SIA senior management review

Security Industry Authority (SIA) Senior Management Review - PCS call for comments

SIA SMT review – PCS call for members’ feedback on proposals by Friday

SMT review consultation

As staff in the Security Industry Authority maybe aware consultation is currently taking place within the senior management team over a proposed restructure.

There has been some confusion raised as to when consultation began and how long it will run for.

At the quarterly meeting with PCS in mid-May an item at the end of the agenda ‘Possible restructure’ was briefly discussed. PCS were informed that the Chief Executive was at the early stages of looking at the senior management team structure and was considering a possible restructure. PCS welcomed early notice that this was being considered but reiterated we would want to be consulted fully when SIA had any proposals. Immediately after the meeting PCS were emailed a list of 20 names of people (but without job titles or any other information) who were potentially in scope of the review and a document with high level thinking around objectives and design principles. There was no further detail of what a restructure may look like or the impact on staff and no indication that this information could be shared wider with members at that stage.

PCS were therefore surprised that an announcement was made to staff on 30 June starting consultation with individual members of staff. PCS were given no prior notice that was going to take place and we had received no further documents or detail than that shared on the 15 May. PCS raised a complaint around this and a meeting was set up with SIA on Tuesday 7 July. A full and frank discussion took place. PCS accepted SIA’s assertion there was some misunderstanding and both parties resolved to move forward to an agreed schedule.

It was made clear to PCS that there is no time limit on individual consultation, to allow thorough discussions to take place and feedback to be provided. But SIA have indicated they would like to see the initial phase concluded in 14 days and a new structure in place by October this year.

PCS have committed to share details of information we’ve been provided with members to get feedback so as to put an initial response into SIA by Tuesday 21 July.

It’s important that we receive feedback from members across the organisation. This review while focussing on the Senior Management Team and Senior Roles outside the SMT could have a wider impact as SIA have indicated “Once the structure is finally confirmed, after consultation with those affected, we will look at the impact on the layers below and will send you an updated list of those that we believe will be affected.” So it’s clear that any changes to the SMT may have an impact on staff below.

PCS union stance

PCS starting point is from a position of principle that we oppose job losses and any restructure should at least maintain current staff numbers within the organisation. Therefore we would not want to see any compulsory redundancies or reduction in the overall number of staff employed by the SIA as a result of any review.

In recent discussions with the Cabinet Office around the Civil Service Compensation Scheme (CSCS) PCS received confirmation from the Cabinet Office and Treasury Minister, Lord Agnew, of the extension of 2010 CSCS terms until at least the Spring of 2021; along with the clear written assurance from the Minister, that “The Cabinet Office will also be taking action to ensure that redundancies only proceed where they are absolutely necessary and unavoidable.”

PCS have made SIA aware of this and have made clear we would want to see evidence that this review, at this time is absolutely necessary while seeking assurances around job opportunities for impacted staff and preventing redundancies.

We want to hear members’ views on the proposals and importantly any alternatives proposals if you have them.

Overview of proposed changes

The Chief Executive has set out some of the desired outcomes of the review in the Objectives and Design Principles document by moving from a senior management team to a senior leadership team model. The list of outcomes include:

• Alignment with the Corporate and Business Plans
• Deliver on the CEO expectations as set out in his Leadership Statement and Leader’s Guide
• A flat structure to support increased delegation, self-managed teams and better leadership and management conversations.
• Reduced management overheads to support cost effectiveness, without creating a risk to business delivery

The current SMT chart. and a chart of the proposed new Senior Leadership Team structure are available along with a further document listing the proposed new posts, where they match with current roles and the impact on current roles that do not match to the proposed new structure.

You will note that this results in a number of roles changing titles and 4 posts would go altogether putting the current post holders at risk

Your role in the consultation process

It’s important members, both those impacted directly by the proposals and those not in scope, at this stage get an understanding of what the review and proposals mean and take the opportunity to comment on it.

While members directly impacted will be having one-to-one meetings and will have an opportunity to feedback any concerns or put forward alternative proposals it’s important that PCS make a collective submission on behalf of members.

Therefore whether you are impacted directly or not please give feedback on the questions posed below and add any additional comments you wish to make.

Responses to be emailed to PCS rep Vaidehi Pathak (Vaidehi.Pathak@sia.gov.uk) and PCS Home Office group secretary Mike Jones (mikej@pcs.org.uk) by cop Friday 17 July.

We will then collate the responses as part of the PCS submission. Please be assured any comments used in the submission will be anonymised.

Questions

1. Do you feel the proposed new structure will improve the way the senior management team work and deal with the running of the organisation? Please explain your answer for either yes or no.
2. The new structure will see a number of existing posts change and some roles would go altogether. Do you agree this is the right move or are there alternative proposals you would like considered?
3. With a reduction in the number of staff and a loss of some existing posts work will need to be reallocated. Do you have any concerns over this and if so please explain?
4. Any additional comments or observations in relation to the proposed changes or consultation process?

Vaidehi Pathak (SIA Branch Secretary) , Mike Jones (Group Secretary)