Flexi-time in Euro

Latest situation on flexible working hours in Euro

Staff in the paper-based legacy casework part of European Casework are now working full-time in the office across the Capital and Redgrave court.

Once the Euro Legacy teams returned to the office after safe systems of work were put in place, and in order to start the gradual increase in staff numbers returning to complete work that management have stated cannot be done at home, the branch put forward proposals to allow flexible working hours for the office-based staff to be re-introduced. This was agreed by the department and staff can now work between the hours of 07:00 to 17:00 with core hours being 09:00 to 14:00. Some parts of the Euro command may require different hours, or start/end times, however these arrangements should be few and far between and management should explain the reasons to staff.

European casework is the largest directorate in the area covered by PCS Home Office Merseyside Branch but we are also involved in discussions with the other areas such as Asylum and RCM. As far as possible, when their staff start to return to the office full-time the branch would expect the approach to be consistent.

In some parts of the branch, where homeworking has been in place for some time, there has been little or no impact on homeworking arrangements but this has not been the case everywhere so our focus has now turned to those working from home who are based in areas that currently do not have access to flexible working hours.

Once it became apparent that some staff would continue to work from home for a considerable period of time the branch began entered into negotiations with Euro management about the re-introduction of flexi-time so that members could work as flexibly as they had before the lockdown commenced. It had initially been accepted when the lockdown started, by Euro management and PCS, that flexi-time wasn’t an option for all areas at that time, that the homeworking environment may not have been ideal in terms of health & safety, that few staff had access to laptops and that excessive hours in such circumstances could affect health and well-being. However, it was agreed that once homeworking became more organised, and members had the right equipment which should now be the case, European Casework would consider reintroducing flexible working hours. The branch are now in discussions on this issue. We we expect proposals from management for the reintroduction of flexible working hours for everyone in European Casework, whether working from home or in the office, shortly.

We will report back to members further as soon as we have more information.