Organising, Communications & Finance

A look back on 2021 from Derek Mellor (Branch Organiser) and Helen Gilbert (Branch Treasurer)

Branch Membership

At the end of December 2021 branch membership stood at 2004. This is a decrease of 97 compared to the same point last year and includes members who have left the department and been replaced by new members who have joined the branch.

Our membership level remained static at around 2100 through the year until September when a noticeable change became evident. This appears mainly to have been caused by recruitment campaigns in larger departments, ie HMRC and DWP with members leaving the Home Office for better rates of pay on level transfer or promotion. We have also had anecdotal evidence of an increased number of members leaving for jobs in the private sector, again due to the poor rates of pay in the Home Office.

It should be noted that PCS represents members in every Civil Service department. It has come to our attention that some members who have moved elsewhere have resigned their membership then rejoined PCS in their new workplace. This isn't necessary. All you need to do is email us here and let us know where and when you are moving. We will contact PCS HQ and arrange for you to be transferred to the appropriate PCS union branch.

PCS Home Office Merseyside Branch held a limited number of PCS inductions for new entrants into the Home Office when we had 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, 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 third 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. The last news updates of the old site are currently being archived on Microsoft OneDrive (external access) and the site should be closed completely by the end of April 2022.

The current Home Affairs website is compatible with Microsoft Edge so all members should be able to access it 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 2021 PCS Home Office Merseyside Branch published 65 news updates comprising Local, Home Office-wide and National issues. Of these 17 were locally produced reports following meetings between branch reps and management. The updates were supported by over 25 internal mailshots sent directly to members' POISE inboxes.

During the early weeks and months of the pandemic in 2020 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. We don't know if or when it will be necessary to send updates to your personal email addresses again in the future. 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 32,000 pages in 2021 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 18% of page views accessed on mobiles and tablets during 2021.

The Events page continued to provide information on events in and around Merseyside including union meetings, online petitions and campaign and community events. We also launched the Did You Know? page in 2021 which has proved popular providing information to members from external sources that may have been overlooked.

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)

Finance

We receive our funding from PCS allocated funds from member’s subscriptions. The purpose is to reimburse reps who may need to spend money or travel during their dealings with members but are subject to guidelines to ensure frugal and necessary use. The year 2021 has seen our branch continue to embrace technology more than ever before for meetings and personal cases and as a result of this we have had no expenditure for this year.

The Figures

The funds are allocated from members contributions. Members can be assured of how frugal this branch is, making full use of technology and which keeps costs down and enables money to be put towards fighting funds and campaigns benefitting us all.

PCS HO account had a balance of £590.20 at the end of 2021. We have received £290.21 from PCS central in total between January – December 2021.

As our branch has had no expenditure for the year 2021, we will not be expecting any funding from PCS central for the year 2022 once are accounts are submitted. This to ensure that members money is not wasted and placed where needed in other areas of PCS.

Workers Beer Company Account

This account is funded by members working festivals in the summer while spending their leisure around the festival events. In 2021 we did not receive any money from this source, but we still had a credit of £209.85 to use in 2021

As was mentioned in our last financial report, former PCS rep Liz O’Connor sadly passed away on 23 December 2020. Her family cited two charities that Liz supported for donations in lieu of flowers. These were Amnesty international and Reprieve. The BEC met on 13 January 2021 and unanimously voted to donate £50 each to both worthwhile charities in Liz’s memory. This took the Workers Beer company account down to £109.85.

In November 2021, the BEC met and agreed to donate £25 to the AFGHAN appeal fund through Sefton CVS – although this was processed after 31 December 2021, the workers beer account now currently sits at a balance of £84.85 for 2022.

Helen Gilbert (Branch Treasurer)