Department for Work & Pensions Group



DWP briefing48006000Department for Work & Pensions GroupTo: All Members 6th February 2017DWP/MB/006/17Significant progress in Pensions DirectorateGroup Executive Committee (GEC) negotiators from PCS met the employer on 27th January to discuss Ways of Working in Pensions, and the on-going problems being raised by members. Further work remains on staffing levels, but on almost every other area, Pensions senior managers have now agreed many of the things PCS have been asking for, for the last two years. This members’ bulletin can be kept and used as a guide for the future.Starting at 7.30amWhere there is work to do, staff can start at 7.30am when they have a fixed start time of 8am. Pensions Directorate senior managers believe there are cases of staff who are only trained to handle telephony and for whom 7.45am would be the earliest time they can start. Site managers should give PCS reps the rationale for any such restriction, which should be the exception rather than the rule. PD senior managers also agree that, ideally, they want all telephony staff to be fully trained to do processing as well. We will keep members updated on progress on this work to ensure all staff are trained.Staffing covering the 6.30pm tent-poleMembers are not obliged to stay until 6.30pm once there are no more calls in the queue. Calls made by claimants prior to 6pm go into the queue; members on telephony are needed to clear the calls in the queue and processors are needed in case of hand-offs. However, once the calls are done, both telephony members and processors are free either to go, or to stay until 6.30pm. The cover up to 6.30pm is designed to deal with customer demand at this time. Review of % requirement for tent-polesPCS will be working with Pensions Directorate management, as well as across other operational directorates, to keep the actual demand and the percentage figures set for the cover closely under scrutiny and review. GEC negotiators continue to argue that the level set for 6.30pm is too high and should be reduced.Non-fixed end of the dayMembers have assumed consent to flex off at their non-fixed end of the day as long as they do over half day's work from their fixed end. The times that members have agreed to fix at either the start or end of the day are what matters from Monday 6th Feb. GWFM is just a planning tool and one of its limitations is that it will only accept details with both a start and end time. Senior PD management are very clear that the DWP Flexible Working Hours Policy applies to everyone and members are only committed to the start or finish time that they have fixed. No-one should be told that they have to stick precisely to the hours entered on Work Force Manager.For members who have fixed starts, once you have worked over half a day, you have the right to leave. You do not have to work until the end of your shift on GWFM as there are staff with a fixed end to cover the end of the day. You do not have to find cover for the end of your shift. For members who fix their finish, you have the right to come in late so long as you will work over half a day. You do not have to get the start of your shift covered. You can still flex off or take unexpected leave at your fixed end of the day by getting a colleague to cover your fixed start or end time. A common sense approach will be taken by managers when members need to take emergency leave and they will not be required to find cover. Applications for full or half day's flexi will continue to be done as now through your team leader. The flexi limits for members are that they accrue up to a maximum 4 days flexi credit or a maximum 3 day flexi deficit at the end of each 4 week accounting period.The Employee Deal Collective Agreement states that there are exceptional occasions on which the “assumed consent to leave” may be over-ridden. This should be genuinely exceptional circumstances, out of the norm and discussed with the union in advance of any decision, reflecting that the Collective Agreement is just that, an agreement.BreaksPD have implemented the new breaks policy – that allows for pro-rata staff to have breaks (5 minutes accrued every hour worked) and allows for all staff to organise their breaks in a flexible way. This means staff can have 2 x 15 minute breaks, or 3 x 10 minute breaks, for example. Member do not have to adhere to the times in GWFM and we would expect members on teams to work together to ensure that not everyone goes for a break at the same time. This should ensure that team leader involvement can be minimal. This already works very well across other telephony areas in Operations.The end of non-adherence, and GWFM in its current formOne of the cornerstones of the micro-management culture which our members have reported is “non-adherence”. PD have signalled their desire to follow Working Age Benefits Directorate and Disability Services Directorate in eliminating non-adherence as a measure of what members are doing. The wording for the letter to go out to staff will be discussed with PCS, but this is a significant victory and delivers on PCS DWP Conference policy.With members having the assumed consent to leave earlier or arrive later at their non-fixed end of the day, having control over when you take your breaks, working with your colleagues - then the huge administrative burden of monitoring adherence on GWFM has been made redundant. PCS has also begun discussions on the whole future of GWFM. In the working age service centres members no longer have to fill in GWFM as the information is taken from the Team Planning Tool to populate GWFM as a planning tool. We have suggested that management in PD could adopt this as well and this is now being looked into.Ending the Percentage Calls Answered (PCA) obsessionPD senior managers have acknowledged that there are still problems with staff being stood up and stood down very quickly on telephony. The Director has confirmed that he is not overly focused only on PCA and how staff can know this is that PD are not hitting the PCA target. He wants a balance between telephony and processing.Senior managers have suggested there are cultural changes needed. Whilst spikes in demand still happen, the reaction “everyone on the phones” might not be appropriate. Team leaders and managers should be “reasonable”. Where members are being stood up and down at 15 minute intervals, this is clearly not reasonable.Local reps should raise instances of what they or members believe to be “unreasonable” behaviour with site managers. If this cannot be resolved at local level, reps should escalate to the Operations Trade Union Side, so GEC negotiators can deal with the issues. (email operational.tus@dwp..uk). At national level, PD management will be sharing figures about the balance of how much time is spent on processing and telephony so that we can continue to discuss the issues and work to improve members’ working conditions.Annual Leave 2017Large numbers of members wrote to the GEC to protest over the handling of annual leave in the Pensions Directorate. Sites putting out their own messages, some sites not communicating with staff in good time – even blaming new recruitment for the delay – and many other issues were raised by the GEC with PD senior managers. The complaints of our members have been taken on board.Management have acknowledged that more could have been done in consultation with PCS to improve the way the transition from locally managed AL to a national system was done. The new system is now up and running and seems to be working much better after the teething problems setting it up. A central team will manage a national spreadsheet that shows the leave available across the virtual product lines. They will keep this spreadsheet updated regularly on an hourly basis through the day from applications that are made and agreed at site level. There should be more opportunity for individuals to get leave that they want as the geographical variations between school holidays, cultural variations between offices are evened out when a national view is taken. Granting leave requests remains a site-level responsibility. This can also mean that more than 25% on a site can now apply for leave as long as there is availability across the network. There is no need for members to give a reason why they want to take leave if leave is available. Once the cap is reached, it may still be possible to take annual leave – multi-skilled teams such as at Dundee, who can work both PC and SP, can flex from one benefit to another if, for example, SP nationally reached the 25% cap while there is still space on PC, or vice versa. Managers can also consider reasons for applications for leave when an unexpected need arises if the limit has been reached. The Special Leave policy remains the same and decisions should be made on the nature of the emergency and will not be treated as the equivalent to annual leave or flexi leave. Currently, there is plenty of availability for members to request additional leave. In total, around traditional busy leave periods, 31 requests were refused for 2017. Over 100,000 requests have been granted. The GEC continues to oppose the 25% cap on annual leave. If you feel you have not been treated fairly, speak to your local rep to get advice.The outstanding issue on annual leave is about whether leave requests should be made for a rolling twelve month period, or should be gathered in blocks, i.e. two fixed six month periods or one fixed twelve month period. A survey will be conducted of PCS members to identify what members want and if anyone is likely to be disadvantaged by any of these approaches.Team meetings and trainingDiscussions are on-going about times for team meetings, buzz meetings, quarterly site closures for site meetings, time for 1-2-1s and preparation time. However, it is fair to say that progress is being made in this area and there should be concrete proposals shortly, in line with PCS DWP conference policy, to ensure good practice at all Pension Centres.“Rotation 2” – more time for team ED working pattern discussionsPD senior managers have agreed that when the next gather of staff working pattern preferences begins, there should be a greater focus on and more time for team discussions. This was widespread across DWP as the process was rushed which led to members complaining that they felt pressurised into changing their preferences. PD senior managers agree that allowing enough time for team discussions will ensure that tent-poles are covered voluntarily, by members working together.Dave SempleKatrine WilliamsGroup Assistant SecretaryGroup Vice President ................
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