Organising & Communications

In 2020 PCS Home Office Merseyside Branch continued to increase our membership and keep members informed. Branch Organiser, Derek Mellor, reports on the work of the year.

PCS Membership

At the end of December 2020 branch membership stood at 2101. This is a net increase of 140 compared to the same point last year, an increase of 740 over the last 3 years excluding those who have left the department and been replaced by new members just so we can stand still.

PCS Home Office Merseyside Branch continues to recruit faster than most branches in the Home Office. We have held PCS inductions for new entrants into the Home Office when we have been able but this has been difficult due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We can only arrange these when we know that new entrants will be, or have, taken up post so if you know about new starters joining your team click here to let us know.

Whilst every effort is made, inevitably it has not been possible to hold inductions for every new employee. Should you have any questions about joining, or want to find out about the work PCS does in the Home Office, you can explore our branch website or direct any queries here.

Whether you are new to the Home Office or have been around a while and not yet got round to signing up just click here to find out how to join PCS.

Home Affairs

This was the second full year on which the PCS Home Office Merseyside Branch website, Home Affairs, was hosted on the "New Google Sites" platform. As Google have been moving users way from "Classic Sites" our old website has continued to close down gradually, used now as an archive for our older news updates. Google "Classic Sites" is due to be closed as a platform completely by the end of 2021 so work will continue in 2021 to migrate the last of the archival material to Microsoft OneDrive.

The current Home Affairs website is compatible with Microsoft Edge so all members should be able to access and are encouraged to add it to their Favourites on Home Office systems.

Away from the office the website can be viewed via any other reasonably up to date browser and the site is rendered automatically to work seamlessly on desktop, laptop, mobile and tablet.

News Updates

During 2020 PCS Home Office Merseyside Branch published 95 news updates comprising Local, Home Office-wide and National issues. These were supported by over 40 internal mailshots sent directly to members' POISE inboxes. During the early weeks and months of the pandemic when a large proportion of our members had no access to POISE accounts the branch deployed personal email addresses supplied by members to continue to issue updates. Once those members who had been without work laptops received their devices we switched back to POISE accounts-only. If you haven't yet let us know your personal email address, or it has changed recently, click here to let us have it.

Visitors to our branch website viewed more than 47,000 pages in 2020 (up 30% year on year) with the overwhelming majority being our news updates pages.

We continue to encourage members to access our content on systems other than those provided by the Home Office resulting in 22% of page views accessed on mobiles and tablets during 2020.

The "What's Going On" page continued to provide information on events in and around Merseyside including union meetings, online petitions and campaign and community events.

PCS Advocates

PCS Advocates are members who actively support the union and want to get involved. It is the next step along for members interested in union activity but don't yet want to take up a full role. Members who want to become a PCS Advocate can watch our advocates video here

You can also register as a union advocate, or get more information, by contacting the PCS organising department at: organising@pcs.org.uk; speaking to one of our organisers on 020 7810 2691; contacting your PCS regional office who will register your interest or click here to tell us.

Health & Safety Representatives

Independent research has shown that the presence and proper use of safety representatives within a workplace can cut the accident rate by up to 50%. But, to have this effect, we first need to ensure that sufficient members are prepared to act as union Health and Safety Representatives. The branch currently has accredited health & safety reps and we can always do with more.

Since 1977, trade unions that are recognised for collective bargaining purposes have had the legal right to appoint health and safety reps. The law leaves it to unions, in consultation with the employer, to decide how many reps are needed for any workplace – but once a rep has been appointed, the laws give them significant rights.

Click here to volunteer to become a branch health & safety representative or click here for more information. PCS will arrange for appropriate training.

Click here to find out more about what branch PCS reps, advocates and Health & Safety representatives do.

Derek Mellor (Branch Organiser)