PCS: Jobcentre union responds to unemployment figures

Wednesday, 17 June 2009 12:00 AM

Staff in Jobcentre Plus have been working flat out to help those out of work as unemployment reached a 12-year high of 2.26 million, the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) said today.

As new jobless figures out today showed an increase of 232,000 in the three months to April, the union praised the hard work and dedication of Jobcentre Plus workers, many of whom received no pay rise whatsoever last year.

With the recession deepening, the union called on the new Secretary of State for Work and Pensions to ditch plans in the Welfare Reform Bill aimed at privatising areas of welfare, which will also see the safety net of income support removed and harsh conditions attached to benefits for the most vulnerable in society.

Arguing that jobs not punitive sanctions were needed, PCS went on to warn that the private sector had neither the skills nor the capacity to help people back to work, maintaining that privatisation would shift the emphasis of the welfare state to put profits before people.

Commenting, Mark Serwotka, PCS general secretary, said: "Behind these figures are real people with real lives who Jobcentre staff have been working tirelessly to help. With limited resources, staff have been attempting to provide a world class service despite some of the savage cuts the government inflicted on Jobcentre Plus over the last five years.

"It is increasingly clear that the Welfare Reform Bill is the wrong bill at the wrong time as unemployment reaches a 12-year high. Jobcentre Plus provides a first rate service, yet the government is seeking to privatise part of its work, despite its own evidence showing that jobcentres have massively out performed the failing private sector. We would urge the new Secretary of State to review the Welfare Reform Bill and drop plans that penalise and stigmatise those in need and which will put profits before people at the heart of the welfare state."

ENDS

Notes to editors:

For further information, interviews and comment please contact Alex Flynn PCS national press officer on 020 7801 2747 or 07833 978216.

PCS, the Public and Commercial Services Union is the union representing civil and public servants in central government. It has more than 300,000 members in over 200 departments and agencies. It also represents workers in parts of government transferred to the private sector. PCS is the UK's sixth largest union and is affiliated to the TUC. The general secretary is Mark Serwotka and the president is Janice Godrich.

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