I ask for your support for re-election as Group Assistant Secretary, so that I may continue to defend and improve your rights in DWP for equality, natural justice and procedural fairness, under policies for Attendance Management, Discipline and Grievance, and for compliance with Collective Agreement safeguards and protections for flexi-time and working patterns. I have provided successful personal case advice against unfair warnings, unfair dismissals and inflexible application of policies. I have continued to provide PCS Briefings for key issues for members and PCS Representatives including:

• Attendance Management Decision Making and the Role of the Member’s PCS Representative
• DWP Disciplinary Investigation & Decision Making and the Role of the PCS Representative
• Discipline Procedural Improvements including the achievement of Conference Policy A17/24 for members to have copies of Notes of a Decision Making Meeting before a decision is made
• DWP Disciplinary Procedural Fairness on the procedural requirement to differentiate between dishonesty and mistakes
• Jobcentre Dress Standard improvements to allow wearing trainers in response to Conference Policy A23/24

I have negotiated new disciplinary guidance to help protect members from unfair dismissal for looking at their own records on DWP computer systems. I will provide a PCS Briefing when this guidance is implemented.

Flexible working, including hybrid working, policies must be improved to abolish quotas for ‘time in the office’ and be available to all members in all workplaces.

PCS must remain intransigent against bad policies for hybrid working and new capability assessments. There should be no doubt that we will achieve improvements, as we have achieved our previous democratically decided objectives, with experienced and resolute negotiation and by unity in action.

I stand for re-election on the basis of my record of achievement as a PCS negotiator at departmental level since 2001, including:

• A Flexible Working Hours Agreement which supports flexi-time as the primary means of managing hours and working patterns for all members
• A Breaks Policy for breaks in paid working time for all members
• A new approach for Performance Management with abolition of ‘guided distribution’, ‘validation’ and the discredited ‘must improve’ rating for all 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 I,768 (2023-24). Dismissals have reduced from 639 (2016-17) to170 (2023-24)

These achievements provide a platform to win further gains on these and other issues:

• Pay must be uprated to cover cost of living rises and restoration for years of austerity since 2010.
• 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
• Job security and safety must be priorities for PCS together with FTA permanency and opposition to office closures/compulsory redundancy.

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