For the last three months, I’ve been working with Helen Flanagan of PCS to listen to the voices of social security officers about the social security system. PCS is the civil service union representing people working for the DWP, HMRC and others. Helen’s explanation of the work can be seen here, but it will be mid-May before we’re able to publish the findings in detail. Yesterday’s meeting made liberal use of the things said by DWP officers, in three contexts: a pamphlet issued by PCS on the Future of Social Security in Scotland, a film by Jennifer Jones, and initial findings from our report – we still have statements from fifty or more people to process.
This is from Helen’s summary.
- Over 200 staff have participated so far, in their own time, from a range of DWP workplaces in Scotland.
- Discussions were not limited to the devolved powers, we wanted input on policy, structure, working conditions, the experience of service uses, and what goes wrong with service delivery.
- What we have with DWP is a system in chaos: the constant change and reorganisation of work, with inadequate staffing levels, poor training and failing off-the-shelf IT systems.
- What we have also found is a real desire from staff in DWP to be able to serve people better, and for a system that treats those applying for help with humanity.
And, although I can’t really do justice to the range of issues, or the sincerity of people’s voices, in a short soundbite, let me pick out a couple of things that people have told us:
Really senior leaders are saying that we’ve never gone through the scale of these changes, but then on the other hand, things are just pushed through without planning. They expect staff to be ‘calm amongst the madness’, but then staff are then hit about the head by management if they don’t adapt to the changes properly.
Segmentation plays a big part in bad service. Cases bounce about. It’s really difficult to embed with it or own it yourself. You can’t take ownership of anything.
The current robotic system fails to take much notice of the human factor and the fact we are dealing with real people
Morale is appalling. The deskilling that goes on in this place is appalling. I … was no more skilled than anyone else when I came in. All the changes that have come in over that time, I’ve had skills and training, but they’ve picked away at all that specialisation and skill, so you’re demoralised and run down. You have to put you in menial tasks and deal with small stuff rather than deal with proper work.
Further note, 6th October: The report has now been published on the PCS website.
P.S: This was my 800th posting on the blog.