DWP staff go out on strike

Jobcentre staff strike for second time in a year

Tuesday, 02, May 2006 12:00

Union leaders are predicting widespread disruption today as tens of thousands of Jobcentre workers go on strike.

Up to 90,000 staff at benefits offices, pension centres and the Child Support Agency (CSA) across England, Scotland and Wales are expected to stay away for the 48-hour strike.

The Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union called the strike – the second this year – in protest against plans to cut 30,000 jobs at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) by 2008.

About 17,700 of these jobs have already been axed in the name of efficiency, but the union argues this has had a major impact on service delivery. It has called for an independent assessment of these cuts, but the government rejected this.

"The failure by the DWP to fully appreciate the damaging impact of job cuts in talks with the union means that our members are left having to strike to defend the services they care about," said general secretary Mark Serwotka.

"With a number of House of Commons select committees identifying problems in the department, senior management can no longer continue to plough on regardless in cutting jobs.

"Rather than continually being in denial saying everything is fine, the department needs to halt the job cuts programme and jointly assess with PCS the adequate staffing levels needed."

However, the DWP said it was "disappointing" that such action was necessary, and insisted it had "robust contingency plans in place" to ensure benefits claimants would not suffer.

A spokeswoman added: "'If we are going to meet our commitment to deliver the highest quality of service to our customers it is vital we push ahead with our modernisation programme.

"It is therefore disappointing that the PCS remain opposed to much of the change."

A work and pensions committee report into the Jobcentre Plus programme earlier this year highlighted "truly appalling service levels" last summer, but insisted it was due to a combination of poor staffing planning and IT problems.

"We conclude that the service delivered by many Jobcentre Plus contact centres to their customers suffered a catastrophic failure in the summer of 2005," the report said.

"This led to additional hardship among the most vulnerable in society. A mix of IT problems, staffing issues and poor change-management planning was to blame, in our view, and we do not accept that this was purely a staffing problem."