I ask for your support in the 2024 elections for Group Assistant Secretary, so that I may continue to work to defend and improve your rights in DWP for equality, natural justice and procedural fairness, under DWP policies for Attendance Management, Discipline and Grievance, and for compliance with Collective Agreement safeguards and protections for flexi-time and working patterns.

Flexible working, including hybrid working, policies are enjoyed by thousands of members but must be improved to remove pre-determined quotas for ‘time in the office’  and expanded to allow access to all members in all workplaces.  I have provided personal case advice against unfair warnings, unfair dismissals and inflexible policies that fail to support members who could, and should, be allowed to work from home for disability related reasons but need support for legal action against the employer to do so. PCS must remain intransigent against bad policies for hybrid working to achieve the necessary reforms. There should be no doubt that we will achieve the improvements needed, as we have achieved our previous democratically decided objectives, with experienced and resolute PCS negotiators and by unity in action.

I have negotiated and achieved crucial improvements for PCS members since 2001. I stand for re-election on the basis of my record as a negotiator at department level, including the achievement of:

• A Flexible Working Hours Agreement which supports flexi-time as the primary means of managing hours and working patterns for all DWP members
• A Breaks Policy for breaks in paid working time for all DWP members
• A new approach for Performance Management with abolition of ‘guided distribution’, ‘validation’ and the discredited ‘must improve’ rating for all DWP members
• A welfare orientated approach for Attendance Management which has delivered significant reductions in warnings and dismissals. Warnings have reduced from 4,361 (2016-17) to  443 (2022-23). Dismissals have reduced from 639 (2016-17) to 156 (2022-23)

These achievements must be used as a platform to win further gains on these and other issues:

• Sick pay entitlements must be levelled up for all members to have a right to at least 6 months’ full pay and 6 months’ half pay, with extensions, to support ‘Long COVID’ and other long-term illnesses.

• Job security and safety from COVID must be priorities for PCS under all DWP employee policies, together with FTA permanency and opposition to office closures/compulsory redundancy.  

• Pay must be uprated to cover cost of living rises and restoration for years of austerity since 2010.

I am a socialist. I support the achievement of Union policies through negotiations, legal action when appropriate and industrial action as a last resort.