Liverpool Asylum Update

Meeting with Liverpool Asylum Management

PCS Home Office Merseyside Branch reps met with Liverpool Asylum management on 18 March. The meeting included flexitime, pay and staff morale/wellbeing and a number of issues brought to PCS by members. Here is a brief report from the meeting.

Training

PCS asked if there were any current or future plans for training in the pipeline for staff. Currently there is the new Grant Template training being done locally but the new Academy that has been set up will be covering a lot of the training going forward. There is talk of Op Mandate training where weaknesses have been identified and PCS reps will follow this up if this does not occur after the All-Staff call.

GDPR training is currently being offered to help raise awareness of members potentially exposing themselves to risk and potentially breaching GDPR. There will be 3 sessions taking place in May.

Flexitime

It had been brought to the attention of PCS that members have been asked to contact their manager as soon as they sign into work and then again when they finish. It was mentioned that the reason for this is was “duty of care”. Manual flexi sheets were used to record this information but there has been no national or local agreement with PCS that such further monitoring methods should be used. Furthermore, this appears to be a local issue as there are no reports of this happening elsewhere. PCS can see no reason why such excessive monitoring would be necessary. If managers are concerned about a specific individuals’ attendance/flexi/performance, this should be managed appropriately, on an individual level. Management agreed to take the issue away for further consideration. PCS will keep pressing so that members in this part of the branch are afforded the same level of trust as elsewhere.

Workstate

Some members stated that they felt very stressed and there was a significant reduction in staff morale, particularly around being asked for stat predictions on a daily and weekly basis. Management stated that this was coming from ministerial level and not from the senior leadership team.

WFH

The question of what our work will look like once the world as we know it returns back to “normal” and whether we will be able to WFH more for those who want to and feel they are more productive at home. Management said that they would be surprised if a return to normal full stop happens and that if we are able to prove that staff can be as effective, efficient and productive at home as in the office then that builds the case for WFH. They gave no guarantees at this point indicated that as everyone has been doing really well from home there is no concern or need to bring everyone back, all day, to the office. There may need be implementation of a rota system. If so, PCS will seek consultation prior to any implementation.

Decision-Makers

PCS stated that the the DM role is seen as complex and there are other EO roles in other government departments that are not nearly as complex but receive a higher salary. PCS asked why DMs are not paid accordingly, especially as there are announcements that other departments have secured pay increases. Management stated that pay is not something in their power, but they can highlight this concern to business partners. Click here for more information from PCS on the pay freeze.

Grant template

There was concern over the introduction to the new grant template and how this would impact refusals being timed. PCS asked the business what the ratio is of grants to refusals and across the board it appears that there are 60% grants to 40% refusals or other (which includes withdrawal cases and absconders etc). As Insight works on a timed basis, currently all events are timed with time allocated to time for each task. Management stated that the purpose of the new grant template is to make it easier for grants to be made. Any issues with the new template should in the first instance be raise with your Team Leader but if you are unable to resolve the matter click here to contact your PCS reps.

Decision Letters

Additionally, it was raised that members are concerned that they have their full name on their decision letters and do not want to put themselves under any scrutiny publicly if they make an error. PCS confirmed with management that anyone who does not feel comfortable using their full name does not have to. First initial and surname is appropriate to use (e.g. J Bloggs), or a work alias was highlighted, as long as everyone internally is aware that the work alias corresponds to you.

Wellbeing

The question of whether the welfare of DMs is as important as the focus on stats was raised. Management highlighted that vicarious trauma training has started to become available again and that they conduct exit interviews to establish why people leave and that although speaking to your TL may seem like a blasé thing to say it is important to start there on wellbeing issues as it is not 1 size fits all. If members feel that they are not being heard they should escalate the matter.

ALAR

PCS also met with ALAR management who have confirmed that a recruitment campaign to fill vacancies is being launched for 7 AO and 1 SEO posts. Management have confirmed that they will advise PCS when the new staff start so that PCS can prepare a presentation for their induction.