Central England Group Work Services Meeting

PCS met with Central England Group (CEG) management on 18 June 2015 to discuss various issues. Here are some highlights.

We raised the issue of a member who had been badly treated as a result of voicing criticism on a telekit. CEG management were clear that they welcome frank and open discussion, raising of issues and questioning policies. This will be stated in future calls.

We were concerned about consultation at all levels as it can be patchy. We would try and improve at CEG level and district managers would be reminded of their duty to consult at district level.

We discussed changes to job roles that we had not been consulted about.

We discussed the Employer Adviser role as we were concerned that this job role was being phased out. CEG management assured us that this was not the case.

We discussed workforce planning. 924 people are leaving CEG WSD on VES mostly at band B. CEG is also overspending on staffing costs. There will also be significant reductions in the Flexible Support Fund. PCS will shortly be discussing plans at district level to address the probable imbalance of grades and incorrect numbers of staff in the wrong location. The temporary solution will be TDA and, when the full situation is clearer, a business case will be submitted for permanent promotion. PCS asked for as fair and open a process as possible for the TDA and CEG management said this would mostly be by expressions of interest and a competency based selection.

We discussed flexible ways of working. CEG management said that the Work Coach Delivery Model made some changes but we would need to manage the delivery of the business with the staff that we had.  This may involve more group sessions and flexible ways of working but should not involve large numbers of staff working 10 miles down the road or being asked to work 15 hour days. CEG management agreed to circulate a Health and Safety note to district managers to remind them to keep within the maximum capacity of the office.

Annual leave will be granted following national policy and there are no more restrictive policies in place.

We were concerned that IS claimants were being inappropriately sanctioned.

We will be getting a full list of sites co-located or where discussions are starting.

We were concerned that a certain office was referring claimants direct to a private partner organisation rather than going through the normal benefit process. This will not be happening.

We discussed HEO development centres again. Any HEOs given a PIP as a result of the day will have this removed. Feedback to PCS suggests that HEOs thought that the award of golden tickets to higher scorers was divisive and inflammatory.