Members have raised questions with the Branch on specific points. We have raised these with PCS DWP Group and have received answers, the details are published below:

Question:

I have seen the following details from a senior management talk back event, as follows:

“Question 2: XXXXX pointed out that the start and finish times under the Employee Deal appear to have been implemented differently across sites. There doesn’t seem to be much consistency and some managers do things differently. How do we make sure our approach is applied consistently across the board? She also said she felt that her childcare responsibilities weren’t being taken into account.

XXXXXX asked a similar question (by email) about what a 6.30pm finish means and if colleagues have to stay to 6.30pm even if there are no calls coming through.

XXXXXXX (Senior DWP Manager) explained that we do need consistency but not complete uniformity. We have tent poles (key times) at 8am, 9am, 5pm and 6.30pm. Colleagues are not being asked to work more than one late in five (past 5pm). We set working patterns in advance so people can plan. You can swap shifts and if you are taking calls from the public, once lines are cleared at 6.15pm, you can flex off. If you are not taking calls, we are working on sensible solutions that would allow colleagues to finish when the work from the phone lines are cleared. He added that nobody should judge or treat you differently just because you have childcare responsibilities.”

This appears at last to confirm the circulars that PCS have been issuing for months.

Answer

The PCS circulars that have gone out from DWP Group in UC, Disability, Working Age and Pensions have been ironclad categorical around the 6:30pm finishes for staff who do not work on telephony.

Members are NOT EXPECTED to stay until 6:30pm on the dot.

They can either leave when telephones are finished (where this is practical) or have a “natural finish”, i.e. leave at that time when they finish a task and it’s too late to pick up another task.

The following from XXXXX (Senior DWP Manager) Question Time shows that managers at a DWP level have finally begun to get the messaging right about this specific issue.