world being a Civil Servant.

He said that it was sad and wrong but true that over the decades the role of the Civil Servant and Public Sector worker has been attacked by successive Governments adopting an ethos of Public Sector bad, Private Sector good. He indicated that he does not agree with this.

He stated that after working many years in the Civil Service he is now a PCS employee, and DWP Group Secretary.

Steve indicated that the Public Servants do a good job, and a job that we should be proud of, and part of the job of PCS was to make sure that people were aware of this.

He stated that we faced attacks on pay, cuts in jobs, attacks on pensions and attacks on our conditions of service.

He stated that due to having no pay rise, or one percent pay rises that on average people were 16% worse off in the DWP than they would have been if pay had matched inflation. He advised the meeting that there was a new phrase in society, the working poor, as more and more working people found it difficult to make ends meet.

He indicated that people had to move downwards in terms of the stores that they shopped in, holidays were being cut, and it was becoming difficult for people to pay for petrol for their cars. He stated that this was due the Government’s pay policy.

He stated that it was PCS’s role to fight back against the policy of austerity, that there was a key ballot which closed on 4th March, and explained the importance of members voting “Yes and Yes” in that ballot.

He stated that Industrial Action was always a last resort, but members needed to show that they are prepared to back up negotiations and campaigns.

He explained that PCS had lodged a claim for a pay rise of £1,200 for members to start to try and claw back some of the lost ground in terms of the 16% pay cuts, in real terms.

He then turned to the attacks on conditions staring with privilege leave, which we have had since the end of the last World War. But the attacks didn’t stop there, the employer was looking to remove sick leave provisions, change mobility rules and replace them with mobility rules of what is considered reasonable by the line manager. He said that we should send a clear message of “No to any further erosion of our rights”.

He indicated that the attacks were to do with sending us down the path to privatisation, so that the private sector could find it easier to make a profit out of Government contracts.

Steve then moved on to the question of the increases to pensions contributions, where the Government want us to work longer, pay more and receive less. He stated that this was not acceptable; there should be no cuts, no privatisations.

He contrasted the way that we were being treated to the Bankers, who have been told that they should get bonuses no greater than their salary; he indicated that this was remarkable in comparison to the levels of bonuses that people in the Civil Service receive. He stated that clearly we weren’t all in this together.

He then turned to the state of society, picking up on the parlous state of the high street, where shops were closing down to be replaced by Pound shops, Pay Day loans, and betting shops; breeding on people’s difficulties.

He returned to the workplace and highlighted the role of Trade Unions, explaining that people may not think that they will need help in the workplace, they get on well with their line manager, they may be in good health and they may not have any problems, but things can change very quickly to the opposite and they may then need help. He indicated that the Government was trying to get rid of this help, by hammering down on the facility time that is available for the representatives to help the members. He indicated that PCS opposed the attacks on facility time, legally and collectively.

He explained that our demands in the National Campaign are reasonable for working people that the Government’s policy of Austerity wasn’t working.

He indicated that Austerity was causing difficulty for society, the Government’s policies had lost the AAA rating, and that there would be more misery if they didn’t change policy, especially for young people.

Steve then introduced Universal Credit, which he explained was the Government’s new policy to be introduced over the forthcoming period. He explained that at a meeting with the employer he asked what percentage of the staff working on Universal Credit, will themselves be eligible to claim Universal Credit. He informed the meeting that the reply was 44%, due to the poor rates of pay in the DWP.

He stated that one of the rules of Universal Credit was to ask recipients who were in work, “what they could do to work more hours to get off Universal Credit”, this would include asking this of their fellow colleagues working on Universal Credit. He said that this was insane.

He returned to pay, and said that PCS’s role was to make the Government listen, and this is why there was a need for a good turnout, and good levels of support for “Yes and Yes”. He explained that PCS would offer talks, we are always prepared to talk, but the Government won’t listen, it was our job to make them listen.

He indicated that it would be good if other Unions got involved but that we may have to go it alone and then try and build support from the entire community. He said that there was no need for fatalism or defeatism. He had achieved victories recently in DWP, with the stopping of the compulsory redundancies, in HMRC where the threat of Industrial action brought about extra jobs and likewise in the Home Office.

There was then a lively question and answer session. There are some pictures from the event here and they can also be found on our Facebook page (link on the right of this blog). See below for a 5 minute clip of the session, you may only be able to view this on your home PC, please bear in mind your employer's media policy if you can see it at work:

AGM 2013

AGM 2013 – Guest Speaker

The 2013 Branch AGM details are as follows:

• Date: Thursday, 28th February 2013
• Venue: The Lecture Theatre, Thornton
• Time: 1.15 pm

Please note that the AGM Guest Speaker 2013 is Steve Cawkwell.

Steve is the PCS DWP Group Secretary, and part of that role he has been to be the lead Full Time Official opposing the DWP Norcross majority of the site closure.

Steve will cover many topics at the AGM from Pay to Pensions, Jobs to Conditions of Service however members at DWP Norcross may want to make a specific note of the date and details of the meeting.

Warnings over cuts

“It is obvious to everyone that real people are suffering and the poorest in our society are being scapegoated and punished for the failings of out of touch government ministers.”

The government is rapidly running out of supporters for its programme of mass cuts. Spending cuts and tax increases have consistently been promoted by the International Monetary Fund as the cure for government’s in financial distress but now even its officials are acknowledging austerity can do a lot more damage than previously thought.

The IMF’s chief economist, Olivier Blanchard, told the Guardian last month the time had come for the chancellor to act on the fund’s warnings he should moderate his plans. With a triple-dip recession looming, as signposted in the latest GDP figures which confirmed again a lack of economic growth – the Office of National Statistics estimated GDP had fallen by 0.3% over the final three months of 2012.

It is obvious to everyone that real people are suffering and the poorest in our society are being scapegoated and punished for the failings of out of touch government ministers.

PCS warned more than two years ago in the pamphlet ‘There is an alternative: The case against cuts in public spending’ that austerity couldn’t and wouldn’t work and we have been proved right.

Ministers must now admit that there is an alternative to austerity, and abandon their ideological obsession with cuts, target the wealthy tax dodgers and invest to grow our economy and protect our vital public services

This information was provided by PCS HQ.

Campaigning for tax justice

PCS members are playing a leading role in the fight for tax justice. Starbucks was the latest in a growing list of companies whose tax avoidance has been highlighted by campaigners.

The UK tax gap is currently estimated to stand at £120 billion. This is seriously undermining public services and the development of a more equal society – this has an impact not just in the UK but also globally in respect of international development.

This is due in no small part to swingeing cuts in HM Revenue and Customs. Since 2005 HMRC has shed half its staff and is set to lose over 10,000 more workers over the next three years. Tax justice campaigning has been in the headlines repeatedly in the last 12 months, most recently in November 2012 as public pressure forced multinational coffee chain Starbucks to pay £20 million in corporation tax over the next two years. But while this is a step in the right direction, PCS and other campaigners including UK Uncut believe it is not enough and other global concerns such as Google continue to not only avoid paying tax but proudly claim finding a way round it is all part of big business.

PCS’s message is clear – a properly resourced, fair tax system will support quality public services and go a long way to eradicating poverty.

Starbucks is one of a number of companies exposed as exploiting the UK tax system, robbing our economy of much needed-revenue for vital public services. The company has paid only £8.5m in corporation tax since it launched in the UK in 1998 despite £3bn profits.

The cash Starbucks may end up paying “voluntarily” is £5m less than that paid by its nearest competitor Costa Coffee.

Starbucks continues only to be willing to pay royalty fees to a subsidiary in the Netherlands where the company has a low-rate tax deal, and buys coffee beans through the well-known tax haven of Switzerland.

Changing the debate
PCS backed the protests by anti-cuts group UK Uncut against Starbucks in December 2012 which highlighted the fact that if large companies like Starbucks paid their fair share it would change the debate about public spending overnight. The union encouraged members to join one of more than 40 UK protests at the chain’s branches.

MPs have condemned a number of companies for avoiding paying tax. Although not illegal, Labour MP Margaret Hodge, chair of the Commons public accounts committee, accused the firms of being “immoral”.

Amazon, Google and Starbucks were some of the most high-profile companies questioned by the public accounts committee but there are many more.

Research shows Amazon, the biggest online retailer, generated sales of £3.3bn in the UK last year alone, and paid no corporation tax by channelling its transactions through Luxembourg.

Google uses an offshore network to reduce its tax bill, so it paid only £6m in tax last year on a turnover of £2.6bn.

Other figures revealed to MPs showed Facebook paid £238,000 in UK tax despite making £175m.

Although tax avoidance isn’t a crime, it is causing misery as we see our jobs and essential services cut because not enough tax is paid.

You can help by:

• Emailing your MP calling on them to close tax loopholes that allow large companies to avoid paying tax and to employ enough HMRC staff to combat avoidance
• Supporting local UK Uncut activity on your high street aimed at putting pressure on corporations who avoid tax – ukuncut.org.uk

Keeping informed
Our website campaign page has the latest information but we also recommend you keep an eye on Richard Murphy’s blog at taxresearch.org.uk Get involved in supporting the Robin Hood Tax campaign that calls for a financial transaction tax that would raise billions to help the poor – robinhoodtax.org.uk/get-involved Find out more at: pcs.org.uk/taxjustice

This information was provided by PCS HQ. 

Message to PCS Members from Janice Godrich, PCS President

A certain tabloid newspaper columnist, who generally enjoys being as racist, sexist and downright unpleasant as possible, is fond of saying ‘you couldn’t make it up’.

Ironic then that you really couldn’t have made up the latest offering from the Taxpayers’ Alliance – the sort of organisation I imagine the Richard Littlejohns of this world really love.

In response to the news that we’re heading for a triple dip recession because of the government’s failed austerity policies, this wholly misnamed outfit – set up and bankrolled by big business interests, but strangely reluctant to reveal its backers or sources of funding – called for “bold steps to cut spending to stimulate the economy”.

“Bold steps” to cut spending are, of course, already responsible for our communities being ripped apart and lives being shattered, with people who rely on benefits being scapegoated and punished in the most sickening way.

These steps are the ones that cut the jobs of tens of thousands of our colleagues, froze our pay and raided our pensions. Now ministers are coming for our basic working conditions as well because, with the rest of society on its knees, it’s apparently not fair that some people are still managing to crawl.

This is why our ballot for a new round of strikes and industrial action is so important, it is our response to the government’s “bold” vision that has done nothing but plunge us into the longest recession in living memory.

People have asked me, ‘shouldn’t we be round the negotiating table?’, and I say yes, we should. But for that to happen there needs to be a table to sit round – the government has refused to talk to us.

And consider all this alongside the plans to cut our facility time. Faced with increased workloads, more stress, the threat of redundancy and new draconian performance management systems designed to make it easier to sack staff, members are having the lifeline reps like us provide pulled away.

We have said it before, but it bears repeating, it’s a cynical political project to fundamentally change the face of our public services and our economy. And on the evidence to date, the more it fails, and the worse our economic situation gets, the more their cheerleaders will call for them to go further, and cut even deeper.

You really couldn’t make it up.

Sadly, they have, and it’s up to us to fight it.

Janice Godrich,
National President

Half the office workforce skips their lunch break

The following has been supplied by the TUC:

More than half of office employees regularly work through their lunch breaks, a poll for BBC Breakfast has found. Commenting on the poll, which found 54 per cent of office staff routinely take no lunch break, TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady said: 'These figures shine a spotlight on Britain's long hours culture. Far too many employees are failing to take lunch because they have too much work to do. It is essential that employers recognise the damage this can do to their staff and to the productivity of their workforce. Workers who skip lunch and don't take time away from their desks in the middle of the day are likely to become less productive as the day wears on and are also taking risks with their health.' She added: 'We need to change the culture - prevalent in far too many workplaces -that it is acceptable to eat lunch at your desk, and not leave your workspace.' Last year, the TUC found that employees across the UK worked nearly two billion unpaid hours, worth over £29bn to the economy. On 1 March it will be the ninth Work Your Proper Hours Day, when employees across the UK will be encouraged to work their proper hours, including taking a decent lunch break.

First Class and Flexible in Helpline isn’t Flexi

Members potentially being, or considering redeployment to Helpline at Warbreck may find the following useful.

There have been instances where the employer has indicated that First Class and Flexible contracts (sometimes erroneously called First Class and Flexi) are Flexi Working Hours contracts, or Flexi.

They aren’t and never have been.

The employer confirmed this on 23rd January 2013 as follows:

“Our First Class and Flexible staff are on a DWP standard contract but this is neither Flexi nor a non standard contract and as such the revised Benefits Directorate agreement does not affect them.”

Therefore although there have been some other areas of the employer who have tried, wrongly, to argue that First Class and Flexible is Flexi, it isn’t.

Surplus or Surplus Situation

Some more questions have been coming to the office about the compensation that may be payable under the Workforce Management Redeployment Package, if you agree to travel to Peel Park outside of your conditions of service travelling time (see Mobility Rules).

There have been concerns raised that an area (or areas) of the employer, or their Personnel section (s) had indicated that “you cannot apply for WMRP unless you are declared surplus”.

We have explained in the members’ meetings that a) this is not what happened when the DWP Moorland Road site closed and people transferred to Peel Park, as the employer at that stage realised the benefits in trying to introduce a smooth transfer, and b) that is not what the DWP’s conditions of service say.

The relevant part of the DWP’s Conditions of Service is as follows; “You may be eligible for a WMRP if you are in Band A/AA to Band G/Grade 6 and equivalent and where:

• you are surplus, or are facing a surplus situation,"

We have highlighted, “or are facing a surplus situation”.

The following link should take you to the page, the point that I quoted is at point 5. LINK

Reading all not just part of the Conditions of Service Despite this there have still been statements that “you have to be declared surplus”. The attached details talk about a “surplus situation”. It appears that “a surplus situation” (point 3) means that “you are surplus or facing a surplus situation” (point 5).

Personal Independence Payment - Update

The following details have been supplied by PCS DWP Group

Background

Personal Independence Payment (PIP) replaces Disability Living Allowance (DLA) for people aged 16 to 64. It forms a major part of the government’s attack on welfare provision. The government expects the introduction of PIP will save 20% of the current expenditure on DLA.

Roll-out schedule

PIP go live will have various stages:

It will start with a controlled go live for new claims from a restricted number of postcodes including Cheshire, Cumbria, Merseyside, North East England and North West England. These new claims will be handled by Bootle Benefits Centre from April 2013. In June 2013 the other regional benefit centres will go live to take new claims to PIP for the remaining parts of Great Britain. From then there will be no new claims to DLA for people aged 16 to 64. Telford and Marton Mere contact centres will handle new claims calls from go- live, with Bangor contact centre supporting new claims from Welsh speakers. Natural Reassessment of DLA claims will commence in October 2013. This is reassessment to PIP for fixed period DLA awards coming up for renewal, young people turning 16 or where DLA claimants report a change in their condition. The final stage is managed reassessment. DWP will begin selecting existing DLA claimants and tell them what they need to do to claim PIP. In order that the lessons from the introduction of PIP are fully learned before starting the large scale reassessment of the DLA case load, the start of the managed reassessment of the DLA caseload has now been put back. It will not now begin until October 2015.

Staffing 2013

Initial staffing projections for PIP indicate fluctuating requirements during the first year as DLA new claims run down faster than new PIP claims ramp up. Release 2 of the PIP IT system in October 2013 is also expected to impact on staffing levels. However, there are a number of unknown factors particularly the functionality of the IT in live running, document scanning and the telephony arrangements.

Longer term staffing

In the longer term management do not anticipate any large scale reductions in the AO and EO grades. AA grades are anticipated to be affected by the increased introduction of electronic document scanning and distribution. The other main area of potential concern is the future of the staff at Warbreck House after the reassessment of DLA claims is completed. However this will not be completed until the end of 2017 and it is very difficult to anticipate what DWP’s staffing requirements will be at that stage.

Job design

Jobs in PIP will be broadly the same as in DLA. There will be operational posts at AA, AO and EO grades. The PIP programme has confirmed that the key decision making grade will remain as an EO function. The job roles have been subject to the appropriate grading guidance.

Assessment Providers

The PIP medical assessment contracts have been contracted to two companies – Atos Healthcare and Capita Business Services on a geographical split. PCS has registered our deep concern that Atos Healthcare has again been awarded a major health assessment contract despite the company’s exceptionally poor performance in assessing Incapacity Benefit/ESA claims. Atos and Capita are not being asked to provide an identical service. Atos will conduct the assessments primarily through local hospitals and GP surgeries while Capita will offer more assessments at the claimant’s home. Management say that they have learned the lessons from the problems with IB/ESA reassessment though inevitable the performance of both companies will be under very close public scrutiny.

Media

The introduction of PIP has created considerable media interest particularly as a result of lobbying from disabled groups. The 20% cut will mean that many current DLA recipients will lose their entitlement completely or have it reduced. It is difficult to see how this savage cut can be justified or applied equitably to some of the most disadvantaged sections of society.

Conclusion

Although consultation between the trade unions and the programme have been good it cannot disguise the reality that PIP is a coalition government cut designed to reduce benefit costs rather than improve welfare provision. PCS has campaigned hard with other interested parties against the cuts associated with PIP. It also remains to be seen if the PIP IT and other operational changes, such as scanning, actually work or deliver the efficiencies expected by the department.

Unions berate government on 'safety costs' lie

The following has been supplied by the TUC:
Unions have reacted angrily to a 'ridiculous' government claim that safety regulation is a waste of 'time and money' for businesses that should be 'focusing on growth'. They were commenting after on the publication of two reports outlining how the Health and Safety Executive has responded to government demands to reduce official safety oversight and regulation, based on recommendations from government commissioned reviews by former Tory cabinet minister Lord Young and Professor Ragnar Lofstedt. Minister for employment Mark Hoban said: 'For too long businesses have been confused by health and safety regulations which cost them money and take up time when they should be focusing on growth.' He added: 'Health and safety is important, but its focus should be where risks are high. These reports show just how much progress we have made in restoring clarity to the system, and over the coming months I'll be making sure common sense prevails.' UNISON national safety officer Robert Baughan responded: 'The argument against these regulations is ridiculous. If health and safety is supposed to be a burden and a barrier to jobs and growth why then is the economy still in recession? The real burden is the 20,000 people a year who die through their work.' He added: 'The coalition has slashed health and safety regulations in the same reckless, irresponsible manner they have slashed public services. Health and safety legislation is not there to cause a headache to employers - it is there to keep people safe at work. This government has seen yet another opportunity to chip away at the hard-won rights of workers, and is putting the safety - and lives - of workers at risk as a result.' A TUC spokesperson said: 'If the government spent half the time and effort that they have wasted over the past two and a half years trying to reduce non-existent burdens and sort imagined problems with health and safety into trying to improve the system, then they would have helped reduce the real burden felt by the 1.8 million workers and former workers currently suffering from an injury or illness caused by their work.'

Closure of the majority of the DWP Norcross site

We are aware that there may have been some rumours going around regards “semi colons” in the mobility clauses for mobile grades (please note that they are mobile grades not “fully mobile grades as the employer has made up).

The following is the actual wording:

“Employees are classed as having mobile status if they are:

• A fixed term appointee whose appointment letter includes a mobility clause
• A permanent appointment in Bands C to G (EO – G6) and their equivalents

Employees with mobile status can be compulsorily permanently transferred to any Civil Service post in the UK, and can be asked to travel to a post within reasonable daily travelling distance of their home. Reasonable travelling time is defined as 1 ½ hours from home to office by public transport.”

There isn't a semi colon in the paragraph, there is a comma and "and".

This means take a pause and plus.

Sources of Help and Information

Dear Colleagues

The Fylde Central Benefits and Services Branch priority over the forthcoming period will be to ensure that the collective campaigning work continues (job cuts, site closures, pensions, pay etc).

With the developments in electronic media there are often web sites and other sources of information that are available to members. I will briefly outline some of them as follows:

National PCS
The National PCS website is http://www.pcs.org.uk
The telephone number is: 020 7924 2727

PCS personal case and legal advice
http://www.pcs.org.uk/en/resources/legal_toolkit/index.cfm

DWP Group
http://www.pcs.org.uk/en/department_for_work_and_pensions_group/index.cfm
Their telephone number is: 0113 200 5300

To e-mail the DWP Group Office the e-mail address is: leeds@pcs.org.uk

They have a useful page about Personnel Policy and other guidance at: 
http://www.pcs.org.uk/en/department_for_work_and_pensions_group/hr-guidance/index.cfm

They also have a frequently asked questions section here:
http://www.pcs.org.uk/en/department_for_work_and_pensions_group/frequently_asked_questions.cfm

North West Regional Office
http://www.pcs.org.uk/en/pcs_in_the_north_west
Their telephone number is: 0151 298 3900

To e-mail the North West Regional Office the e-mail address is: nwrc@pcs.org.uk

The Branch
The Branch Website is: http://pcs-fylde.blogspot.co.uk (you probably know that as this information is hosted on it). If you scroll down the right hand side of the web you will notice many areas that link you to sites and contacts that may be of help and assistance, including the ones above. These are broken into topics and then a section of links to other websites that may be helpful. The Branch Website is regularly updated.

I hope that the above is useful. It may be beneficial to keep a link to this information for reference in the future. This information is available as a .pdf here.

Yours Sincerely

Duncan Griffiths
Branch Secretary