2020 AGM

Agenda

1. Chair’s Opening Remarks - Karen Bolger (Branch President)
2. Adoption of the agenda - agreed
3. Apologies
4. Appointment of tellers
5. AGM 2019 Record of decisions - agreed
6. Branch Annual Report (see below) to the 2020 AGM including Finance Report 2019 - agreed
7. Branch nominations (See below)
8. Home Office Group nominations (See below)
9. PCS National nominations (See below)
10. Motions for debate (See below)
11. Other business

PCS Home Office Merseyside Branch nominations

Properly-received nominations for branch posts

President - Karen Bolger (elected unopposed)

Vice President - Kris Rowe (elected unopposed)

Branch Secretary - Phil Mount (elected unopposed)

Assistant Secretary - vacant

Organiser - Derek Mellor (elected unopposed)

Assistant Organiser - vacant

Treasurer - vacant

Branch Executive Committee members (15)*

Chris Smith, Christine Doyle, Philip Brightmore, Adam Holmes, Lindsay Melia, Dean Barron, Lee Gartland, Stephen Howlett, Emma case, Andrew Nixon, Appi Kovoory, Helen Gilbert, Fraser Spratt, Ian Duffy, Jacqui Hughes, Emma Hughes, Clare Kay.

*Due to having 3 vacant officer positions, but 17 accepted nominated individuals for the 15 available BEC member posts, it was recommended by the outgoing BEC, and endorsed by the Group President, that the new BEC should be made up of the elected Officers and 17 ordinary members. It is expected that the incoming BEC will then proceed to fill the vacant officer positions from within the ordinary members. Alternatively, an election would be needed for the 15 BEC member posts which is felt unnecessary in terms of both cost and from a viewpoint that once the officer posts were filled the unsuccessful candidates for ordinary member in an election would be given a position on the BEC. Even allowing for this the BEC would still only have filled 21 of the permitted 22 positions. Agreed.

Auditor (2 posts) - David Cain (elected unopposed), 1 vacancy

Delegates to PCS Home Office Group Conference (4 posts) - Karen Bolger, Helen Gilbert, 2 vacancies

Delegates to PCS National Conference (4 posts) - Kris Rowe, Helen Gilbert, 2 vacancies

PCS Home Office Group Nominations

Agreed nominations for Home Office Group posts:

President

James Cox (Home Office Croydon)

Assistant Group Secretary

Phil Mount (Home Office Merseyside)

Group Executive Committee members

Kris Rowe (Home Office Mereyside), Phil Mount (Home Office Merseyside)

PCS National nominations

Agreed nominations for national posts:

President

Fran Heathcote, DWP Tyneside & Northumbria

National Standing Orders Committee (3)

Sean Fegan, Registers of Scotland

Keith Brockie, Scottish Government Edinburgh Leith

Pauline O’Brien, HMRC Bristol

Motions relating to Merseyside Branch

Motion 1 (Representation) Lost

Proposed amendment to Home Office constitution, this AGM notes that positions on the BEC are available however most branches of PCS recognise the importance of having additional reps to represent underrepresented groups in our membership such as women, disabled, black members LGBT+ Also PCS delegates at National conference have over the past few year acknowledged the importance of having representation in all these areas.

Our union should be inclusive from the grassroots up. If we are not doing so at branch level we are preventing the opportunity for underrepresented groups attending conference and progressing through the union.

I propose the AGM asks the branch officers to amend the constitution to include a rep position for each of the fore-mentioned groups:

Women’s rep

LGBT+ rep

Disabled members rep

Black members rep

Motions relating to wider issues in the Home Office

Motion 2 (Triggers) Carried

That this PCS Home Office Group Conference believes the current Attendance Management procedure in its’ current form is unfair and draconian. The standard trigger points of 6 days absence and 3 occasions, and pro rata for part-time members and those on probation are too low. Conference notes that PCS DBS Branch successfully negotiated with their employer an increase those standard triggers which resulted in a more reasonable policy.

This conference instructs the Home Office Group Executive Committee (GEC) to seek negotiations with the employer with a view to increasing the standard trigger points. As part of those negotiations the GEC should be prepared to use the incentive of a ballot for industrial action, including strike action and/or action short of a strike, if the employer is not willing to negotiate an adequate increase in the standard trigger points.

Motion 3 (Exceptions and discretion) Carried

“That this Home Office Group Conference recognises that there are issues with the sickness absence policy in respect of exceptions relating to disability. Personal case data shows that this specific exception creates significant work for branches in terms of supporting members at attendance meetings, adjournments and appeal submissions with limited positive outcomes from the latter which result in detrimental outcomes for members with recognised disabilities.

Conference notes the Exception criteria states: “Disability and reasonable adjustments which would enable the employee to return to work have not yet been considered or made”. Differing interpretations of that criteria, specifically when dealing with the first recognition of a disability, or an illness that has resulted in a disability, cause issues for PCS representatives handling such cases.

Conference notes that some managers take the view that no amount of adjustments in work could have been made prior to the illness and resulting disability that would have prevented the absence from occurring and subsequently exceeding any adjusted triggers. This interpretation has prevented the application of an exception which should have been used as the starting point for making reasonable adjustments in triggers, working environment, policy and equipment that would assist in lowering absence levels. Conference remembers that the latter interpretation is how the issue was handled until changes to the policy wording some years ago created dubiety which has led in many cases to only the consideration of discretion rather than an exception and in some cases to a warning being issued.

Conference agrees that there is a need to eliminate incorrect and discriminatory interpretations of the current wording which would reduce time spent unnecessarily on such cases as they will be more straightforward and result in fairer outcomes for members. As such, the Group Executive Committee are instructed to seek changes to the exception wording in the policy and/or for the addition of clear guidance on assessing exceptions for new or first time illnesses and absences that result in a disability.

Motion 4 (Capability) Carried

That this Home Office Group Conference notes the difficulties sometimes faced by older workers in acquiring new skills due to the increased use of processes that move tasks away from the traditional administration roles. This often involves training packages which fail to cater for the implications of ageing which can affect a person’s capability. In preparing for these shifts to new processes the Home Office treats everyone the same giving the same amount of time for training and mentoring but separately relies on expensive Occupational Health assessments, making it an individual problem, to advise on what this conference believes is a more generic problem affecting many members. Other European countries are starting to address the needs of ageing workers and are preparing to cater for an ageing workplace. Given that pension age has already risen to 68 this conference instructs the Group Executive Committee to approach the employer to seek a review of the implications of an ageing workforce and to produce recommendations on how to handle emerging issues.

Motion 6 (Data protection) Carried

This conference notes that the data protection laws tightened in 2018 and whilst the information the Home Office handles on its applicants is generally in line with current guidelines, in many areas of the Home Office, staff data is not treated with the same level of care.

In some areas of the Home Office many of us enjoy local flexible working conditions. Whilst this is a great benefit for both our employer and our members, flexi sheets and attendance registers are often on shared drives accessible by, in some areas multiple teams.

This is a breach of data protection. Not only is a member of staff is vulnerable to tampering intentional or accidental but sensitive information such as sickness and special leave is available for anyone to view who has access to the shared drive. Individuals Flexi sheets, STATs and leave should be information shared between staff member and their manager, not available for all to view.

This conference asks the GEC to discuss with the Home office implementing more secure systems like those used in other government departments such as HMRC. The use of a SEES package is available only to the user and shareable with management at the end of the flexi period.

Motions relating to the national union

Motion 7 (National rules change) Carried

That this Annual Delegate Conference instructs the National Executive Committee to delete standing orders A35 and A36 of Appendix A of the PCS Rules and to renumber the subsequent standing orders accordingly.

Motion 8 (National rules change) Carried

That this Annual Delegate Conference instructs the National Executive Committee to delete Appendix B of the PCS Rules and to renumber the subsequent appendices accordingly.