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Oracle October 2008

October Oracle magazine Contents

Editorial

Members have now given their verdict on the worth of HMRC’s pay package for 2008-10 and on Gordon Brown’s policy of pay restraint for public sector workers.

It seems that it doesn’t matter what is going on in the economy as a whole, good times or bad, this government is not willing to offer PCS members a genuine cost of living increase. I can’t remember the last time the maximum increased enough to match inflation and the reality of this is that PCS members have taken a year on year cut in their standard of living. Since HMRC pay structures were set up in 2005, three years worth of below inflation rises has significantly eroded the real value of our pay.

If the proposed maxima for 2008 had kept pace with inflation, they would be higher by roughly one month’s take home pay at each grade.That is a significant cut, and theTreasury limit of 1% for 2009 & 2010 and increasing inflation can only accelerate the fall in the real value of our pay. In Dave Hartnett’s pay message, he spelt out that HMRC budget constraints mean that they can only offer more money if they cut numbers further.The articles in this issue report on the impact thatWorkforce Change is having on our members as the department tries to deliver the swingeing cuts demanded by Government, so we’re being told to take what’s on offer or inflict more pain on our colleagues. Neither choice is a genuine option if we want to defend our living standards but PCS believes that there is third way!

The decision to impose further pay restraint on us was made at Government level so we need to link our Group campaign with the wider PCS pay campaign to make any meaningful progress. The National campaign unites Groups across PCS in the fight over pay, linking us with other public sector workers who are also suffering below inflation rises but also highlighting the double impact on civil servants as pay progression also has to be funded from the general rise. The choice for members is stark, join the fight or accept lower pay, lower living standards and lower pensions down the line. If we stand together we’ve proved we can make a difference and we can do again – support the PCS campaign!

Lorna Merry

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OBITUARY

Tom I McKeon, MBE. (1914-2008)
PCS sends sincere condolences to the family of former IRSF President Tom McKeon who has died aged 94 after a two year struggle against cancer.

After distinguished war service with the RAF, Tom joined the Valuation Office in 1947 and rose to the rank of Staff Officer before retirement in 1974.

From Stoke Valuation Branch, Tom was federation President for the year 1977/1978. He was personally committed to the welfare and aspiration of ordinary members and was awarded Honorary Life Membership in 1979.

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News

Mapeley on the make in Morpeth merry-go-round

Last September members at the Back Riggs HMRC office in Morpeth, Northumberland learned of their transfer to the town’s Manchester Street building scheduled for October of this year. Apparently estate owners Mapeley had seized the opportunity of a ‘lease break’ at Back Riggs in order to evict HMRC and cash in on a town centre re¬development plan.

In the event, HMRC decided there was no point in bothering with Manchester Street since most people were sooner or later to be shipped to Benton Park View or other sites on Tyneside anyway, a minimum of 15 miles away, under Workforce Change (WFC). Only those staffing the enquiry centre plus a few declared outside reasonable daily travel (RDT) would go to Manchester Street. The rest would be shipped to Tyneside immediately, thus greatly accelerating the office closure process and piling extra WFC pressure onto long suffering workers.

No one bothered to inform the office that Manchester Street was now off the agenda and the idea of imminent transfer to Tyneside was only discovered when someone spotted it on the WFC website around 28th July.

Staff and members are not happy. ‘This is no way for HMRC to treat the staff,’ said one. ‘We knew the office was under threat but didn’t expect to make the big move for a year or two yet. There has been no consultation with us and people have not had a proper chance to come to terms with the proposals and try and make arrangements to re-organise their working and family lives. Those who do go to Manchester Street have no guarantee it will stay open for long so they’re also facing a very uncertain future.’

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PCS defends staffing in York 

Pressure from R & C Group negotiators has secured 60 jobs at the HMRC site in Hilary House, York.

On 31st July the Department announced the expansion of the HR Service Centre (HRSC) by an extra 80 full time equivalent posts to deal with high levels of work. PCS has pressed hard to ensure that any new jobs be placed in locations where a significant surplus might be expected under current plans for Workforce Change. This is one of the measures employed under the job security agreement in HMRC to avoid compulsory redundancies or forced moves of home. Of the 80 posts, 20 are being filled in Newcastle with the rest therefore going to York.

Assistant Group Secretary Dominic McFadden said: ‘HRSC members have been working flat out for some time and have had to cope with computer system and software problems combined with peaks in demand dealing with HR queries. The extra staff will help improve the HR service provided to all our members in HMRC and should reduce some of the pressure on existing HRSC members.’

Under these plans Hilary House will thus become the fourth HRSC site, with Cumbernauld, Newcastle and Queen’s Dock Liverpool. Detailed talks on the filling of the posts involving local PCS officials will commence soon.

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Skipton – Prospective candidates back PCS

PCS members from the threatened office in Skipton, North Yorkshire gave up their lunch break on July 31st to attend a meeting as part of the Bradford and District Branch ongoing L.O.C.A.L campaign: Local Offices, Communities and Livelihoods.

Members were able to meet, listen to and exchange information with prospective parliamentary candidates for the constituency Claire Hazelgrove (Labour) and James Keeley (Liberal Democrat) together with Skipton Town Mayor Carol Manley and Chris Knowles-Fitton, leader of Craven District Council.

The meeting, organised by Branch Chair Trudy Bates and Office Secretary Sam Allen, was a further move in the fight against the decision to close the office and transfer work to Bradford, Leeds and elsewhere, first announced in November 2006.

Since then, members and reps have fought hard on behalf of their office and currently all staff who remain (38 at the last count) have been declared pre-surplus. As Sam Allen says: ‘It’s not an ideal solution but at least we cannot now be moved elsewhere against our wishes.’

Claire Hazelgrove determined to bring the case to the attention of Chancellor Alistair Darling and James Keeley proposed to lead a visit to the Treasury and HMRC HQ in London in order to highlight Skipton’s concerns.

Carol Manley said she had written to HMRC detailing her worries about the threat to the office but to her knowledge had had no reply. ‘It’s dispiriting when we hear about the department’s apparent indifference to our members’ concerns,’ said Trudy Bates. ‘We shall fight on of course. We believe that Skipton remains a viable office. We’re fighting a tough campaign and all our members and reps here are first class and deserve our full support.’

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Campaigns

Anti-cuts and closures – branch reports
North Yorkshire – fighting on

After success in securing a future for Harrogate office last year, the Branch has been building campaigning work to oppose planned closures in the remaining locations in Ripon, York, Scarborough and Bridlington announced in June. Management tried their best to ensure that the Workforce Change consultations process was a damp squib but following office visits by Branch Secretary John Barrett, members’ action kicked off to good effect. PCS members have:

  • led delegations to MPs’ surgeries
  • organised MPs’ office visits,
  • involved MPs in taking complaints into parliament
  • met with local Chambers of Trade and addressed local political party constituency meetings
  • distributed thousands of postcards inviting members of the public to complain to finance minister Jane Kennedy
  • organised local media coverage and public petitions
  • encouraged a massive internal feedback from staff

John told Oracle: ‘The over-riding impact of this work feels great and has contrasted markedly with the air of gloom and despondency that management tried to spread. Some may feel that this is unrealistic but the Branch Committee retains a realistic expectation of keeping jobs local in the four locations under threat. Even if the consultation phase ends with ongoing management madness to close an office, PCS work will continue to fight on.’

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Norwich Taxes – fully engaged for a better future

Norwich Taxes have submitted three reports to HMRC in opposition to the plan to close offices in Great Yarmouth and Dereham and centralise work in Norwich.

The reports total over 60 pages and 20,000 words and have been part of a campaign that has seen three MPs, one prospective parliamentary candidate, numerous local councillors and two local authorities support the union’s counter proposals with good coverage in the local media.

Over 3000 leaflets have been handed out to local businesses in Dereham and Great Yarmouth highlighting the potential impact on trade through the loss of jobs. Leaflet design and printing was provided free of charge by two local companies and members of the Trades Council.

Member engagement in the affected offices has been high and the submissions to Workforce Change have been of a very high standard complete with links to various web pages, especially relating to the economic status of Great Yarmouth, a deprived town and regularly in the top ten of unemployment black spots.

Lee Sutton, Branch Secretary says: ‘We have been planning for this for over eighteen months and through HMRC’s delays have had time to engage with MPs and conduct member/staff surveys well in advance of the official consultation. Locally we are fortunate that we have members capable and willing to fight for their futures; the campaign has been very much a local initiative and we hope that entrenched members on the Eastern front will succeed were others have unfortunately failed to make HMRC see sense. ‘

Eastern Front Rocks Department

Members threatened with the closure of Havenbridge House tax office in Great Yarmouth affecting 139 staff have HMRC rocking.

The local press picked up on the novel use by the union of traditional seaside rock with the message ‘SAVE LOCAL JOBS’ running through the middle. BBC Radio, two local papers and local Anglia TV news all covered the story, summed up by the local newspaper as: ‘Battling tax workers hoping for rock-solid support.’

The first stick of rock, together with members’ letters was presented to the local MP, Tony Wright. The ‘stunt’ culminated in 700 sticks of rock being distributed to the public in a frantic twenty minutes during glorious weather in the town centre.

Council report censures HMRC

The 28 Members in Dereham’s threatened HMRC office have campaigned hard, submitting a petition of over 800 signatures and gaining the support of the local MP Keith Simpson and the local authority, Breckland Council. The office is the smallest faced with closure in Cluster 11.

On behalf of the union, Lee Sutton and local rep Lina Curtis attended the local policy scrutiny committee of the council to answer questions about the office closure. The meeting was also attended by the MP but not by HMRC who refused the opportunity to present their case.

The council then published a report seeking to retain jobs in the town which was scathing about HMRC’s consultation. A copy was sent direct to the minister Jane Kennedy as well as to Workforce Change.

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WFC consultation ‘a sham’

PCS reps across Lincolnshire and North Nottinghamshire were ‘shocked and appalled’ that HMRC were to go ahead with the closure of eight local offices with two more earmarked for closure. This will leave only one tax office in the whole of Lincolnshire, Britain’s second largest county, by 2010.

PCS had made strong cases for saving offices but many members now feel that the consultation process was nothing but a sham.

Reps from East Midlands, Sheffield and Spalding branches have met to plan further campaigning and representation for members faced with unwelcome transfers and the prospect of three hour round trips to Lincoln or Nottingham.

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President’s column

We enter Autumn facing attacks on a number of fronts. After years of constant change in the Department and not much of it for the better, it is a shame that for what PCS members have had to put up with there are few rewards forthcoming in return, if any.

The recent pay offer based on a Treasury driven remit for average awards of just 2.4% is proof of the lack of any desire to show gratitude for what HMRC staff have delivered over the last few years. The commitment to proper progression has been overturned and future capping of the maxima of scales to just 1% over the next two years is derisory. All this at a time of spiralling food, energy and fuel prices which have a greater impact on our many thousands of members trying to make ends meet on low pay. In the Revenue and Customs group we now need to work within the national strategy for pay playing a full role in the action that we will be asked to take.

Currently we are also awaiting the final announcements in respect of Workforce Change. The relentless intent to cut jobs and close offices makes little sense and certainly does nothing to improve efficiency. Actually the reverse seems to be the case. The Group Executive Committee (GEC) will for those offices affected ensure full support where a detriment to members or to the public is identified. It is also absurd that at a time when the tax gap is running at, according to informed estimates, more than £40 billion per annum, we are reducing our ability to provide money to the Treasury which in turn could solve many of the problems created by today’s ‘credit crunch’. Certainly the PCS campaign for tax justice is gathering momentum involving the TUC and other concerned parties. The GEC is very much at the heart of this area of work.

To add to our concerns we are now facing the potential privatisation of security personnel at the very time when we should be reviewing our own arrangements especially in protecting data information and storage of contraband. It does make you wonder where there can be any logic in the proposal for outsourcing and your GEC is fully intent on campaigning against such a move.

The next period of time is going to test our resolve against all of these threats. I know that if we stand firm together then PCS will be in a good position to vigourously campaign to protect its members. Thank you for your continuing support.

Dave Bean

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Group Secretary’s column

To let you into a journalistic secret, when writing these articles we sometimes have to make predictions about what will happen in the intervening weeks between penning the article and the Oracle publication date. I’ll make some predictions in a moment, but let’s deal with a couple of things we do know.

We know that PCS members have voted overwhelmingly to endorse both the national and HMRC protocols. The national protocols provide protection for all members across the civil service at a time when this government remain intent on cutting further civil service jobs. The HMRC Agreement reinforces the national protocols and provides further steps which the Department must take before declaring any member of staff redundant or compulsorily moving staff. We have reached these agreements with the government and with the department because PCS members have consistently campaigned and demonstrated their willingness to take action when action has been necessary.

It bears repeating, however, that neither agreement will stop jobs being cut nor will they save all offices from the threat of closure. We do this by continuing to take our case to the members of the Government and the Department that make the decisions. We do this by continuing to campaign energetically and imaginatively against job cuts and closures. We do this by taking action where we have to. And we do this by making sure that all PCS members – and there are over 70,000 members alone in HMRC – make every effort to make their voices heard. So here’s my prediction. PCS members in HMRC have been voting on whether to accept the pay offer for 2008. The offer is worth around about 2% for most members. Living costs are rising at around 5%. I predict that PCS members in HMRC will have voted in large numbers to both reject the offer and overwhelmingly to take action to improve the offer.

In addition, all PCS members should now also be being balloted in relation to national pay issues, notably in protest at the arbitrary cap of 2% that has been placed on all pay offers in the public sector. All PCS members are being asked to vote to take strike action and other industrial action to put further pressure on the Government to reconsider its policy on civil service pay. Where possible we will be taking action alongside our colleagues in other areas of the public sector.

For all union members though there’s a more difficult prediction that always confronts us when we consider taking action. What difference will the action that we take as PCS members make? Will the action that I take have any impact on Government policy? Will we get a better pay rise or improve our working conditions?

Here’s another prediction. If every single member takes action; if every single office up and down the country is closed; if no member volunteers to work overtime; and if every member gets involved in campaigning to save offices and stop job cuts it will undoubtedly shake this Government to its shaky core. It won’t happen overnight, but if we stand together and stand up for one another then we will win. We thank all PCS members for their continued support.

Peter Lockhart

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Workforce Change

Workload change

As branches and offices battle on with their anti-cuts and closures campaigns, reps are taking on many more grievance and appeals cases

The Workforce Change process is now in its final throes. Since November 2006, HMRC has announced wave after wave of office closure and work centralisation proposals which have left very few in the Department untouched. From the initial urban centre reviews through non¬strategic sites to the latest and last round of plans for the remaining clusters and individual offices announced on June 11th, the entire departmental estate and staffing has been subject to radical and drastic review.

It continues to be a most difficult time for PCS and its members nationwide. Even staff based in the larger offices located in the larger towns and cities whose jobs are not on the line have had to brace themselves for an influx of new staff coming in from outlying areas where work has been lost. Those whose jobs have gone are threatened with damaged careers and lifestyles to say nothing of lost earnings through expensive, difficult and time wasting journeys to new posts often located miles away from home.

The union has been involved throughout. At national level, leading Group officers continue to meet with and lobby government ministers, MPs and senior civil servants representing the employer at the highest level. At regional and local levels, branches have encouraged and supported innumerable office campaigns to resist and counteract departmental proposals with plans of their own; plans that are far more efficient and friendly for customers, for the staff and for the business itself than the drastic, sledgehammer ideas and techniques of WFC.

During these last months, the work load for branch and office reps has increased dramatically, particularly in branches with a mix of offices that now find themselves dealing simultaneously with the fall out from locations at different stages in the process.

Bristol Taxes Branch – Winning for members

Bristol Taxes Branch is an exemplary case. They began on day one, November 16th 2006 by leading and supporting the campaign to save Phoenix Court office in Bath where members were told to expect a move to Bristol. Once HMRC failed to accept the benefits of keeping the office open, the emphasis for the union shifted towards support and protection for individual members faced with the gruelling process of consultation, one-to-ones and moderation and, in many cases, all the way to grievance and appeals procedures.

Meanwhile, other offices within the branch have since become caught up in WFC yet are still at the early consultation/ campaign stage. The branch itself, therefore, is working at all levels within the process to fight for the remaining offices and the members concerned. Branch Chair Sarah Hills says: ‘A lot of our energy is now taken up with office closures and as the announcements have kept coming, our work load has certainly increased. We’re heavily involved now in grievance procedures and personal cases whilst at the same time trying to encourage and help the individual offices to get their campaigns started by responding fully to the consultation process and preparing for what may happen next. We learned a lot in the Bath campaign and we can bring that experience to help members in our individual offices in Chippenham, Weston-Super –Mare, Wells, Frome and Wiltshire Court in Swindon. Even if the closures still go ahead, we have established precedents through the grievance procedures on such issues as reasonable daily travel (RDT) and health.’

Assistant Branch Secretary Owain Shearman adds: ‘With our support, a lot of members have won their grievances and appeals. Many are now on pre-surplus status or are expecting to be once the decisions are announced. This means they can’t be moved against their will. We’ve slowed the process down and members now have more time to consider their options.’

The entire Branch pays tribute to all their members and reps who are fighting together to save their offices, their communities and their jobs from the worst effects of WFC.

Bath to let

Revenue estate owners Mapeley are wasting no time. As soon as the word came through that the tax office in Bath was definitely to close, a big ‘To Let’ sign appeared on the fence.

Yet perhaps the off-shore ‘tax efficient’ company should wait a bit. PCS members supported by their union have just won a lot of grievance cases and appeals against the employer who wished to move them all to Bristol under WFC. At the moment, these staff are not going anywhere soon and Mapeley are not likely to find a new tenant with dozens of disgruntled office workers still occupying the building.

Even given the respite, members are extremely disappointed in the way their employer appeared to be trying to coerce them into a move which many did not want to make. Information was inconsistent, a lot of pressure was applied and people received unequal treatment throughout the process. Local management tried to act fairly but the same could not be said of senior, off-site managers whose only concern seemed to be to get the workers out at all costs, with maximum discomfort and dislocation for all concerned

As part of the Bristol Urban Review, Bath was part of the first round of WFC proposals. ‘We had to hit the ground running on this one,’ says Sarah Hills. ‘From the early days, members wanted us to focus our campaign on individual issues, which is what we’ve done. We put in our consultation to the Review and offered alternative suggestions. The one-to-ones didn’t seem to go that badly and direct managers supported staff who gave good reasons why they couldn’t move. At moderation however, most cases were overturned. People felt disenfranchised and were very upset. As a branch we then took a lot of personal cases through grievance procedures. It also appeared that processing members and compliance members had been given different information: processing were told that the moderation panel could be challenged on its decisions, compliance staff were told that it couldn’t. That kind of treatment helps no one.’

Ian Mellor reports

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Voices of Bath

All the way along the story has changed. It seemed to depend on which senior manager was speaking. We were told that as a compliance team we would be moved to Bristol as a whole. Another manager then said that only some of our team would be moved to Bristol and that some of us could move to Frome. That changed again and we are now maybe off to Bristol but to join different teams when or if we get there. Most of us went through grievance procedures. I’m still awaiting the outcome of mine. That said, my immediate manager has been very supportive throughout and so has PCS.
Simon Hurford

Two female members in compliance were told there was no point in appealing against RDT. After colleagues in processing had women in the same situation who appealed and won, the compliance members did then appeal and win themselves. That said, they now feel so traumatised by the whole thing that despite the fact there are jobs available in Bath MoD, they won’t apply because they fear having to go through the whole process again in three years time when the MoD contracts run out. Also, in the case of one member, she was told that her 69 year old retired husband would have to drive her to Bristol each day.
(Editorial note: In fact this incident informed a letter from Head of WFC Don Makepeace to PCS saying that it was ‘not reasonable’ to expect family members to act as taxi drivers.)
Elaine Davies

At first I agreed to go because I didn’t want to be left behind even though my journey would have been over the hour. After I visited Bristol I realised I couldn’t do it because I have a hearing disability and just couldn’t work in such a noisy office with daily meetings and so on. I’ll also need much more time as I need more surgery for breast cancer. I therefore appealed and am waiting for an appointment with Capita. I’ve no idea what the final decision about me will be.
Cherry Hollingworth

My one-to-one was brilliant. They said they couldn’t see why I should have to go to Bristol because of my disability. I would also be facing 11 hour days including travel time by car. But the moderating panel overturned that and said I should go. I then went to grievance which involved a visit to Capita who immediately said such a journey was out of the question. The really annoying thing was that two colleagues in a similar position didn’t have to go to grievance in order to achieve pre-surplus status. Apart from all this, I’m due to retire in July next year, so why on earth did I have to go through all this anyway?
Mary Coath

I had a series of mixed messages from different managers. We feel very strongly about these inconsistencies. Some of us also had the impression that the moderating panel thought we had been lying in our one-to-ones about RDT. When their decisions came, there was no documentation to back them up. 60 staff in processing thought they had a case to stay in Bath, supported by our local managers, but the moderating panel agreed with only two.
Danny Wong

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Weston-Super-Mare, Wells and Frome – Fighting for their future

Still open for business!

In Weston-Super-Mare, the fire which destroyed much of the pier at this west country seaside resort on July 28th hit the national news. Now the feeling among HMRC staff is that the pier may be damaged but they’re not about to lose their office and jobs without a struggle. Weston, together with Wells and Frome, are among the final group of about 50 clustered and individual offices whose futures are now in the balance. If the department wins, these offices will be closed by 2011 with most of the work expected to go to Bristol. For scores of members the journey is beyond RDT.

Before then, there is the lengthy process to be negotiated with which members in larger offices elsewhere are by now all too familiar. The proposals to close come first, followed by consultation and one-to-ones. Then, if staff dig their heels in and refuse to go quietly, will come moderation, grievance and appeal.

Weston’s campaign got off to a superb start. Members rallied round as soon as the closure proposal was announced and thanks to the hard work of campaign co-ordinators Rachel Duffy and Wendy Chase supported by office rep Jason Wilkins and practically every member of the office they have submitted a particularly detailed and thorough consultation document to WFC.

The document is exemplary, and covers not only the key points which WFC must consider, but a record of support that the campaign is getting from their MP John Penrose, local councillors and businesses and the media. Press coverage of the story has been extensive.

John Penrose has been involved from the start. He has lobbied financial secretary Jane Kennedy, tabled parliamentary questions and visited the office to hear for himself the effect that closure proposals wll have on his constituents. He has been involved with PCS nationally by attending the parliamentary ‘drop in’ question sessions for MPs organised by the union at Westminster. His letter to the minister included a particularly compelling question about the process of WFC and reflected members’ feeling not only in Weston, but throughout HMRC as WFC has rolled out: The MP asked:

‘Why, if the review of Weston-Super-Mare’s office isn’t due to start until April 2008, does everybody believe it’s already been decided and that the office will definitely be closed? Is the review merely a fig leaf for a decision that’s already been taken? Will the review therefore be approached with a genuinely open mind about what’s best for taxpayers’ money, the staff and local clients of HMRC using the office?’

The battle continues. As members awaited the outcome of the consultation, a local petition was raised, supported by a letter and post-card campaign to lobby parliament, government departments and the press. The campaign team also took their banner to a local pop festival where it featured on Channel 4 TV.

Their document also offers an alternative proposal. There is another office in the town already partly occupied by the DWP and Job Centre Plus – HMRC could easily relocate into vacant space there and keep work in the town.

Although much of Weston’s pier was lost in the fire, the remaining sections were re-opened for business within three days and attracted a lot of customers. HMRC, please take note!

Ian Mellor writes

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Weston, Wells and Frome voices

Our members have done really well in seizing the opportunity to respond to the Department’s proposals. Nearly everyone has wanted to get involved and most of the work has been done in our own time. Weston is a growing town and we’re looking ahead to jobs in the future, not just for ourselves. We’re trying to fight a positive campaign and concentrate on what the government itself has said. We need to look at Weston as a resource for economic improvement. We calculate that on average, it will cost each of our members £2000 a year in travel costs if they have to go to Bristol. In this office, on average, all of us have 20 years’ experience. That should be used here, not lost.
Rachel Duffy

The campaign has been absolutely brilliant. Everyone has contributed. It will be exceedingly difficult for me to travel too far away as I have an elderly relative to care for. I’m also anxious to know why all Band O grades are now regarded as a mobile grade. I, like others waited 11 years for a non mobile promotion and now technically I could be sent anywhere. Also, offices in similar positions appear to be receiving different treatment from WFC. It’s unfair I think and most unsettling.
Julie Deam

I have cancer. I’m also outside RDT. When I had chemo, I could fit in my appointments around work. When I have chemo again, which I’ve been told I must, if I’m in Bristol I won’t be able to make the journeys because it will be too much for me. It will have a huge impact on me and I could only do it by taking six months sick leave. Before, I could keep on working two weeks out of three which was of help both to me and to the department.
Margaret Hollow

As a working mum I’d lose at least ten hours a week travelling. I only work 32 hours a week anyway, and as I’m the main breadwinner in the family I can’t afford the time. The move for me is physically and financially impossible. I’ve been in the Revenue for 32 years and I find it disgusting that they are treating us like this. Experience and loyalty count for nothing now.
Marian Evans

As of September I’m cutting my hours in order to help care for my son. He’s only seven months old. My wife and I want to spend a day a week at home with him so I’ll do four eight - hour days. If I have to go to Bristol I’ll then be doing ten hour days, including the extra travel, which means I’ll barely see my son. I can’t see me sticking that for very long!Peter Sims

My eight year old son is autistic. At the moment I can easily get to his school if I need to, during the day. That would be impossible if I have to go and work in Bristol. The journey is about an hour and a half, or much longer if you have to wait for the train. Alternative employment opportunities around here are not good.
Karen James

I’m under the hour on RDT and haven’t much of an argument but something that would rile me is that if I am sent to Bristol but this office remains open for whatever reason, I’m then stuck in Bristol wondering why I had to move in the first place. Also, we know the government wants to make savings but why should we be expected to lose money personally just to finance their plans.
Adrian Turner

I worked in Bristol for five years and have experienced the travel. It’s at least two hours a day extra, as a minimum. That was why I came to Weston in the first place and I’ve had 17 very happy years here. There’s also the cost implications. I also look after elderly relatives and work in the evenings as a special constable. I couldn’t do that if I have to go back to Bristol.
Fiona Payne

We’ve all rallied round and everyone is concerned and genuinely interested. We’ve really pulled together as an office. The key people are Rachel and Wendy but everyone did their bit…and did exactly what they said they would, on the surveys, contacting the council, the MP and so on. It just kept on building….really great.
Kim Loveridge

Members in Weston-Super-Mare have been running a very successful campaign with lots of media coverage and support from local businesses and the MP. The success has really been down to the members who have led the way.
Owain Shearman

The current feeling at Wells is that they will continue to campaign. Staff have written individually to MPs and have sent a good collective office response to the consultation document. We’re also involved with a post card campaign. Some members say they would go to Bristol if they were paid for travel time. We think this is reasonable if it’s going to add up to an extra three hours to the working day. We would ask why we are having to go through this upsetting and gruelling exercise at great cost to our employer in what is supposed to be a money saving exercise, when we already know that we are outside RDT.
Kay Alford, office rep Wells

We are very disappointed that some of the information in the announcement is obviously flawed in that staff here have used the Transport Direct site and found that that the times given bear little or no resemblance to the reality of travelling in this region. Individual members are already being pressured to transfer to other locations/business streams. We would like HMRC to note hat we may be small but we are not insignificant!
Wells members.

We are a small rural office and in common with most of the other locations affected, suffer from serious lack of public transport links to the strategic sites. When it comes to RDT, almost all our office would fall outside the guidance. The wealth of experience, knowledge and expertise in the staff who work in Frome is extensive. It has been built up collectively over many years and is irreplaceable.
Frome members

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Mansfield –‘cases overturned on appeal’

In part two of our Midlands coverage, Ian Mellor visits Chaucer House, Mansfield

We’ve all been there….the phone rings and you have to down tools and dash off. There’s a crisis at home or school and, as parents and carers, we’re needed. At once. Most managers don’t have a problem with that and the hours can be made up later, under what remains of HMRC’s ‘family friendly’ policies.

Mansfield member Kate Calders is a case in point. On the day we visited her office at Chaucer House to hear about the excellent campaign to protect members caught up in WFC’s plan to move everyone to Nottingham -a mere 15 miles easy journey to the south, according to Transport Direct-she’d had to leave in a hurry. Her five-year-old daughter’s school had rung about an accident and she’d had to go. Fortunately, thanks to her resistance to WFC who wanted her and everyone else in the office to move, she’s now been through grievance and won on appeal. She was supported all the way by PCS office rep Darren Webber and her fellow member Tracy Adams who has put in a tremendous amount of time on behalf of all the members in the office.

Between them, and with the full support of the office, including local line management and the local Labour MP Alan Meale, they have run a tough, resilient campaign since day one, November 16th 2006 when the first proposals from WFC were revealed.

In fact the journey to Nottingham is not easy at all, especially on public transport or in the rush hour, and had Kate been there rather than still at her desk in Mansfield when the phone rang, she would have faced an expedition of well over an hour to get to her daughter’s school to face the emergency.

Interestingly, where the campaign has managed to overturn the outcome of grievance procedures and get three members onto pre-surplus status, it has been because the panels have decided that staff will suffer financial loss through the move and not because the journey times to work will be over RDT, even though all are in fact outside the one hour regarded as reasonable by WFC.

Tracy feels that the cases should have been won on RDT alone especially given the memo from management which in fact stated: ‘…the words ‘normally about an hour’ were deliberately chosen to avoid debates descending into arguments about seconds… the standard starting point for any assessment is an hour, not an hour plus a small margin…’.

As Tracy says: ‘The memo was ignored in the written decisions and only ‘significant financial hardship’ was mentioned as a reason against their proposed transfers. We also discovered that one of the moderating panels had used the wrong post code when looking at a particular case, but the case was still not reconsidered.’

No one has been happy with the way senior management have responded to the planned closure: ‘Let’s just say they’ve not been sympathetic,’ said one member who has been through the WFC procedures.

When a letter was sent to acting Chairman Dave Hartnett about these problems, he responded to the planned closure by saying that he had every confidence in the HR processes that had been set up to manage movement of staff.

A feature of the campaign has been the way Darren and Tracy have guided members through the lengthy process from consultation onto appeal against the outcome of grievance, and the massive amount of research involved collecting data on individual circumstances and journey times. Crucially, local Labour MP Alan Meale has given valuable support and highlighted the issue in Parliament and with ministers: ‘We couldn’t have done what we have and had so many grievance cases overturned in our favour on appeal without Alan’s input and ongoing support,’ says Tracy.

If and when the final accounts are done, members everywhere will wonder if the vast upheaval they have suffered and continue to suffer will have justified any savings. Tax payers will be justified in asking how much tax revenue has been lost as a result of WFC, not only in Mansfield, but across the entire UK.

Meanwhile we can report that Kate Calder’s dash to the local school turned out fine with no harm done. After a few tears all concerned were soon safely back in class and mother was back to work in Chaucer House. Long may it remain open.

 

Voices of Mansfield

I have two children aged 16 and 11. I’m a single parent and I need to work my hours around the children’s school and college. It takes me about 15 minutes to get to the office here but the journey to Nottingham is about one hour and fifteen minutes. I couldn’t do it and fit everything else in. Originally the moderation panel said I was within RDT. It turned out they’d used the wrong post code for me. They’ve not acknowledged the mistake. We wouldn’t have known what to do on our own, without Tracy and Darren.
Wendy Mills

If I went to Nottingham it would make my journey to work much more difficult. My children are at different schools and are with a child minder after school. From Nottingham, to get back and pick them up before 6 pm when the child minder stops work, I’d have to go without a lunch break. I couldn’t do that on health grounds and my child care costs would double, in effect.
Jayne Davidson

Now we’re on pre-surplus we have opportunities to look for work elsewhere. There are jobs in Sheffield for instance, which of course is much further away than Nottingham. It does seem strange that if we’re outside RDT for one area, they should give opportunities in places even more difficult to get to... but at least the opportunity is there. Our reps and members have been fantastic… so supportive. Local line management have also been very supportive.
Maxine Faulkner

It’s been great that everybody has pulled together and supported each other… and they still are. It does linger on though and we wonder if we’re any further forward. We’ve been told that if we don’t apply for jobs then our manager will do it for us. I find that distasteful, to be honest.
Gloria Pearce

I’ve felt quite pressured. And now we’re on pre-surplus, that’s a fresh battle. We’ve been told we face disciplinary procedures if we don’t apply for jobs without a very valid reason. People here have worked for many years and it’s terrible to see how they are being treated by their employer… who is in fact their own government.
Michael Wilson

I was issued with a pre-surplus letter but then they took it back. There’d been a mistake. There’s health issues in my case so I’m again waiting for a decision about my future.
Karen Powell

To take the bus is not really an option from Mansfield to Nottingham. It stops on this side of the city and it’s then another 20 minutes walk to get to the HMRC office at Castle Meadows. The trains don’t run at convenient times either. I shall make the move but it will mean leaving home soon after 6 a.m. with my husband in the car, leaving our daughter to lock up and so on before she leaves for school. Fortunately she’s 15 now and should cope, but I’d still rather it wasn’t happening. I’d certainly not want to travel on my own to Nottingham.

Overall, there are huge issues about removing local compliance. Local accountants are not happy about everything going to Nottingham. HMRC are not paying enough attention to the importance of compliance. It saddens me to see what is happening in HMRC. People who only want to do a good job for their country are being very badly treated.
Sue Worsley

Dealing with our members’ cases has been helped by the way we managed to get a good link with PCS headquarters. By referring our cases to HQ we have had support and looking at some of the branch briefings that have come down recently, certainly some of our cases have been used for information to help others. Having said that, we know that in some ways we’ve got off lightly and there are far worse scenarios elsewhere in the country. The decisions made at varying stages of the WFC reviews have been inconsistent, and this was highlighted at the meeting I attended at PCS HQ on 31 January 2008, where PCS reps from around the country discussed what had been happening with WFC reviews in their areas. In this office we know that we have a wealth of experience of the work that’s required by the department but the way things have been restructured it’s just not coming through to us. There is a real need for a tax office here. Last time they did a review, the Enquiry Centre was getting over 19,000 visitors a year.
Tracy Adams

There are other government offices here in Mansfield but it’s all under review and if our members go there they may be just staving off the inevitable. But HMRC ought to have a future here. We’d not want to take work from places such as Alfreton and Newark which are also under pressure but people who have already gone to Nottingham could come back here and increase our viability. Members have continually expressed thanks for the help they have received from the PCS, commenting on the ‘value for money’ they have received for their subs.
Darren Webber

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HM Inspectorate of Constabulary

Government watchdog supports PCS

Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) published the report of their inspection into HMRC’s Detection Directorate on 18th January 2008. Entitled ‘Customised for Control’ , the 60 page report essentially endorses the message that PCS has been campaigning on for years past, namely that the UK’s coasts and borders are not adequately defended and so called efficiency drives and economy measures are not the way to improve the situation. In a nutshell, the country needs more resources to combat the increasingly sophisticated criminal threats to our well being, rather than less.

We have also highlighted the key issues in ex-Customs and Revenue Group magazines over the years. In particular, Group Secretary Peter Lockhart emphasised the dangers that deficient customs and security means for the UK in his article ‘Nothing to Declare?’ (Assessment Journal, September 06).

Peter’s main points were that:

  • UK customs cover was and is inadequate
  • Mobile teams leave ‘gaping holes’ in the nation’s coastlines
  • Intelligence service re-structuring has exacerbated the situation
  • Staff reduction and office closures are counter productive
  • Local knowledge is in decline

Security watchdog Lord Carlile summed up the situation in his annual report for 2006: ‘I remain of the view that customs officers, in particular, are thinly spread’ and that ‘this kind of manpower weakness is no discouragement to terrorists’. There is little in the HMIC report to suggest that things have improved since then.

Nevertheless, the report acknowledges that ‘the contribution of HMRC Detection to curtailing illicit goods and securing revenue for the Treasury has been substantial’ but places this in the context of vastly increased imports. Overall, the Detection Directorate ‘failed to achieve its internally set Strategic Expectations’ for these commodities (cigarettes and hand rolling tobacco). Seizure levels of heroin and cocaine were also below target.

On security and border control, the report highlights the need to recognise that expectations and resources have changed greatly in the years since 9/11. Indeed, most of the Detection Directorate along with elements of RIS, Customs and International, firearms and explosives officers and criminal investigation have now been identified as proper to border functions within the new UK Border Agency (UKBA).

Elements of the detection strategy announced in 2005 are indicated, including the policy decision to extend the use of mobile and multi-functional teams, and it is stated that ‘critical elements of an intelligence led or knowledge based approach to law enforcement were absent, incomplete or inconsistent across the organisation’.

In all, the HMIC report makes 12 recommendations and we summarise these below, together with our observations in italics;
1. Produce annual National Risk Assessments to inform the deployment decision making process – Ongoing risk assessments have been the domain of RIS for many years, but the annual review as recommended will be helpful if it includes a review of effective deployment also.
2. Review mobile team resources to determine their sustainability –PCS has campaigned for many years for an increase in static resources and therefore welcome this recommendation. The cost and effectiveness of mobile resources is long overdue for critical analysis. However any proposed withdrawal of current mobile resources will need to be balanced in recognising HR problems artificially created by the policy that moved resource from static to mobile.
3. Reintroduce National Risk Assessments to cover all points of entry – A logical and long overdue initiative, in line with the principles of the ‘Security in a global hub’ document.
4. Tasking and co-ordination structures to include prevention, intelligence and enforcement. UKBA to establish a joint-agency framework to achieve this – Support the initiative but the devil will be in the detail!
5. Underpin border control by embedded local intelligence – Another continuing PCS objective is acknowledged. Locally based staff with knowledge of and contacts in, the location, have long been considered as basic requirements of effective and credible intelligence gathering.
6. Make IntelNet available to all UKBA frontline staff and use it as a joint resource for UKBA and HMRC – Any extention of information accessability must be welcomed but must not be used as a replacement for intelligence briefings.
7. Introduce structured briefing systems for border management systems – Great in theory but regular and meaningful briefings will need to be regimented to be effective in practice.
8. Audit the Detection Control Information Service (DCIS) or Centaur to determine –

  • data gaps and inaccuracies
  • the training provided for staff and
  • the quality of management assurance – Agree that a stocktake would be essential prior to full UKBA integration.

9. Incorporate a unique port code for all locations in any new seizure recording system – This seems a very logical initiative.
10. Employ professional performance analysts to evaluate comparative local, regional and national performance – Whilst PCS agree that evaluation is an essential tool, it should be undertaken by trained staff and we would not support the use of consultants doing this work.
11. Include an informed operational competency assessment in selection for operational border management posts and ensure appropriate training and support is given – This is likely to find support amongst staff of all levels but will need to be properly considered in discussions with the DTUS.
12. Develop the Freight Target and Selection (FTS) as a core profiling tool for UKBA – The FTS is a proven tool and will have its rightful place in target and selection within the UKBA.
There are also nine other points of consideration proposed in the report, which suggest other improvements and changes to practice which include;

  • Joint funding of the National Co¬ordination Unit
  • A single national target and selection site
  • 100% Cyclamen alarm trigger interceptions
  • A review of maritime capabilities
  • More use of small port units with other agencies

We have asked UKBA officials for their considered response to the HMIC recommendations and how they envisage them affecting the current border force strategy. We are hopeful that the positive elements in the HMIC report will enhance the efficiency of the border controls but more importantly we hope it will gain the support of the staff and management by acknowledging that such changes will help to achieve that improvement.

We remain in discussions with UKBA management on the creation of the UKBA and any progress on the recommendations will be reported.

GEC member Michael Lowe reports

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Equalities

Black history month

Donald Rodney - A local history maker, 18th May 1961 to 4th March 1998

Donald was born in Birmingham, West Midlands and was the last of 12 siblings. He lived on Marshall St, where Malcolm X visited in 1965. He started a foundation course at 16 but due to suffering from sickle cell anaemia wasn’t able to complete it. Undeterred, he pursued his love of art by firstly doing a 1 year foundation course and then a Fine Arts Honours BA at Nottingham Polytechnic. He joined some other Black Artists that became known as the Pan-Afrikan Connection that planned group exhibitions and the first National Black Art Convention in Wolverhampton and several others across the country. The named changed in 1984 to the Blk Art Group and had exhibitions at Battersea Arts Centre and the University of Birmingham.

Donald continued in his personal development by completing a Postgraduate Diploma in Multimedia Fine art in London and after that had his first solo exhibition. Many followed in galleries up and down the country. A lot of Donald’s art was taken from personal life experiences, and events that were part of the current day’s news. His illness deteriorated however which resulted in hospitalisation for Donald, but this did not hinder his pursuit of the arts. The last exhibition that he participated in was ‘Inside Out’ at the East London Gallery. The Tate Gallery acquired Donald’s materials during 2003 and it was shown from 20th September to the end of December 2004.

Donald Rodney is just one of the many black people who have shaped part of our modern history.

The information for this was obtained courtesy of www.tate.org.uk/britain.

More information on Black History publications and events are available from the following: www.blackhistorymonthuk.co.uk. www.northants-blackhistory.org.uk.

The Brighton and Hove Black History group have an Exhibition and Fair event on Sat 11th October ’08 at The Old Market Hove BN3 1AS 12 – 17:00, more information can be obtained at www.info@blackhistory.org.uk.

Daphne Dennis reports

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Data discs

Poynter makes the point for PCS

There is much to commend the recent review into the missing child benefit discs produced by Kieron Poynter, chairman of Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) on 25th June. The review declares for instance, that

  • no individual member of staff is to blame for the loss of the data disks
  • data security, at the time of the incident, was simply not seen as priority for HMRC, and that the loss of the disks was symptomatic of a wider problem within the Department
  • HMRC’s data security policies and procedures were inadequate and unduly complex

So far so good. These are points that PCS can agree with. Also on June 25th, the union itself went on record (see BB/272/08 for full details) and outlined the key principles that would be followed in response to Poynter. These were that: 

  • the loss of the child benefit disks was very much regretted, but was linked directly to the Government programme of job cuts and privatisation
  • the need for clear and reasonable policies and procedures for data security was consistent with our support for high quality public services, and
  • the ‘capability’ (i.e. the infrastructure needed to enable practical implementation of the necessary measures) should be in place.

It gets better. As readers will recall, Oracle had carried out its own investigation into the affair at the beginning of the year and published findings in the February edition. We remain indebted to Child Benefit Office branch secretary and GEC member Tim Coxon whose input was critical to our report.

With the publication of Poynter and the further report of the investigation in the missing data from the Independent Police Complaints Commision (IPCC), Tim said: ‘The publication of the Poynter and IPCC reports was broadly welcomed by members here at Waterview Park. There was the instant relief that both reports refused to blame any individual and instead concentrated on the systemic failures within HMRC. This was of some comfort to those members directly involved in the incident, and was a vindication of our position from the start. There is however a lingering bitterness that the blame had initially been directed towards ‘a junior official’.

What is now crucial to emphasize is that the Poynter review vindicates the union’s position. As BB/227/08 put out by Assistant Group Secretary Lewis Bevan and Negotiations Officer Andy Thomas makes clear, the review declares:

‘We recommend that HMRC, rather than being solely savings-driven in its business case, should also evaluate the opportunity to redeploy staff towards yield improving compliance activities – building the business case based on yield improvement rather than staff reduction.’

In other words, concentrate on the core business and stop cutting staff. This, says the BB, is ‘what PCS has been saying ever since the 2004 announcements on staff reductions – and we will continue to press for this to be implemented in full.’

Furthermore, the report also recognises that ‘morale is low in HMRC’ and that ‘management needs to continue to focus on engaging with staff as the Department embarks on a period of further change.’ It is to be hoped that HMRC pays close attention to this point as it spends the £155 million earmarked by Chancellor Darling to improve data security over the next three years.

Typically, of course, this will not be new money and will thus have to be found by raiding other HMRC budgets. Thus a raft of other unpleasant issues may well be soon on the agenda for members already suffering the effects of so called efficiency savings.

Nevertheless, as all 45 recommendations of the Poynter review have been accepted by HMRC, presumably it is now only a matter of time before the employer undertakes a meaningful dialogue with the union and its members in an effort to pull back from the brink beyond which the Department becomes no longer fit for purpose. We live in hope.

In fact Andy Thomas and Lewis Bevan are currently meeting HMRC Governance and Security on a regular basis to discuss the Poynter findings and how they will be implemented. Watch this space.

As a footnote, it is also worth noting that although Poynter falls short of condemning the decision to merge HM Customs with the Inland Revenue -as the magazine Private Eye suggests (Nos 1214/1215), PwC remains mindful of the hundreds of millions it receives annually in government consultancy income: in fact the firm charged £3.6 million for investigating the lost discs and the wider Review, even at its ‘discounted rates for public sector work’ – it does suggest that the model used to merge the two former departments was ‘not suited’ to the business. Many R&C Group members will no doubt agree with that.

Ian Mellor reports, with Lewis Bevan, Tim Coxon and Andy Thomas
 

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