The Group Executive Committee (GEC) met with managers from Working Age Directorate on 26th April. This was the first meeting with WA managers since BSD was split up into Working Age and Disability Services directorates. A further meeting is scheduled for 11th May; all reps and members should feed concerns through to the GEC ahead of this date.
Staffing
An additional 465 staff are due to be brought into WA in quarter one of 2017/18, most in IS and JSA and 50 in ESA. Managers acknowledge that there will be a gap with training and consolidation for the effects of this increase in staffing to be felt. The GEC will continue to advocate for further recruitment of permanent staff, using the figures which show some telephony lines, especially ESA enquiries, under particular pressure.
Performance and targets
Working Age senior managers have confirmed that the positive messages previously put out in BSD will continue to apply in the new directorate. This news is welcome as GEC negotiators continue deal with issues escalated to us about micro-management or numerical targets used to put pressure on members inappropriately. PCS raised the cases of league tables and pressure on staff to avoid After Call Work (ACW) taking place in Preston BC and Warbreck with Directorate management. Management will look into these examples and stated clearly that they want league tables abolished for these numerical targets. The focus just on numbers produces the “hit the target and miss the point” behaviour which Operations management recognise does nothing to deliver a quality service to the public. Management are emphasising that quality is a key factor for the work in the directorate. There should not be any pressure just to clear work with no regard to quality or accuracy of the work. Giving our members time to resolve a call – in the call or afterwards – is more efficient and gives a better service to the public.
May Bank Holiday
Makerfield ESA reps escalated an issue where members were told Assumed Consent was suspended. National negotiators raised this with senior managers who intervened quickly to correct this wrong message. All sites should have the same message based on the Operations-wide approach: there is plenty of scope to accrue flexi over busy bank holiday weeks and staff are encouraged to do so. There has been no suspension of Assumed Consent.
Employee Deal
Specific problems were discussed from Lowestoft, Paisley, Wrexham, Coventry, Blackburn and Warbreck. Senior managers have undertaken to investigate the particulars. However, some general messages have been agreed which will be useful to all sites.
There have been no arbitrary restrictions placed on staff building up flexi, e.g. limits of 20 minutes per day, as happened at one site. In general, there is plenty of work to do for staff to build up flexi. Managers are concerned about staff doing overly long hours like working 55 hour weeks, as happened in an isolated case, but there should be no bar to accruing flexi within the limits of the flexi policy. There is no process whereby staff must wait for permission to accrue flexi. A common sense approach, of knowing that there is work to do and just getting on with it, is ideal. Directorate senior managers committed to work with PCS negotiators to resolve any issues that cannot be sorted out locally.
Managers re-affirmed that once queues are cleared on the phones, all staff – including non-telephony staff – can leave. This was welcomed by the GEC and has worked better in WA, where managers put in place a process to notify all staff that queues were clear and the customer demand has ended.
Regards 5pm finishes, if staff are able to continue taking calls right up to their fixed end time and want to build up some flexi by finishing the call, they can. If members need to get away at 5pm then there should be wrap up time built into the end of the day so that they can leave at their fixed end of the day
Flexible Resource Model (FRM)
Early on, the key concern raised by PCS with the ESA and IS Flexible Resource Model was the number of staff being moved from processing to telephony, to cover what is essentially a staffing shortfall. The increase in backlogs has been evidence of this. Birkenhead, Oldham, Clydebank, Preston, Hanley, Handsworth, Wolverhampton, Barnsley, Sunderland and Stockton will all be returned to processing duties for 4 weeks to tackle the backlogs. Clearly having backlogs in processing increases the pressure on telephony.
“Non-consensual conception” and Working Age benefits
From April 6th, new welfare cuts apply in tax credits and other benefits for new claims from families of more than two children. No benefits will be payable for the third or subsequent child. An estimated 250,000 children are threatened with poverty as a result of the change and PCS Annual Delegate Conference has passed policy opposing the change.
Staff may be called on to deal with exemptions to this cap, however, and this has generated concern amongst union members. One of the exemptions is if a woman has conceived a child to which she did not or could not consent, or while living in a controlling or coercive relationship.
Our union has and will continue to campaign vigorously against the welfare “reforms”, many of which hurt our low paid members directly. Parallel with this, we have asked management for an ironclad assurance that if a member feels uncomfortable discussing the changes or asking claimants about this information, they can be excused and the matter escalated to a higher grade member of staff. Members will not have to explain themselves at all. This has been agreed. Further information can be found in Members’ Bulletin 22.17.
Other issues
Discussions continue about annual leave percentages etc., but WA managers will be awaiting decisions made at OET level. The Short Notice Annual Leave process will be renamed to differentiate it from the departmental HR policy on Short Notice leave which is about in-day leave to avoid confusion.
In terms of TDA, WA management reaffirmed that there is no push to encourage people to work for free out of grade. Examples of this should be notified to the GEC to be addressed.
Management have agreed to share details of some pilots, such as the Decision Assurance Calls trial that begins this week, and the CAMlite Allocator trial. They will also supply details of how the Operational Support Review is likely to impact Working Age Directorate.
Rotation 2 and the tent-pole percentages will also be fully discussed with managers.
Dave Semple Ian Pope Katrine Williams
Assistant Secretary Acting Asst. Secretary Vice President
PCS Fylde 