PCS opposes announcement as DWP ends lockdown - Face to Face interviews

The DWP has announced today that it intends to follow the Prime Minister’s roadmap, and will fully re-open Jobcentres to the public.

The message DWP has posted on the Intranet says “As society, the economy and the high street begin to open up again over the coming weeks, from Monday 12 April we will return to normal working hours (Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm and Saturday’s for those jobcentres who open then) in our jobcentres across the UK.”. This is linked to the “Plan for Jobs” which they are saying includes “embedding an intensive regime of face-to-face activity particularly focused on our 18 to 24-year-old priority group.” They also go on to say that it is their belief that “we know – from our many years’ experience of delivering a world class welfare system – that for customers the positive routine of visiting a jobcentre regularly supports the behaviours necessary for them to thrive in work. Ultimately, for many of our customers, face-to-face interactions are the most effective way of helping them into work and removing the barriers to employment.”

DWP have also stated that, again from 12 April 2021, they will reintroduce face-to-face interviews under caution and National Insurance Number (NINO) activity, on a phased basis.

It is clear that this will mean a largescale increase in members having to return to office based working, as well as the increased risk of much more face to face contact with customers.

DWP renege on their commitment to Work Coach Empowerment

When DWP first announced last summer, naively believing that the worst of the pandemic was behind us, that they intended to increase operating hours and bring more people back in to Jobcentres, our members, quite rightly, reacted angrily. We held a consultative ballot, where the vast majority of those affected indicated a willingness to take action if DWP did not back down. Due to the concessions gained by the union feedback from our members and branch reps was that we did not need to progress to a full statutory ballot at that time.

A key concession was the empowerment of Work Coaches to decide exactly how they would interact with their customers. In a bizarre use of language DWP have announced that “Work Coaches will be empowered to book mandatory face-to-face appointments again and decide which of their customers to see in person with a strong focus on new claimants and young people.” Rather than remaining “empowered” to decide the best method of dealing with a customer, this sounds very much like they are actually being “instructed” to start concentrating on certain groups of customers and to do so face to face. DWP go on to say they are “Increasing the access to jobcentres for those who need us helps us make use of every tool we have available to get people back into work quickly and effectively.”

Eighty new Jobcentres will open this year to help support and train people who have been pushed out of employment by the Covid crisis.

Caker wrote:I wonder if the 'road-map' will be affected by the predicted 3rd wave that BoJ has announced is expected to be coming our way

Absolut wrote:https://www.mirror.co.uk/money/full-list-80-new-jobcentres-23774545

Eighty new Jobcentres will open this year to help support and train people who have been pushed out of employment by the Covid crisis.