Incoming Ofgem chair’s warm words and expressions of concern must be turned into action
This week, Mark McAllister, Ofgem's incoming chair, appeared before the parliamentary energy select committee and made a number of assertions about the state of the organisation that will resonate heavily with our members who work there.
Speaking about Ofgem, Mr McAllister expressed concerns about low staff morale and high turnover. He also referenced the fallout of a disruptive "internal transformation project", which was launched at the height of the energy crisis, and for which Ofgem paid £2million to McKinsey, a management consultancy.
The voicing of these concerns will come as no surprise to our members. PCS welcomes the incoming chair's interest in improving staff morale and retention, issues which our members and reps at Ofgem have raising with the employer consistently in recent years and have been working tirelessly to address them
PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: "Our members in Ofgem do an important job and their welfare should be of paramount concern. We have been raising concerns about retention, morale, and the impact of the transformation project with Ofgem since it was launched, and we look forward to engaging with Ofgem's incoming chair on proposals on how to improve Ofgem’s attractiveness as an employer.
"In particular, we hope that he will work with us to support Ofgem's lowest-paid staff during this winter, as many of them struggle to pay their energy bills and are forced to rely on food banks and take on debt in order to make ends meet. Warm words and expressions of concern must be turned into action.”